Customized Bottle Stand

Hello! This is a detailed guide on how to make your very own 3D printed bottle stand that can be both hung on a mirror or in the shower, or just placed on any flat surface. This bottle stand was created for my 1 oz serum bottles from the brand TruSkin, but this guide can be used to create a stand for any type of bottle of any size.

I 3D printed this design using PLA, and the total cost of the project for me was approximately $5. The amount of PLA I used cost roughly $2 and the only other product I bought was suction cups in order to make the stand hangable, which were $7 for a pack of 6 on Amazon. All other materials I used, I already owned. This price could vary depending on the type of filament and suction cups used, as well as if you do not own the additional materials needed to make the product (basically a 3D printer).

I thought of building a bottle stand for my serum bottles because the droppers they come with are not long enough to reach the product at the bottom and the bottle does not have a flat top for me to stand it upside down. The serum is also quite viscous so its takes awhile to flow down to the opening from the very bottom. I have several reasons for building my own personal bottle stand over purchasing one that is already in the market. The first being that the serum bottle stands that I have seen currently being sold do not meet my requirements in what I want my stand to do/ be like. They are all made to hold bottles upright and are meant to be placed on a table. I wanted a stand that could hold my bottles upright and upside down and that I could also hang on my mirror to save table space. Most stands are also on the larger side and are for many bottles, I only needed something that could hold two bottles; I also wanted my stand to, in general, be small and not take up too much space. i would also have to take time finding a stand that could hold my specific bottles diameter, which is not easy to do. For those reasons I decided to build my own stand to meet my specific needs.

• Calipers or any other measuring tool
• Paper
• Pen/Pencil
• Desired Bottle(s) for stand
• CAD software - I used SolidWorks
• Filament - I used PLA
• Suction cups or hooks. I bought my suction cups from here:

https://www.amazon.com/BlingKingdom-Suction-Plastic-Without-Adhesive/dp/B09BTW2148/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=suction+cups&qid=1682369682&sr=8-1

• 3D Printer - I used an Elegoo Neptune 2
• Optional: Super glue

In order for your stand to work properly it is crucial that you take accurate measurements of your desired bottle. Using calipers ensures the precision of your measurements, but using a regular ruler or tape measure will also suffice.

The first measurements to take are the diameter of the bottle's base, and the diameter of its lid. If your bottle has a consistent diameter all the way through that is fine, we will go over how to modify the design for your bottle in a later step. Additionally take measurements of the bottles over all height and the height of the lid.

Next take measurements of your suction cups as well. Measure the diameter and length of the attached screw, as well as the diameter of the suction cup. If you plan on not hanging your stand using a different method such as a hook or a nail, measure their diameter and length accordingly. Since I purchased my suction cups online, dimensions were provided on the amazon page, but double check your dimensions anyways because there is always a tolerance range for manufactured products, and we want our measurements to be as precise as possible.

Make sure to record and label all your measurements on a piece of paper you will not misplace because they will be needed in order to design your model. My final Dimensions ended up being the following:

Bottle:

Bottle Base Diameter: 33 mm

Bottle Lid Diameter: 22 mm

Bottle Height: 102 mm

Bottle Lid Height: 33 mm

Suction Cup:

Screw Diameter: 4.7 mm

Screw Length: 17.3 mm

Suction Cup Diameter: 39 mm

Before we start modeling our design in CAD, do a rough sketch that shows the approximate positioning and dimensions of the stand. It does not have to be a real sketch, just some rough lines that represent where the holes should go and how much space should be in between them and on the sides. Planning where everything goes and dimensioning our part will make the modeling go by faster and will lead to a more accurately sized stand.

Now knowing the diameter of the base of your bottle, add about 0.05 inches (1.27 mm) to it and draw a line representing that length. We are adding a little to the diameter so that the hole can be snug but not fit too tightly, this way our bottle can be easily taken out. Next decide how much space you want from your first hole and the edge and how much space you want between each hole. I put half an inch (12.7 mm) between the sides and 0.4 in (10 mm) of space between the holes. Draw this out and then add the diameters of all the holes you are planning to put and the spaces, and that will be the length of your part. My length ended up being 4 in (102 mm). I only created a stand for two bottles, but feel free to have room for more or less, just follow the dimensioning rules above.

Next do the same to determine the height. This stand is designed to hold the bottle upright and upside down, as well as hang or sit on a table. Since the holes are pretty snug, the stand does not need to come up to the bottles center of gravity (which is typically the halfway point), about a little more than 1/3 of the height will suffice to keep the bottle standing upright. 1/3 of the bottle height will be half the height of the stand, the other half will be the length of the lid and neck so that the bottle can be held properly when it is placed in the stand upside down. My total height ended up being 2 in (51 mm)

For the width of the part I added 0.85 in (22 mm) to either side of my bottle diameter, giving me a final width of 3 in (76 mm). I added this much to either side to make the part look symmetrical while creating space for a handle in the back to use for hanging my stand. The added width will also help in creating a stable body for the bottles to sit in.

