Parametric, any-height, small drawer tower

prusaprinters

I needed some storage that would fit in a small space alongside my filament spool boxes. This drawer tower stands in a space only 90mm wide, although the FreeCAD file included is fully parametric so other sizes are possible.The drawers themselves are 55mm wide internally by default and I've included STL files for three different drawer heights.There are two types of drawer insert to act as dividers. The first is a simple box that will divide a drawer into smaller sections. The second is the same shape, but solid, with holes to store 3D print nozzles.The frames slide on to 12mm dowel and you can make the tower as tall as you like, though be careful not to make it so tall that it falls over when you pull out the top drawer!The included FreeCAD file has a spreadsheet where you can adjust the dimensions to produce custom drawers and frames if you need different sizes to the ones I've provided. The cells in the spreadsheet all have descriptions so hopefully it's not too difficult to work out what to change. Be aware that there's no protection against entering ridiculous numbers though, making the dimensions so small or large as to be impossible will probably just break the drawing. Also it's important to remember that when entering dimensions into the sheet you must include the units, so “20mm”, not just “20”. This is a limitation of the way FreeCAD works and entering a plain number will break the drawing!PrintingYou will need to print one top frame and one base frame. Then print as many shelf frames as you need. Each shelf frame will need a drawer. You can mix and match drawer heights but the topmost drawer has to be a “50”.Print the drawers with zero infill. This saves wasting print time trying to infill the vertical ribs which don't need the extra strength and are fine without it. The nozzle holders need around 15% infill. All the other parts are thin, solid shapes anyway so the infill setting doesn't matter.I've included STL files for two versions of the shelf frame. The version with holes will save some filament, but if you prefer the solid version then print that instead. There's no other difference between them. The base frame also has holes but if you prefer a solid base frame, just print a second top frame, they're exactly the same apart from the holes.You can print drawer dividers as you require.I've included gcode files for the Prusa MK3S+ printing in PETG at 0.3mm layer height. Note that some of the gcode files have multiple parts in them. You can of course slice your own gcode from the STL files.AssemblyOnce you have all the parts, stack up all the shelves and drawers one on top of another but without the top or base frame. Measure the height of this stack, this will be the length you need for the dowels. Cut four lengths of 12mm dowel to suit.Push the dowels into the four corner posts in the base frame. Then slide the shelf frames over the dowels one at a time. Make sure you have them all facing the same way as the drawers will only fit from one end.To set the height of each shelf, I suggest first fitting the correct drawer to the frame below it. Then push the next shelf frame down to the top of the drawer and raise it up again to give 1mm clearance so the drawer can be pulled out. The drawers are sized to allow for the thickness of the frame plus 1mm clearance.Once all the shelves are fitted, push the top frame onto the top ends of the dowels. It is a limitation of the design that the top drawer has to be a “50”, trying to use a smaller drawer here will result in a gap between the drawer and the top frame.Now fit all the drawers to the frames and make sure the frame spacing is correct. Each drawer should slide in and out easily with 1mm clearance to the frame above it. Once you're happy with the spacing, fit a small screw to each of the holes to fix the frames to the dowels. Keep checking the spacing as you fit the screws to make sure nothing has moved while you're working.Please see the photographs that I took whilst assembling my tower if that makes things any clearer.If you printed drawer dividers, these just push fit in between the upright ribs of each drawer. You can fit dividers in any space, and they fit next to each other too if necessary, but you probably don't want to fit one in the front space as it will block the finger hole in the front of the drawer.If you make one of these, please post your photos here, it's always good to see what other people do with these models.