Nested Hinged Boxes

Here's another variation of hinged boxes that print in place. These five hinged boxes are printed individually but are sized to nest one inside the other after printing. Each hinge is printed with a 0.40 mm tolerance between moving parts; no supports are needed.

The gcode files are tailored to the Prusa i3 MK3S. Their titles give the dimensions of each box and the time it takes to print in PLA on that machine with 0.15 mm layer height. The first three numbers are outer dimensions of the container without the lid: width (mm, parallel to the hinge axis), depth (mm, horizontal and perpendicular to the hinge axis) and height (mm, vertical height of container only).

For use with any 3D printer, stl files are provided directly from Fusion with the outer dimensions defined as above. Scaling is generally not recommended as it will change the tolerance, causing a fused or a sloppy joint.

Although the author is no expert on Fusion 360, the file that created these models is also provided. In it, dimensions are parameterized and anyone with access to Fusion can change them easily for their own purpose, adding fillets and rounded corners or otherwise modifying the model. The dimensions most recommended for modifying are the width, depth and height of the box.

This effort was inspired by Greg Zumwalt's "Print in Place" hinged boxes on myminifactory. In his design the hinge diameter is equal to the height of the box, a workable plan for thin boxes. Wanting to print thicker boxes, I designed these so that the hinge diameter can be much less than the height of the box.