NOTE: Take measurements of the build plate of your 3D printer and keep its size in mind when scaling your part. You have the freedom to make this design as big or as small as you want but keep in mind that it has to fit on your build plate. My Elegoo Neptune 2 is 220x220x250 mm.

Once you have your dimensions measured and planned out you can begin modeling the design in any CAD software. As stated above, I used SolidWorks to model mine.

I started by beginning a sketch on the top plane and drew a rectangle. Next dimension the rectangle according to plan schematics you came up with. Add relationships between the midpoints of the rectangles sides and the origin. Add a vertical relationship between the horizontal sides midpoint and the origin and a horizontal relationship between the vertical sides midpoint and the origin. This will center the rectangle and make it easier to position your holes later on. Now extrude the rectangle to the height you calculated. I ended up with a 3x4 in (76x102 mm) rectangle that was 2 in (51 mm) tall.

NOTE: Save your work throughout the modeling process so there is no chance of you loosing anything!

Next start a new sketch on the top face of the rectangle. On this face we will be making holes the size of the diameter of the bottle. Draw a construction line going through the origin of the part. Using that as a reference, draw another construction line to either right or left of the first construction line, starting at the top of the part and ending the line about halfway. Dimension this line to be the distance you want the center of the circle to be from the edge and top (the distance you want circle to be from the edge plus the radius). My line was 1 in long (25.4 mm) from the top and 1in away from the side. At the end of this line you will draw a circle and dimension it to be the size of your bottles diameter. Next you will use the mirror feature to create an identical hole the same distance away from the edges on the other side. Use the construction line centered on the origin as the mirror line, and select the circle you made as the object to be mirrored. If you have several holes you can use the linear pattern feature and space them accordingly instead. After make an extruded cut of the holes going about a third of the height down. Make sure not to cut the hole all the way through the part. If you have a bottle that is the same diameter throughout you can make this hole longer, like about half the height of the bottle.

Repeat the above steps on the bottom face of the rectangle for the smaller holes. Keep the previous sketch shown to ease the drawing and dimensioning process. Once finished make and extruded cut for this hole that goes all the way through the part. Your holes are now finished! if desired you could decrease the height and length and print out a prototype to ensure the fit of your bottles is right.

If you are satisfied with your sizing though you can move on to creating the handle. Start by creating a new sketch on the top face. Draw a rectangle that is the same length as your extruded rectangle and dimension the width to be wide enough to comfortably and stably sit on your hook or screw, it should not be too much longer than the screw and definitely should not be shorter. The width of my handle was about 0.4 in (10 mm). Next extrude this to be tall enough to cover the suction cups. Mine was about half an inch tall.

Finally the last step to finish the 3D modeling is to create the holes on the handle to hang the stand. Create a new sketch on the back face of the model. Use the same method used to create the bottle holes to center these holes. I made mine the exact diameter I measured for the screw hooks (4.7 mm), because I did not want any slipping to occur and wanted the stand to stably hang off the screws on the suction cups. Once drawn, extrude these holes all the way through.

Optional: To improve the look and decrease the print time, add fillets to your model. I added 0.25 in (6.35 mm) fillets to all the outer edges of the model. Your fillets can be a little smaller or larger than this, the size or addition of these fillets will not effect the functionality of your stand.

You have now finished modeling your bottle stand! Click save as and save your part as a STL file so you can open it up in your desired 3D printing software to print.

The final step to getting your hands on your very own customized bottle stand is printing! You can use any material you are comfortable, I used PLA. Open your STL file in your preferred slicer, I used Cura. When you open the part in your slicer make sure it is oriented to print upright, this will lead to minimal, if any, imperfections and requires no supports. Change the infill to 10%, and all other standard settings should suffice. Now you may either hook your computer up to your printer or download your print onto a chip. The print time for mine was about 7 hours and use up 98 grams of filament, both these values could be larger or smaller depending on the size of your model. You can use any material you are comfortable, I used PLA. If you plan to put your stand in a shower, use a more waterproof and heat resistant material like PETG.

Once your print is finished you will have your very own bottle stand!

NOTE: Once printing is complete give your print bed some time to cool so that your part can easily come off.

Once you have finished printing the part and removing it from the print bed you are ready to hang it! If you are utilizing suction cups firmly place the suction cups on your desired surface, making sure they are a distance apart that aligns with the holes, and then go ahead and slide your part on!. The particular suction cups I purchased can hold up to 5 pounds of weight each, and I tested the strength of my stand by attaching 4 pounds of weights, which is all I had available, and it caused no distortion or deflection in my part. So now you should have a durable and functioning bottle stand. You can also place this stand on a flat surface instead of keeping it hung. I like to keep my stand hanging whenever I am not using my products, and then when I do I take it off the hooks and place it on my vanity so I can easily reach it.

Optional: if you want to keep your stand hanging only, you can glue the screws or hooks you have inside the holes.

Congrats on making your very own bottle stand! I hope this tutorial was helpful!