3D Printed Print in Place Box

I made a Print in Place box. This means it prints in one piece with no assembly required. All you do is print the file, take it off the bed, and it should be good to go!

In this instructable I go through my process of making this model, and how to print it yourself.

The file for this model can be found at https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-print-in-place-curtain-box-181903.

(I told my school to an ambassador on the discord)

All you need for this is an FDM 3D printer with a decently sized bed (I used an Ender 3 Pro).

Any rigid filament would probably work, although I used PLA.

You'll also need a slicer. I used Cura but any should work.

Conceptualization:

I started off with a simple sketch to get the dimensions I wanted, and a way to get the articulation I was imagining. It was very simple, and I just drew it on a sticky note.

Designing:

I started by making a simple box with two adjacent walls missing. I put a rail on each side for the chain to rest on. I made the first chain piece, making sure it had the size and shape I wanted. Then I patterned the chain piece, setting the spacing so that they'd interlock perfectly. Finally, I added the handle and some designs to the side to give it a more finished look.

The three pictures above show 3 of my printed prototypes. All of these had slight issues that I wanted to fix before I could felt like I could call it done.

Even though this phase of designing can get annoying, I always do it for the projects I'm passionate about so I make the best final product I can. Prototyping allows me to make changes I hadn't thought of, or couldn't test in Fusion.

Print Settings

This file should be a pretty simple print if your printer is correctly calibrated. The main issue I had in my testing was caused by my bed being too close to the nozzle. This would cause the bottom layers to fuse together. Making sure your bed is properly leveled will help get a successful print.

Depending on your bed size, the box may need rotating at a 45 degree angle. It barely fits on the Ender 3 Pro bed.

I was able to use low quality in Cura, so layer heights shouldn't be an issue.

I designed this with relatively forgiving tolerance, but the horizontal expansion setting in Cura can be adjusted to give you more clearance if needed.

None!

I designed this as print in place. So as soon as it finishes printing, the model is ready to go. This was a very difficult obstacle for me to design around, but it payed off in the end. All my overhangs had to either be bridged, or at a printable angle. The hinges were also designed specially for 3D printing to allow it to print with no clean up or assembly.