Under Desk Modular Multitool Holder System

thingiverse

The idea for this was that i wanted to have an under desk mountable low key tool holder into which i could snap and unsnap various tool holders when and if i need them while i work on various projects at my desk. Once i was done i would just unsnap the tool from the holder so it wouldn't be in the way of my normal everyday desk use. I started with a fixed multitool holder which screws under my desk with 2pcs of 2.5M wood screws. This worked already great and i designed a few holders for my needs. 1 holder for an electrical outlet (to plug in soldering irons etc), 1 general low key hook to hang small things onto it, 1 ball joint holder onto which i can design screw on tops which can be adjusted via the ball joint (for the moment i just made a holder for my Pinecil soldering iron). I might add more tools or tool holders over time but atm these are the first ones. Then i realized it would be even better if these mounts would not be in a fixed position so i could move them around depending on where i need them for any type of work. Thus i have designed the V2 version a relatively low key modular rail system which can be screwed under my desk (again using M2.5 wood screws). This allowed me to have movable multitool mounts. I also added a simple latch system (ugly but works) with which the multitool can be fixed into a position on the rail. There is a start piece for the rail which has a bit of a cutout where you can slot in a multitool base. The rest of the rail is closed so that the base can be moved securely along the path. I am pretty happy with the results so far. The snap in and release mechanism for the multitool holder base i took from a belt buckle design here on Thingyverse rather then designing my own. Also used a Pinecil holder i found here to be used with my ball joint base. The desk thickness under which i designed this system is 22.8 mm. Some tips for printing: When printing the the ball joint tool holder you have to add supports under the nut as its meant to be printing around the ball joint in the air. Reason is that the nut is not supposed to fit over the ball joint to come lose. Added a picture for printing reference. Print the fixed multitool holder with the flat face downwards towards the plate and only add support in the middle for the moving snap part (added picture for reference). For the rail version of the multitool holder i have created a special support that goes under it. It has a 0.3 gap to the part and needs to be pried apart after printing. I used the scraping tool of my printer. The reason i did this is that since this side will go along the rail i need to have as smooth of a surface as possible and regular supports always leave an uneven surface. Alternatively you can just print it without my custom support and sand it down but i hate sanding thus i designed this custom support part. You still also need to add normal supports under the snap in part here as well if you use the custom support file. There is also a alignment helper stl which i used for aligning the mounting position of the rails so that the multitool base side would be flush with the edge of the table. Update 2022.01.11: I replaced the base holder unit for the rail version of the system with what i had originally planned to design. In my original design for the rail version i wanted to have an integrated latch that would hook into the holes of the rail for fixing the position of the base unit but due to the orientation of the base during printing that part of the design was weak and would break off easily. Now i have redesigned this base part in a way that the latch mechanism can be printed separately flat on the bed and inserted into the base without problem. Now it works perfectly as one unit as i always intended. Update 2022.03.25: Added a Nano Vice attachment for the ball joint arm. I used the existing design by user PRIma (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2066644) and modified it by adding the threads to attach to the ball joint as well as made the vice longer and the clamping walls somewhat higher and thicker.