Customizable Pencil Case Insert

My name is Liam and I am currently a 10th grader enrolled in Hamilton High School In Chandler Arizona

Are you tired of having a messy unorganized backpack?

When taking classes as a student organization can be extremely helpful if not detrimental to the efficiency of one's school work and projects. However, this almost always comes at the cost of a lengthy preparation for the day and excesses precious time that could be used for an assignment. And as all students are too familiar with, losing a writing utensil right before a test or a homework session is a pain and can come at the cost of considerable time while you look for that one pencil you lost.

That's where the custom pencil case insert comes into place, the idea is that by making and producing a pencil case organizer you can not only stay more organized but not have to waste precious minutes between classes rushing to pack up your belongings.

• Fusion 360/ other comparable parametric software
• 3D printer with dimensions around 23cm x 14cm (this may vary depending on the size of your pencil case)
• Slicing software
• 3D printer filament, PLA works well
• Sketch pad/notepad for marking/planning out the layout
• Calipers/ Ruler

1. To begin to take measurements of your pencil case these should only be the rough dimensions for now as we will refine them later, making sure to prevent the pencil case from deforming too much as you want to keep the standard shape of the pencil case to make your insert fit well.
2. If your pencil case has a fillet on the corners like the example given use rulers to measure the radius of the curve treating it like a fourth of a circle.
3. If your pencil case is hard to access or fully open up try instead using the measurements of the outside and reducing the size by 2-3mm on all sides.

1. With your new measurements open up Fusion and create a thin template of the inside of your pencil case.
2. Print the test part and continue to change until the part only bows slightly due to the tight fit (This should allow for a nice snug fit when the part is thicker and more sturdy).

When it comes to planning out the layout of your insert there is no one way to choose the layout but here are a few tips I've learned after using mine for a few months

• Make sure you frequently used writing tools are never under another item or tucked away as most likely they will be thrown in the open area as a matter of ease
• Make an open area of sorts for future additions or quick storage
• Though you want to have a spot for everything to fit nicely for those few times when you are really in a rush to your next class it can be helpful to make an open area where you can quickly store your materials
• You will also want to have an open area in case you want to add more items to your pencil case. As although making a spot for everything seems nice making a new insert every time defeats the purpose of a quick and easy-to-use organization system.
• LEAVE ROOM FOR ACCESSING ITEMS! This is one of the most important tips as even though you may want to pack as many things as you want into your organizer you have to make it easy to use which means adding extra space to access and grab parts.

Making a Layout

1. When making your layout for your organizer, first use your previously made test pieces to trace out the sizing of your bin.
2. Lay out your supplies in a way that makes sense to you and try using the tips stated above.
3. Make use of the vertical height! This means thinking of how you can stack items to reduce the footprint they take up, just make sure what your stacking won't cause any problems with fishing around for the right tool. To counteract this try to only stack items of the same tool or items frequently used together.
4. Play around with the way you orient items with complex geometry, in my case I was able to fit a stapler and white out in a more rectangular area so that it was easier to design for later on.
5. As stated before MAKE ROOM FOR ACCESSING ITEMS! This means spacing out items so that you can access all items with relative ease.
6. Trace the outlines of all your parts on your sketch for modeling.

To begin this step you want to take measurements of all the parts you're designing around in the orientation you thought of.

It can be helpful to make a small list of measurements or write them in your sketch.

1. Start, by building off of the design you already have for your test piece, and begin making the outlines of your parts inside the boundaries of your insert
2. Try to combine walls as frequently as possible to help save all the space you can, I found 2mm walls worked great for the inside walls and 2.5mm works well for the outside walls as they were stable enough to hold the parts but also flexible enough to give you a bit of tolerance in case your original insert measurements weren't perfect.
3. For complex shapes like the tape measure shown above it can be helpful to break the shape up into different simpler shapes. Make sure to keep in mind that your walls also don't have to perfectly conform to these shapes as long as they have a few contact points they should keep the part in place.
4. Extrude the walls of your part and try to experiment with different heights to make an open space as mentioned before or to fit parts better.
5. Make cutouts in the walls where you will be accessing your parts so that you can more easily take out the items you're using.
6. Fillet the edges of the walls to prevent scrapes on corners and sharp edges, I found a fillet of 0.6mm works best for printing and reducing sharp edges (this is epically important around the cutouts as you will be interacting with those parts more often).

With that, you're done with your design, now off to printing

There are no remarkably special printing settings, however, for the sake of reference, these were the settings I used that worked for my printer.

• Printer: Prusa MK3s
• Filament: PLA
• Layer height: 0.2mm
• Infill 20% - Gyroid
• Perimeters 2

After your print is finished it's time to organize your school supplies in you're newly finished insert.

Now that you're finished you can enjoy the ease of organizing your writing tools and never have to worry about where one of your random writing tools went.

Once you finished your design you can also try to experiment with adding drawers or later adapting the compartments to fit any new items you want to put in your pencil case.

Attached is the file to the insert I designed for the Satch Pencil Case.