A set of connectors for making boxes out of 20 mm square aluminium profiles

prusaprinters

This is a set of 3D-printable connectors for making heavy duty boxes out of 20 mm square aluminium profiles. The pictures shows how I used them, but they are universal for any size of box, just cut the aluminium profiles to the desired length. There are connectors for just a box, for a box with intermediate brackets, with mounts for 3D-printed wheels and with mounts for a trolley-type extendable handle. Instructions: For normal corners use corner.stl. 8 of these will make a simple box. For intermediate brackets use intermediate.stl. This can be used as bracing, but is more useful for dividers. Rotate as needed. For corners with wheels use the corner+wheel left and right stl and print some Emmet's bearings for wheels: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53451, see 2nd picture. If you want a trolley-type handle, print the corner+trolley left and right piece that will take place instead of two normal corners and 2 pieces of handle_corner.stl to make your handle. See 3rd picture. Once you stick the handle into the corner connector, screw a self-tapping screw on both rods in the other side to prevent it from coming out again. If you screw it in the end of the rod itself, the handle becomes extendable. Print Settings Printer: Craftbot Rafts: No Supports: Yes Resolution: 250 um Infill: 25-33% Notes: Print as many pieces as you need (the trolley on the picture uses 14 pieces, 4 corner pieces, 4 intermediate pieces, 2 pieces with wheel mounts, 2 corner pieces for an extendable trolley handle and 2 pieces for the handle itself). The connectors are quite snug-fitting (0.5mm play), so check your extruded rods if they are indeed 20x20 mm (non-anodized ones can be bigger in my painful experience) and scale accordingly. This prints best with PLA (and is strong enough). If you do it with ABS, you could have issues due to shrinkage: scale to +5%. Warping will also be a problem with ABS. One note about printing structural parts: Use higher hot-end temp than usual (PLA: +10°C, ABS: +20°C) to get good interlayer adhesion. The prints will be just a bit uglier (e.g. stringing increases), but A LOT stronger. Post-Printing Assembly Cut aluminium profiles to desired length in pairs, stick them in the connectors, check dimensions and either glue the profiles in the connectors or use self-tapping screws for a removable construction. Category: DIY