Print your own toolbox inlay

Updated: We have added the link to the Thingiverse page so you can print your own inlay!

With 3D printing comes great customization. With the right design skills, the right printer and the right materials one can make unique prints that not only look good, but are also extremely handy. Speaking of handy, having the right tools on hand is essential in every work space (print labs in particular), but what starts with some plyers and a screwdriver can easily grow into a collection of dozens of tools. Or more. And no tools are created equally, nor are the needs of the maker. To bring more order into this chaos we decided to design and print our own toolbox inlay:

Custom in-house design (Thingiverse link)

We used our trusted Stacker S4 printer for this print, making use of the full build plate of this industrial grade 3D printer. We printed with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer height. Infill was 10% (printed every two layers).

Material of choice to print the toolbox inlay was our very own (and extremely popular) PLA Economy Silver.

We printed 3 layers to store our tools, which fit inside a standard case which can be bought at any hardware store. This way you can easily store your tools in the way you want it: Everything is always in the right place, your tools can easily be moved from one work site to the other and when you pack up you see at a glance if you have not forgotten anything.

Print your own inlay now by heading to our Thingiverse page.

The design was made in SolidWorks, our design software of choice:

Render of the design in SolidWorks

PLA Economy is a fantastic PLA grade which we launched in November of 2016. Initially we released four colors: white, red, black, silver and dark blue.

 

PLA Economy

PLA Economy offers a great value for your money. One spool consists of 2.2kg of filament for a dirt cheap price of a little over € 35 (ex VAT and shipping). It is a different grade than our range of PLA/PHA, but we guarantee the same colorFabb quality. Our filaments are readily available from our webshop. You can use the standard PLA settings if your printer has these pre-defined and these should work fine.

You can also opt for the PLA Economy Value Pack: order four spools as a value pack and receive an immediate 10% discount!

Buy PLA Economy                                      Buy PLA Economy Value Pack

PLA Economy is very well suited for the maker who needs quality at an affordable price. It is a perfect filament for large volume and small series production, made with the guaranteed colorFabb quality that we are known for.

 

About Stacker

The Stacker 3D printers are industrial grade FFF 3D printers. Recently the even larger Stacker S4 XL was added to the portfolio. Multiple print heads and a large build volume make them versatile printers. Small series production or large scale prototyping are no problem for the Stacker printers! This US based printer is very reliable and is a perfect match for any professional looking for serious 3D printing. You can find the full product specifications on our dedicated Stacker page.

For Stacker the term “industrial grade” is not a hollow marketing term. It means their printers are designed for extra long service life, extremely low maintenance and that the printer will maintain its positional accuracy throughout its life cycle. This printer has been designed to be used in a professional environment, be it for large prototypes or small series production.

The Stacker printers on display in our print lab

As many of you know, we are the distributor of Stacker 3D printers in Europe. We have been working with Stacker ever since their first prototype and now have several in our print lab. In the past 6 years we have seen 3D printing emerging from a hobby market to more professional uses. A lot of our users are using 3D printing to make a living or at least support their business in one way or another.

Interested? Get a quote or contact us!

 

Robotics

It is a well established fact by now that our new PA-CF Low Warp filament is all about functionality. We developed this filament with only one goal: to make sure a lot of users have the ability to print high quality printed parts. Even on a cold bed. In the past weeks we have already shown quite a few prints and their respective qualities (listed below). Another great application for PA-CF Low Warp is the field of robotics and we printed a few parts to show:

Designs:

The prints above have been designed for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) which just kicked off its 2018 season again. You can find a full collection of designs that have been made in the past for the FRC here.

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organisation aimed to encourage young people to become science and technology leaders and you should definitely check out their website.

PA-CF Low Warp is, due to its stiffness and strength, a perfect material for robotics and its much needed custom made parts. In that regard it is not that different from the application of this filament for drone parts, about which we wrote last week.

The parts were all printed on our Ultimaker 2+ in our print lab, equipped with 0.4mm Olsson Ruby nozzles. We printed at 260C and a 50C bed. Due to its abrasive nature, the Olsson Ruby nozzles ensure that print quality remains the same for many, many hours and days of printing.

As the name indicates, PA-CF Low Warp is a polyamide (nylon) with carbon fiber. An added bonus is that, unlike many other engineering grade filaments, it has very little warping when printing large objects! Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints. It is an engineering grade filament for a wide range of printers and users alike. You can find more information on our dedicated landing page.

In recent weeks we have printed a lot with PA-CF Low Warp. Below are a few examples:

The PA-CF Low Warp filament is a one of a kind polyamide formulation with the ability to print nearly warp free on non heated buildplatforms. Low infill prints come out perfectly flat on cold bed for higher infill prints 40/50C temperature is enough to obtain flat prints.

PA-CF Low Warp allows continuous use at 120°C while retaining sufficient properties for the intended application. Most high heat resistant materials will be difficult to print and require heated chambers and / or heated platforms to keep parts from warping the bottom layer. PA-CF Low Warp shows a very low tendency to warp, even at ambient temperature platform.

Eager to get started? Click here to get the basics on how to print with PA_CF Low Warp.

PA-CF Low Warp is available now in our webshop and ships from stock. We currently stock spools of 700 grams, but as from late next week large spools containing 2kg of material will be available as well.

You can also opt to get a unique bundle package, containing one spool of PA-CF Low Warp and the Olsson Ruby Nozzle 0.4mm in our webshop.