Designed a bench organizer today - Another Update 9/7

[chromdome35]

It's currently on the printer and will be done in about 8 hours.



This is the first model I've ever created that I didn't use someone else's work as a starting point. I designed this 100% in Tinkercad. My goal was to create an organizer that held all of my primary construction tools. I'm a big fan of Adam Savage's YouTube channel, and in one of his videos, he discussed the concept of first-order retrievability. The primary focus is that things you use constantly should be the easiest to retrieve.

Adam's Youtube discussion on first order retrievability


So, I decided I would make an organizer for my workbench that followed this concept. I started by creating a prototype yesterday that looked like this.



I used This proof of concept to check clearances and general layout.

I decided I would prefer a five glue bay instead of a four bay and changed the layout slightly to arrive at the current design. I'll post pictures after the latest design finishes printing.

These are the tools I use the most when building. I plan on creating several sub-modules for more dedicated use (Soldering, Putty, CA Gluing, etc...)

[keavdog]

Great idea. I have a plastic basket I have to shuffle through for tools. Brushes I'm okay with.

[project510]

Dude this is awesome! Congrats on your first design!

[chromdome35]

Aug 21, 2024 21:26:20 GMT -5 project510 said:

Dude this is awesome! Congrats on your first design!

Thanks. I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I sized it to fit a 6x3 gridfinity base. I haven't figured out how to actually add the Gridfinity base yet; however, I think I'll generate a parametric 6x3 bin, cut the base off of it, and meld it to the bottom of my organizer. Do you know of a different way to accomplish it?

[project510]

Unfortunately, because I have never designed my own products either, I got my gridfinity files from this guy I follow on YouTube, Alexandre Chappel.

What you could do is just find a gridfinity container/box that matches your length/width and only print the bottom layers then attach?

[chromdome35]

Aug 21, 2024 22:08:03 GMT -5 project510 said:

Unfortunately, because I have never designed my own products either, I got my gridfinity files from this guy I follow on YouTube, Alexandre Chappel.

What you could do is just find a gridfinity container/box that matches your length/width and only print the bottom layers then attach?

Maybe, that would certainly work. I'm going to try to build it into the model but if I can't, your idea will be my next step.

[handiabled]

Fantastic Brian! I'm interested to see how the bigger version turns out

[floki]

This is really cool!

[TJ]

This is so cool. Now I know what I want Santa to bring me

[brandonk]

That's a cool setup. Great design. This whole 3D thing is really changing things up. For the better.

[Leon]

That looks really good Brian!

[kyledehart5]

That is really excellent Brian. It will be so nice to easily grab all of your widely used tools and supplies like that. Great idea.

[chromdome35]

I've gone totally down the 3D design rabbit hole.

After my first two, I decided to design a series of organizers around the Gridfinity system. I made all the organizers fit precisely on a 1x3, 2x3, 3x3, 4x3, 5x3 and 6x3 Gridfinity grid. I have designed and printed several prototypes and learned a lot during the process.

This is what the bottom of the organizers looks like, this is a 3x4 Gridfinity base.


This is a picture of all my prototypes so far



Notice that many prototypes have "bays" on the front row. These bays are sized to accept either Mr Hobby or Tamiya glue bottles. They also each have a 1x1 gridfinity plate in the bottom, so you can customize what you do with the front bays.

The Gridfinity system utilizes magnets in the corner of each grid. The Gridfinity-compatible bins have magnets in their male bases that match the female base plates. What I envision, and still have to design, is a collection of inserts for the bays. Here are a couple of my proof of concept where I've created bins for holding VMS CA Glue bottles, one that holds tattoo ink cups (I use them to dispense CA glue into) along with a couple of glue applicators, one that holds qtips and one that holds up to 5 tools. Many more to come.

My latest design and favorite to date is this 3x6 that has five bays for customization.




This is the prototype of a 2x3 (2 Gridfinity squares wide by 3 deep) organizer. The bay with the TET bottle in it, also accepts the gridfinity compatible bins.


On my workbench, I have a Gridfinity base I printed


What I want to create is a modular tool rack system for hobby benches. In my head I see a variety of modules that you can mix and match to create your perfect layout. Here are a couple of pictures of how that might look. These pictures use the larger workstation modules I have created, but I think they give a good visualization of the concept.



From a cost standpoint, it cost me about $5 in filament to print one of the large organizers. The 1x3 on the far right of the last picture cost 83 cents to print.

I've been printing these at .24 layer height using 8% adaptive cubic infill. I'm printing in Anycubic Grey PLA, which I can get from Amazon for about $11 a role. The 3x6 organizer takes the longest to print, 10 hours and 50 minutes, uses 380 grams of filament, and costs $4.80 to print.

I would love to hear feedback on where I'm going with this.

[handiabled]

Rabbit hole indeed! Looks outstanding Brian! I think threads like this have almost convinced my wife into letting me take the plunge into 3d printing. ( She loves the idea of me organizing my shambles of a work bench) You are using Fusion for your printer?

