mini-makes: desktop organizer – complete

printing

One of the first things I wanted to print after I completed the calibration of the 3D printer was this desktop organizer. It was a design and model I created before I got my printer and before I fully understood the limitations of 3D printing. As a result, my design wasn’t as conducive to 3D printing as I had thought and I had to make some tweaks. Sadly, my workflow in Fusion 360 wasn’t very organized due to my inexperience and tweaking my design proved to be more difficult than it should have been. But, what the hell, I gave it a go and printed it anyway. In order to eliminate the use of supports and save on material, I split the organizer into 4 parts instead of the designed 3. I decided it would be fine to simply allow the main portion to sit on the area that would house the catch all drawer.

all four parts with the door already attached to the main body
the pegs that would line up the main portion and keep it from shifting

lessons learned

While my idea seemed to work out great in Fusion 360, it fell flat when it actually came time to print. When I sliced the STL, the thin walls around where the pegs would be joined to the main portion seemed to cause a problem. However, it looked like it would be ok. I was wrong. When printed, these thin walls did not adhere to the rest of the print. They were very noticeable and even bulged out from the main print.

Regardless, these imperfects did not take effect the functionality of the print as a desktop organizer. As long as the pieces stayed together, it would serve its function. As of this posting, I have not permanently attached the pieces together with superglue, but I may do so to ensure they stay together.

I’m very happy with out it turned out despite the flaws. It functions how I expected it to. There are a few things I would have done differently. First, I would have made the finger holes to open the drawer and the door larger. My fingers barely fit in the drawer, which makes it difficult to pull out sometimes. Second, I would have double checked the measurements on the memory cards with my digital calipers (another tool that arrived after designing this). Going by the dimensions on wikipedia resulted in the slot for the SD card being too small. Luckily, the micro SD card slots fit well.

Otherwise, I think it looks pretty good. The logo came out great and the slot I designed specifically for my pixel pen works great. I still don’t know why there is a layer shift in one area, but it wasn’t too much of a shift to cause any problems. perhaps there was a bit of warping? Anyway, I’m happy with it for being my first real print (after the spool rack) and my first custom design and model in Fusion 360. Let me know what you think!

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