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Rugged Storage Box, Parametric and Customizable

Available on Printables CC-BY-SA-4.0 license

A parametric and customizable rugged storage box or toolbox for OpenSCAD. Make and customize your own boxes!

Renders animation showing various box sizes Renders animation showing various box radii and chamfers Photo of closed box Photo of open box with multimeter inside

Revision -- January 25, 2024

While creating my Gridfinity Rugged Storage Box, I've made some updates to this model.

New features:

  • New draw latch option
  • New top opening grip and hinge end stop options

Changes:

  • The default required screw size is now M3x40 instead of M3x30
    • Boxes can still be configured for M3x30 screws -- see screw length formula below
  • The clip latch has been redesigned
  • Default sizing for the wall, lip, and screw attachment points have been increased
  • Latch size tolerance is now subtracted from the latch width instead of added to the latch ribs spacing
  • The latch edges are chamfered using minkowski

Description

Inspired by several other terrific rugged box models, I built a rugged box model of my own! This model can create parametric boxes, and can also be used as a library to make customized boxes! I chose OpenSCAD so the software and model would be fully open source.

Features

  • Configurable sizing, including basic dimensions (width, length, height), corner radius, and top/bottom edge chamfer
  • Choice of latch style (clip or draw)
  • Optional handle
  • Optional label
  • Optional top opening grip and/or hinge end stops
  • Optional lip seal, integrated or for 1.75mm filament
  • Optional reinforced (thicker) corners
  • All parts print without supports
  • Model code organized as a library -- make your own custom boxes!

Hardware

The hinges and latches are attached using M3 screws, M3x40 by default. Each hinge needs 1 screw and each latch needs 2. A box with one latch needs 3 screws total, while a box with two latches needs 6 screws total.

Boxes with the default sizing options can be assmbled with M3x40 and M3x55 hex socket head cap screws (DIN 912):

Screw length formula

  • All screws except for boxes with handles:

    • Latch Width (default 28mm) + 2 x Rib Width (default 6mm). At default values, 28 + 2 * 6 = 40, or M3x40 screws.
    • To use M3x30 screws, set Latch Width to 22 and Rib Width to 4.

  • For boxes with handles, replace two of the above screws with:

    • Latch Width (default 28mm) + 3 x Rib Width (default 6mm) + handle thickness (10mm). At default values, 28 + 3 * 6 + 10 = 56, or about M3x55 screws.

Rendering

Ensure both rugged-box.scad and rugged-box-library.scad are placed in the same directory. Open rugged-box.scad in OpenSCAD.

Select your desired dimensions and options in the OpenSCAD Customizer. Then, one at a time, select each part (top, bottom, latch, and handle) in the Part drop-down. For each part, perform a render (F6) and export to STL (F7).

Customizer screenshot Customizer part selection screenshot

Printing

Printer preparation

These boxes are (usually) large prints. Clean your print bed and ensure it is reasonably level.

Print settings

I have printed boxes from both PLA and PETG.

Print the box top and bottom parts on their outer faces. Latches print on their side. No supports are needed. For the latches, a brim may be helpful for bed adhesion.

For stronger boxes, latches, and handle, increase to 3 perimeters and 30% infill.

Slicer screenshot

Design your own custom boxes

Design your own custom boxes using rugged-box-library.scad! Try one of these tutorials for inspiration.

Tutorial: Rugged box with dividers Tutorial: Rugged box with cutouts
Rugged box with dividers tutorial render Rugged box with cutouts tutorial render

License

This model is licensed under Creative Commons (4.0 International License) Attribution-ShareAlike.