Philippe D.
Elder Member
Hi all,
I know there are ASLers out there who are also owners of 3D printers and have made their own models for counter storage - I am one of them, though my modelling skills are pretty low.
Recently I came across the "gridfinity" system, which is intended as a general-purpose system with standardized sizes for organizing, say, your drawers so as to store small things like nuts and bolts. The idea is that bins come in sizes that are multiples of 42mm, with variable heights but internal heights are normally multiples of 7mm.
Someone was kind enough to share his models for fully printable boxes for the system, complete with articulated hinges and latches for closing them. I adapted some bin designs for my own counter storage needs; here is a picture.
The box, at 4x3 units wide, is the smallest model; it is roughly half the size of a standard Raaco assorter. The shown inserts all fit into it: either on two layers (each bin can hold stacks of 10 counters) or on 3 layers (can hold stacks of 5 counters, or 6 as a tight fit). I put holes at the bottom of bins to make pushing counters easier, though you will need some object to do the pushing unless you have extra, extra thin fingers.
The bin assortment shown here will fit into the box, and together would hold up to 100 stacks of 10 1/2" counters and up to 32 stacks of 10 5/8" counters (or 48 stacks of 5-6, with the lower bins; since most Gun/Vehicle counters come in less than 6 copies in a standard set, this would typically be more efficient). Of course, different assortments are possible, and will also fit the larger boxes (4x4 or 5x4 - the bed of my Prusa Mk3S printer won't go further than 5x4, and this will be a tight fit).
The box models are freely downloadable from the Printables site (click here). I have not shared my variants of the bin designs as they are extra specialized, but I will if there is enough interest; they are variants of this collection.
Printing times: if you have your own printer, this should not matter overmuch; if you are paying for the use of a printer, this will cost you. The pieces for the box itself will take a long time (the base for the 5x4 is reported by my slicer software as taking about 12 hours to print, and that's with "draft" settings), and each 1x1 insert will take roughly one hour, give or take 50%.
Materials cost: the examples shown in my picture weigh about 520g total, so that's a bit more than half of a 1kg roll of PETG. Depending on brand and quality, 1kg of PETG will cost between 12 and 30 euros (roughly the same in US$).
I know there are ASLers out there who are also owners of 3D printers and have made their own models for counter storage - I am one of them, though my modelling skills are pretty low.
Recently I came across the "gridfinity" system, which is intended as a general-purpose system with standardized sizes for organizing, say, your drawers so as to store small things like nuts and bolts. The idea is that bins come in sizes that are multiples of 42mm, with variable heights but internal heights are normally multiples of 7mm.
Someone was kind enough to share his models for fully printable boxes for the system, complete with articulated hinges and latches for closing them. I adapted some bin designs for my own counter storage needs; here is a picture.
The box, at 4x3 units wide, is the smallest model; it is roughly half the size of a standard Raaco assorter. The shown inserts all fit into it: either on two layers (each bin can hold stacks of 10 counters) or on 3 layers (can hold stacks of 5 counters, or 6 as a tight fit). I put holes at the bottom of bins to make pushing counters easier, though you will need some object to do the pushing unless you have extra, extra thin fingers.
The bin assortment shown here will fit into the box, and together would hold up to 100 stacks of 10 1/2" counters and up to 32 stacks of 10 5/8" counters (or 48 stacks of 5-6, with the lower bins; since most Gun/Vehicle counters come in less than 6 copies in a standard set, this would typically be more efficient). Of course, different assortments are possible, and will also fit the larger boxes (4x4 or 5x4 - the bed of my Prusa Mk3S printer won't go further than 5x4, and this will be a tight fit).
The box models are freely downloadable from the Printables site (click here). I have not shared my variants of the bin designs as they are extra specialized, but I will if there is enough interest; they are variants of this collection.
Printing times: if you have your own printer, this should not matter overmuch; if you are paying for the use of a printer, this will cost you. The pieces for the box itself will take a long time (the base for the 5x4 is reported by my slicer software as taking about 12 hours to print, and that's with "draft" settings), and each 1x1 insert will take roughly one hour, give or take 50%.
Materials cost: the examples shown in my picture weigh about 520g total, so that's a bit more than half of a 1kg roll of PETG. Depending on brand and quality, 1kg of PETG will cost between 12 and 30 euros (roughly the same in US$).
