Utility Shelf: 20 × 20 Cm With Auxiliary Undershelf

20 × 20 shelf with auxiliary shelf

 I needed a small shelf to hold my soldering station. I came up with the following design that I think can be useful for many locations that need a utility shelf.

The shelf is 20 × 20 cm. The main shelf is pierced by fused hexagons to provide a pleasing shadow pattern as well as reduce the mass of the printed part. The shelf also includes an optional under shelf that gives a 11 × 15 × 5 cm cubby hole. The undershelf has a bit of Star Trek TOS shuttlecraft feel to it.

3-D printer

4 each M3 bolts with nuts and washer, 12 mm (or 8 mm without the undershelf)

Wall mounting screws for drywall (or whatever wall material)

Print the top shelf plate (shelf_top-plate.stl) facing up. I used PLA and no supports. I don't have an enclosed printer so I had a small amount of warping but the end result was perfectly acceptable to me.

Print the left and right brackets (shelf_left-bracket and shelf_right-bracket). I printed these with the rib of each on the printer plate. This provides greater strength for the wall attachment by printing. No supports were needed.

For the optional shelf, I printed this facing up and I needed to use supports. I found the organic (tree-type) supports in my Prusa Slicer gave excellent results.

Screw the top plate to the mounting brackets, with the the ribs facing out. Do not attach the undershelf yet. Use the mounting holes in the bracket as a template to mark where to drill in your wall for mounting. Attach the top plate and brackets to the wall.

If you are attaching the undershelf, unscrew the top shelf and add the undershelf with M3-12 screws. I used tape to temporarily hold the nuts in position while I screwed the undershelf to the top shelf.

I don't really know how strong the shelf is, I wouldn't rely on it holding more than 10 pounds. But after it was all assembled, it seemed quite sturdy.