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3D-Printed SMD Component Storage with Lid

Customizable part holder for SMD resistors and capacitors

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I needed a way to organize my SMD resistors and capacitors. It is a very important feature that each compartment has its own lid. Much worse than losing a part is when it falls into a box where it shouldn't belong.

You can print a single compartment, or you can have a multitude of compartments in a tray, and keep those trays in a rack. If you need it, there's a funnel, which helps filling up the compartments.

I recommend to print the tray upside down, without support. The lids will need support because of the hinges, and if your bed adhesion is less than perfect, you probably want to use a raft,. The Prusa i3 mk3's smooth PEI build plate gives excellent surface finish, but I had to tweak live Z and temperature to get it right.

For the lids use no fan, 0.2 mm layers, heated bed at 45 deg C for the first layer and 40 deg C for the rest. Keep hot end as cool as possible, I'm printing at 193 deg C (first layer 200). PETG might work better than PLA because its adhesion is even better.

I'm changing the lids a little so the hinges don't stick out that much and so are easier to print.

You can install the lids on the box by simply pressing them in. When your PLA is rigid, it helps a lot if you do it in a warm room or over the heater. In cold air the hinges might break while installing.

SMDpartHolder.tar.bz2

rendered STL files

application/x-bzip - 796.03 kB - 11/25/2018 at 20:50

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3rdGen.scad

OpenSCAD project

application/x-openscad - 16.83 kB - 11/25/2018 at 20:49

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  • First tray complete!

    Zoé11/27/2018 at 17:42 0 comments


    Now I'm printing a funnel to test the concept. I made a few minor tweaks to the lid, and updated the files. They should be compatible with the already uploaded tray. Next I'll design a rack and print more trays. (and start using them actually).

    The lids fit very nicely. There's just the right amount of friction that it doesn't open on its own, but still opens easily by a finger or a tweezer which will be in your hand anyway.

  • Lids are tricky to print

    Zoé11/27/2018 at 13:08 0 comments

    I had a bad time trying to print a bunch of lids. The bed adhesion is good, but the hinge is a critical part, where it starts warping upward and hitting the extruder while printing the subsequent layers, which leads to detachment and failed prints. After tweaking some settings I got about 80% yield, which is much worse than 100%.

    Now I'm trying to print with supports around the hinges and hope that it will alleviate the problem. Problem is that the first few layers print out just fine, and then it gets progressively worse. I'm thinking about changing the cutout on the lid to be bigger, so the hinge doesn't stick out that much.

  • First print

    Zoé11/26/2018 at 17:36 0 comments

    I screwed up the first print because I was tinkering too much with the slic3r settings and got a terrible bed adhesion. Then for the night I had to pause the print, and as it cooled down, the tray has detached from the build plate. I'm printing it again, now with standard 0.2mm layer size.

    Putting a bunch of lids next to the tray is a bad idea; the lids will warp. Rather, do a separate job (maybe with a smaller layer height for the detail. I rendered a bunch of lids close to each other, and updated the files.

    It came out usable anyway, but the lids aren't that nice fitting. I also need more of them.

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