Multi Drawer Components Cabinet

I designed this because I wanted a components cabinet (similar to those made by manufacturers such as Raaco and Akro-Mils) to store small parts (originally to organise all of my resistors to make it easier to find the one I wanted). There wasn't anything on Thingiverse that completely met my needs, so I drew this up

I have deliberately made the walls of the cabinet carcase quite thin (1mm) as I found that some things on Thingiverse appear to be over engineered in this regard. The lip at the top-front of each drawer slot is to prevent the drawer being accidentally pulled completely out (raise each drawer at an angle to insert / remove). I rejected other retention methods - spring-clip, detents etc as they would complicate a simple design and require thicker walls. The cut-outs in the walls reduce the amount of material used and improve the aesthetic, especially with different coloured drawers.

The drawers are made with thin walls (0.5mm) and turn out to be quite flexible and tough. You can set minimum perimeters = 2, if you want more rigid drawers. The corners are radiused to make it easier to remove small parts (I hate it when a 3mm nut gets stuck in the corner and I have to resort to tweezers to get it out.). The drawers have a finger slot instead of any protruding handle - partly to give a clean aesthetic but mostly to avoid having to use any printing supports.

I've Printed the cabinet carcase in PETG and PLA (at 0.35mm layer height) after having massive fails with ABS (shrinkage, warping and stress cracking). Be warned! the largest size (5 x 6) that fits on my print bed takes a looooong time to print!! Approximately 25hrs (I'm still printing it as I post this). I've printed the drawers in PLA and ABS, PETG having failed at the radiused corner.

I haven't put any feet on the cabinet (I use stick on rubber feet) so they can be epoxied together to form larger sizes if desired.

I drew this in SketchUp and have included the files for those who want to customise or change the design. The design is modular - copy however many of each type of drawer that you want, align them (precisely), group them and export to STL. The "Prototype with Hex Perfs.stl" drawings have a pretty hexagonal perforation infill to the openings but were not structurally sound, and were removed from the final design.

22/12/17

Uploaded picture of the the maximum size that will fit on my print-bed - 30 drawers, 6 x 5. Took 26 hours to print the carcase, plus 20 hours for the drawers.

Update 05/01/18

Have included a clip-on carry handle for those of us who need to move our kit from one venue to another. Hook the clip over the lip at the rear of the cabinet and click it down at the front. It appears to be a fairly strong attachment, I haven't had any come off yet. Obviously, it is most suited to those cabinet configurations with 3 or 5 columns.

It is a simple extrusion so should print cleanly on the majority of printers. I have printed it in PLA at 0.2mm and 0.35mm layer heights.

Next job is to make some sort of clip to prevent the drawers moving during transit. The simple designs I have tried have been unsuccessful so far.