[TJ]

Sept 7, 2024 4:08:16 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Rabbit hole indeed! Looks outstanding Brian! I think threads like this have almost convinced my wife into letting me take the plunge into 3d printing. ( She loves the idea of me organizing my shambles of a work bench) You are using Fusion for your printer?

Brent I've already told my family that I want one thing for Xmas, a BambuLab printer..

[TJ]

Brian, you're a genius. These modules are looking perfect for bench organization.

[kyledehart5]

This is incredible. So much nicer than my mason jars. LOL. Love all the options you have at your fingertips too. Great stuff.

[Tojo72]

Wow,that looks "space age" looks pretty cool

[handiabled]

Sept 7, 2024 4:42:15 GMT -5 TJ said:

Sept 7, 2024 4:08:16 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Rabbit hole indeed! Looks outstanding Brian! I think threads like this have almost convinced my wife into letting me take the plunge into 3d printing. ( She loves the idea of me organizing my shambles of a work bench) You are using Fusion for your printer?

Brent I've already told my family that I want one thing for Xmas, a BambuLab printer..

I hope Santa comes through for you!

[floki]

Really cool system your building

[chromdome35]

Sept 7, 2024 4:08:16 GMT -5 handiabled said:

Rabbit hole indeed! Looks outstanding Brian! I think threads like this have almost convinced my wife into letting me take the plunge into 3d printing. ( She loves the idea of me organizing my shambles of a work bench) You are using Fusion for your printer?

I am using Tinkercad for all of the primary design work, once I am done in tinkercad I export directly into Fusion to add the fillets (rounded edges) to all of the 90 degree edges. Then I export into Bambu Studio to print it.

For doing work with basic shapes and geometry, Tinkercad is very easy to use.

[Steve Zuleski]

Wow, that's a ton of resin, excellent organizers!

[chromdome35]

Sept 7, 2024 9:19:19 GMT -5 Steve Zuleski said:

Wow, that's a ton of resin, excellent organizers!

Steve, It's PLA filament, not resin. You are right in that it's a lot...around 6kg worth so far. 

I've been using filament I get it off Amazon: 2 1kg rolls for $23 unless it's on sale (which it is frequently), in which case it's a bit cheaper.
One of the best things about sourcing this from Amazon...This particular filament is kept in stock at Amazons local fulfillment warehouse. If I order in the morning, I get same day delivery. Just in time inventory!   

Anycubic Filament  This stuff has printed perfectly on my printer with no issues at all.  I throw it in the filament dryer for 8 hours before I put it in the printer.

[chromdome35]

In my prototyping process, I will test ideas by designing several different variations, printing them, and then evaluating the "useability" of the module.

Overnight, I printed 5 1x3 modules, mainly nipper holders.


For example This version arranges the nippers parallel to the bench.


However, the problem with this one is that the spread of the nipper handles makes them extend beyond the sides of the module, which makes them interfere with the neighboring modules; you can see this issue in this picture.


Changing the orientation of the nippers to be perpendicular to the bench removes the overhang issue but creates an issue with density. The middle slot of the middle row is not usable due to the spread of the nippers in front and back.



This is solved by changing the orientation of the front nipper to horizontal instead of vertical; however, this makes the front nipper handles stick outside the module.



In the final version (yet to be designed and printed) I will keep the perpendicular/vertial nipper arrangement but remove the front slot. This module will hold 5 pairs of nippers/pliers.

Bringing this all together, this shows 2 1x3 modules with a 2x3 module. The 2x3 will hold a Tamiya or Mr. hobby glue bottle. It also has a gridfinity dock so you could put whatever else you want in that bay.




Sizewise this only takes up 6.5" x 5" on the workbench


More to follow...

[greg]

This is so cool, and that might be the understatement of the week.

[chromdome35]

Sept 7, 2024 11:36:48 GMT -5 greg said:

This is so cool, and that might be the understatement of the week.

Thank you for the kind words.

The real question is...is this something you would consider purchasing for your bench?

When I'm done designing, I'm considering opening an etsy store and trying to sell these. The challenge I have to overcome is with the gridfinity system which was released under an open source license. I am considering removing the Gridfinity base from the bottom of the workstations and designing my own docking system for the bays. If desired, I would leave the sizes the same as the Gridfinity base so you could add the Gridfinity system to my organizers.

[Steve Zuleski]

Ok, now that ya got it all organized, ya gotta get that bench messy and paint flyin everywhere! This clean bench look is so passe."

[TJ]

Brian have you thought about adding magnets to the sides to "connect" the modules together

[406 Silverado]

I'm glad I finally got a chance to post on this thread of yours Brian. I've been seeing pictures of this on my phone but seeing it on a computer screen does it so much more justice. I'll echo greg when he said, this is very cool. I'm working on the whole 3D printing gig myself and hope to have something going by next year on this. Which printer are you using Brian (chromdome35)?

[chromdome35]

I'm using a Bambu Labs X1C with the AMS (Multi Color).
us.store.bambulab.com/collections/3d-printer/products/x1-carbon