Lost Cities Game Box Insert 3D Printer Model

Author: @
License: CC BY-NC-SA
File formats: stl
Download type: zip
Size:1.1MB

The file 'Lost Cities Game Box Insert 3D Printer Model' is (stl) file type, size is 1.1MB.

Summary

Another board game, another cost savings of a nickel per unit with no in-box organization. Le sigh.

This one is... it's a big one to be honest. It doesn't fill the entire box (just the center bit left open by the cardboard spacer), but there's a lot going on here. I've made an effort to lighten the weight, print time and material usage by hollowing out the underside with hemi-cylinders. The goal was to not need supports but having printed it without, then with, I'd say it definitely benefits from minimal supports (just touching buildplate). The picture of the bottom of Tray 3 (the removable one) shows the results side-by-side - not bad enough to reprint (it's on the bottom, who cares), but enough to make me reconsider. Try it yourself and see if it works out better for you.

There are three "trays", numbered 1 - 3 from bottom to top:

  • Trays 1 and 2 hold all the stuff that gets set up or distributed at the start of the game and can be left in the box during gameplay. Ultimately these get assembled into a single unit after printing.
  • Tray 3 is designed to be taken out of the box and placed on the table within reach of all the players and holds all the bits that get earned during the game. As such I gave it a couple of finger wells to easily fish it out of the box. Since it's got all the loose chits I made a lid that is held in place by 6mm x 2mm cylindrical magnets so nothing goes walkabout during storage. The magnets can be found here: Deryun 180 Pack Refrigerators Magnets Fridge Magnets for Whiteboard

WARNING: Be extremely careful with your magnet pole orientation! You need to make sure the poles are correctly aligned to attract the lid to the tray. Also, printers and print settings will vary, and the magnets may be nice and snug in the slot, or they may go in fairly easily... it is advised to dry-fit the magnets before gluing them in - snug is good, but you don't want to have to use extreme force to press them in. You can carefully shave the walls down with an x-acto blade if necessary. You can use a sparse drop of CA glue in each slot or the tiniest dollop of 5-minute epoxy and press each magnet in.

I'm including two versions of this model:

  • Split versions with left and right pieces for smaller format printers. For the trays you'll want to print 15 of the triangular splices (16, if you're like me and prone to dropping one irretrievably into the black hole that is the back of my printing table). For Tray 3's lid, print 1 of the lid splices... it's meant to bridge the gap and reinforce where the two lid pieces meet. A bit of 5-minute epoxy will make the multiple parts as one. It is also advisable to very lightly sand all the mating faces being glued together, especially if you are prone to getting the dreaded elephant's foot.
  • Whole versions that can be printed as single pieces for larger format printers. I have included a single piece each of Tray 1 and Tray 2 that can be glued to one another with 4 of the triangular splices, or a monolithic Tray 1 & 2 single assembly.

This passes my test for storage, which simply involves packing the box then giving it a good shake while turning it in all directions. Everything stayed in place.

Also, a note to say that I've tried many different variations of shape and size for splice pieces, and I've gotta' say my recent foray into using the triangular shape has me well pleased. It's easy to print flat so you don't have an obvious shear weakness along the radius like you do with a cylindrical splice that needs to be printed upright, and it acts like a keyed join to increase the accuracy of part alignment.

Also also a personal note to say that yes, the surface quality of my print needs dialing in on the slice - and that's on me - but I attribute most of the ugly to using adaptive layers. I've had mixed results with adaptive layers with sizable layer heights (.262), and it really does shave a good bit of time off of what is essentially a blocky shape, but it does (in my experience) tend to sacrifice some quality while it's at it, whereas the same print at a fixed layer height comes out much smoother. In then end, this is going to be sitting closed in a box 99.99% of the time, so it wasn't worth reprinting for a pristine surface.

Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Lid_-_Left.stl 50.3KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Lid_-_Right.stl 64.4KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Lid_-_Single_Piece.stl 113.5KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Lid_-_Splice.stl 5.6KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Splice.stl 53.2KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_1_-_Left.stl 173.0KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_1_-_Right.stl 237.5KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_1_-_Single_Piece.stl 388.7KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_1__2__-_Single_Piece.stl 596.8KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_2_-_Left.stl 120.3KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_2_-_Right.stl 105.9KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_2_-_Single_Piece.stl 213.9KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_3_-_Left.stl 225.3KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_3_-_Right.stl 322.1KB
Lost_Cities_Game_Box_Insert_-_Tray_3_-_Single_Piece.stl 544.3KB