Luxurious Storage Box With Origami Folding Lid(s)

Make your own multi-purpose box with a very unusual way of opening. Very satisfying to watch and comprehend how it works.

Thinking about new ideas to design and make with my printer I remembered a youtube video I saw years ago about a door or garagebox opening in a very intriguing way. After some searching I found the video and started wondering how to design it so I could print it.

In the beginning I had no directly identifiable useful object in mind. In the end, it has become the luxury storage box now presented, which can be used as a jewelery box, drawing box, pencilcase or perhaps even as giftbox.

In the next steps I'm going to explain how to make it yourself, supported with video's of about 1 minute for each assembly step.

Printed parts, 2x a cube magnet of 5mm, sandpaper, a bore Ø3-Ø3.2, a knife, a (small) hammer and if needed some glue.

Well, that's atualy kind of hard to explain by words, but in short it means that by folding the 2 different lids they can rotate past each other and thus be opened. A video is much more convenient, so I added it.

The movement of both lids is made possible by the flexibility of only 2x 1 layer printed in PLA.

It is therefore very important that these layers are printed accurately and according to a predetermined direction.

Before you start, make sure your printer's bed leveling is good and use quality PLA. Do not try to print this model with old PLA or an incorrectly configured printer.

Read all steps carefully to achieve a good end result.

Because the material is bent during use, breakage may eventually occur. I haven't had this happen to date with normal use, but be aware that the lids don't last forever. However, the lids are replaceable.

Print everything in PLA with a nozzle of 0.4 and a layer thickness of 0.2.

The percentage of infill is at your own choice, but do not go below 10%.

You must ensure that when printing both lids, the print tracks are printed at right angles to the hinge parts! I positioned the models in such a way that this is OK with a standard fill angle of 45°. See the screenshot of the slicer, in my case Prusa. You can either use 2x the STL file with the single lid, or 1x the STL file with 2 lids.

Everything can be printed without supports or brim. The only part that may be printed with supports is the Knob, you will see it in the video's.

Because the double hinges and the flexibility of the lids prevented the lids from tight closing, I added two small cube magnets of 5mm. These attract the lids, so that they lay neatly flat. This also serves as a locking mechanism for the lids. So, the only extra you need are 2 of these magnets. Due to a fixed stop, the two magnets remain slightly apart. 

You can use the model without the magnets. (You can always add them later)

I would strongly advise to first read all other steps before printing.

After printing, carefully bend both lids fully a few times to make the hinged action flexible.

Press both magnets into both the box and the knob-lock plate. Make sure they attract each other.... Magnets are two small cube magnets of 5mm. Press them till they can go no further!

Carefully remove any protruding burrs as the tolerance on all parts is very tight.

If necessary, carefully re-drill the holes in the lids (for the knob) to ensure that there is enough clearance there.

Now place the knob through both holes in the covers (top of the knob on the side without the axles) and place the knob-lock plate over both axles. Tap it carefully with e.g. a flat punch and a small hammer. The knob with the bevelled side facing outwards when the lids are closed proved to work most comfortably.

Now place both axles of the lids straight! into both holes of the box and firmly push it in. The lids should fit flush with the top of the box. (Before mounting, you can still change the orientation of the knob mounted in the previous step by turning the covers around the knob and mounting rotated 180°!). If you ever need to replace a lid, use a knife or flat screwdriver to push the axles straight out of the holes.

Opening and closing require some minor skills. Do not force the movement under any circumstances. Lift the lids by the knob and tilt it slightly toward you. Then make an up and down arcing motion as you open the lids. You do opposite to close the lids. After opening and closing a few times, this feels natural.

The flexible hinges are amazingly strong. I was so mesmerized by the movement and what I had created that I opened the lid maybe a hundred times in a row. Even after several days of frequent use (and showing it to others) not a single print path was broken! If a lid ever breaks, you can reprint it. You could possibly experiment with flexible PLA or other materials. Do not use PETG, I tried it but they tend to break very easy!

The first to use the basic principle in a design was far as I know Austrian artist Klemens Torggler, who in 2013 uses a folding and pivoting system to collapse and roll to one side. The two squares were divided diagonally with hinges into 2 pieces. This creates one pivot point at both tips in the middle that can only work with a ball joint. The two squares rotated horizontally on the top and at the bottom with an axis in bearings mounted in the wall/frame.

Later others came up with a similar system, where the two squares were divided into 3 pieces. The first video of this appeared in 2018 from one Warwick Turvey who claimed to have gotten his inspiration from a video game. In the years that followed, videos of DIY projects of this model by carpenters and metalworkers who all made their own version appeared regularly.

In my model I opted for a double hinge point at the knob. This gives that little bit of extra freedom in the movement and makes the lids move more easily.