Pillbox Holder - OpenSCAD Customizer

thingiverse

Sometimes when you're on multiple medications, it can be tough to keep track of which ones are running low. And if a med runs out on a Sunday, so you've got the current week covered, and by the time Sunday rolls around again, it's already the weekend and you're out of medication! **OH NO!** I hate when that happens! Don't worry anymore! Now you can fill up multiple weeks at once, and know from one glance when you'll be running low in plenty of advance notice to refill, with vertical stacking to minimize spillage too. For those who take morning and evening meds and travel a lot, these can get pretty bulky to carry for three weeks, so you can print off a smaller one-week "travel" version. (Pic #1 shows the full-size I used briefly on the left, with a "travel" variant on the right) All you need to supply are those dollar-each "once a day" boxes available from corner pharmacies -- though I recommend avoiding any with ink on top since it rubs off on the plastic and you're left wondering which day is which! (Seriously, check out pic #2, I'm not kidding) I've tested Walgreens and CVS, and both fit just fine. If yours don't, the OpenSCAD file is provided so you can adjust as needed. I know they make "twice a day" med boxes, but usually they're meant for smaller or bigger pill sizes with nothing in between. This fits my needs perfectly. --- ### Notes / Licensing - As always, my stuff is under the "just don't sue me k?" BSD license, so you can use it for any purpose whatsoever, private or commercial. Big families with lots of kids that need a way to keep their medications straight? Check. Elderly caretakers needing to keep advance notice on meds? Check. Married couples with two cat children? Present. Veterinarians? Check -- no, the other kind -- well, actually both? - The print seen in pic #2 is my very first functional 3D print, printed shortly after [the wumpus I designed](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2881331) in mid-2015, which is why it's red. The others shown in pic #1 are very recent, only once I made the Google SketchUp to OpenSCAD conversion. The fact that functional print #1 has held up so well is a testament to the simplicity of the design given it sees regular use to this day (with a short break for a twice-a-day medication, which saw the setup in pic #1 being used, itself requiring the conversion) --- ### Recommendations - PLA. Don't overdo it, your meds will go long before the plastic does, and PLA has just the right amount of flex to allow those braille bumps and the feet to work past without being too hard on the print. - Consider color. If you have multiple people in your household that take pills and you want a universal setup, let everyone pick a color and print holders in that color. I just had a bunch of red sitting around from the aforementioned wumpus, but for multiple people in the same house using this same setup, each person could have their own color, for example. - If you're unsure on fitment, and don't want to waste much filament, use the OpenSCAD file and set Rows and Cols to 1 each. Then print it and see how it handles. If adjustments are needed, relevant variables are at top of [ `module single(isFirst)` ] as well as at the top of the file, and names should be self-explanatory. - "Standard" nozzle diameter, infill, shell, perimeters, etc. should all be fine. Raft actually may make things worse for removal, I've found that the best way to free the print off the bed is to pinch the squares, it pops right off without tools and without even removing the bed either. Just wait for the bed to cool down a bit first. --- ### Outstanding issues - You can make the columns further spaces apart horizontally (useful for widening the opening gap), but not the rows vertically (probably useful for inspection of meds or just to strengthen the design a bit more during a tumble). Need to add row padding as a result. --- ### Changelog **2018-12-01** - Initial Upload