Modular drawers, locking, low material use

A system of modular storage drawers, consisting of drawers, frames and shells.

Features

• Material saving construction, less than 100 grams per unit, but strong enough to stand on
• Double locking drawers, great for boats, RV's, and vans
• Multiple drawer sizes, with up to three dividers per drawer
• Inserts for non-adhesive labels so you don't have to remember what is stored where
• All outside walls are printed with their outside wall on the build plate so they will have the same texture all around
• Easy and fast printing, 0.6mm nozzle no problem, no supports needed
• Construction of the frames possible with scrap material as they remain invisible

More info

I designed these modular drawers because I wanted a specific set of features not found in other designs:

• I live on a boat, so the drawers should not slide open by themselves in rough conditions or at extreme heeling angles. The drawers need to be lifted 2.5mm to unlock. To take out the entire drawer you have to lift it again when it is fully open.
• Almost all modular designs I have seen consist of completely enclosed units. This means that for a drawer in the middle of the stack, it will have its own walls, then the walls of its container, then the wall of the adjacent unit. A lot of useless walls! By separating the walls from the frames a lot of material can be saved, and as an extra bonus all the walls copy the texture of the build plate. I don't have the “carbon” build plate but I bet it would look awsome to have that texture all around! One standard unit (drawer plus frame) takes less than 100 grams, so you can get at least 10 complete units out of one standard size spool of filament!
• I don't want to have to remember “The three-color LED's are on the second row, fifth column” so I wanted to have an easy way to add non-adhesive labels to each drawer.
• As a I run an electronics lab on my boat, I need to have about 150 of these units. A project like this should not take a ton of material, so I not only saved material by separating the walls from the frames, but also by special weight saving construction details without compromising functionality, which I learned as a former airplane builder/designer. The frames are printed with a wall setting of only 1, yet they are strong enough to stand on!

Material choice and printer settings

I filled up the build plates with all the parts, but of course the idea is that you only select what you need.

I didn't test this project with a myriad of materials and printer options. I printed with PETG, with a 0.4mm nozzle, for the frames a wall setting of 1(!) and a gyroid infill of 10%. This results in a construction strong enough to stand on. You can add more material with a higher wall and infill setting, but you won't achieve anything useful with it.

The side walls of the drawers are only 1.2mm thick, but unless you plan to store angry living creatures, nothing will fall out.

The frames are “multi color”, this allows you to print the bulk with scrap material which won't be visible at all, and only at the final 7 layers or so to print with the intended color. If you don't have scrap material, just print the whole thing with the same color.

If you use other materials, nozzles and/or printer settings, let me know the results!