9mm, 45 ACP & 40 S&W Ammo Boxes - 50 Rnds

thingiverse

I recently took up reloading and suddenly needed great ammo boxes. Of course I wanted to print them instead of buying them. Searching Thingiverse.com, I came across lucassiglo21's amazing 45ACP box which can be found here (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1078289). I printed several and found them to be excellent boxes, but I wanted more. First, I wanted all my pistol calibers to be in the same size box (9mm, 40S&W, and 45ACP). Second, I wanted the caliber to be visible from the side so I could quickly select the correct box. This wasn't strictly necessary since I print each caliber in a different color and I wanted them all to hold 50 rounds. Many smaller caliber boxes out there hold 100 rounds. Too big for me. Third, I wanted to be able to quickly generate a new box based on a new caliber without having to re-draw it. Fourth, I wanted my ammo boxes to act like a shell sorter, so that when I am collecting my brass I can reduce the number of 9MM shells that get mixed in with my 40S&W. The tolerances of these boxes are such that a 40SW shell doesn't fit easily into a 9MM box, and .380ACP is visibly too small for the box. To that end, I wrote an openSCAD routine that takes casing diameter, COL, and caliber text as inputs and generates a new 50 round box with the same external dimensions (within certain round size restrictions of course). I'm not ready to post the openSCAD file yet, but here is the 9MM box. Because it has extra space, I added dividers that group the rounds in groups of 10. Nice if you are doing reloads testing different powder loads, etc. You can load up 10 rounds of each and keep track of them easily in the box. lucassiglo21's 45ACP box was the inspiration for the exterior dimensions of this box and the hinge and latch design, but it isn't really a remix of that box because I didn't use any of his source files, simply measured and re-drew, but I want to make sure lucassiglo21 gets credit for a nice design from which I borrowed the hinge and latch styles. Make sure you check out the print settings for tips on getting a strong smooth print. POST PROCESSING: I added a small piece of support on the top latch. My printer can print it without the support, but it helps. lucassiglo21 also had support on his latch, but it was far too thick and was hard to remove. I made it much thinner and it doesn't seem to effect the quality of the latch and is much easier to remove. Be sure to cut it out before assembling the box. I use a 1/16" drill bit to clean out the holes on the BOTTOM of the box and use #16 x 1 1/2" nails trimmed to the length of the hinges as the hinge bearing. They fit snug and last a long time. That's it. -Enjoy UPDATE: If you are looking for a .223/5.56x45 box that match these boxes check out: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2177561 Print Settings Printer Brand: Printer: Rafts: Supports: Resolution: Infill: Notes: My print settings are: Material: PLA Layer Height: 300 micron Fill: 20% (nothing magic here. I just like the heft it gives the box. You could speed up printing by lowering the fill.) Temperature: 210 deg for the colored bottom and 215 for the clear top (makes it a little clearer.) Support: NONE (this is important or it will fill in your hinge holes. I added support where it is needed in the .STL Raft: None When printing the top, be sure to set your Outer Surface Parameters to 3 or greater. On my printer the default of 2 cause the thin outer walls of the top to not be filled, basically making the inner and outer wall parallel but not filled or connected. Although that gives you a nice 'clear' look in transparent white PLA, it weakens the top making it more flexible than I like. Raising the Outer Surface Parameters to 3 forces the printer to 'fill' between the two layers of the outer wall making the top strong without much decrease in transparency. If your top seems 'flimsy', raise the Outer Surface Parameters to 3 or more.