Yet Another Mini Storage Solution

thingiverse

Since I started printing all those miniatures for Gloomhaven, I realized I needed a reliable way to store and transport them. There are numerous excellent mini storage solutions available, but I'm quite particular and wanted one that stood out from the crowd, so I designed another one. This design is tailored to fit inside a plastic tote box that I purchased at Costco in a six-pack. Two trays can be placed side by side (I set them on a towel because the bottom of the tote isn't perfectly flat), and at least two more can stack on top of each other. I crafted these trays to stack with 5 cm of vertical clearance between the layers, as many Gloomhaven monsters are approximately 1.5 times human height. This tray is designed for miniatures with a 25 mm base and fits them snugly enough that they won't lift out of their tracks but still slide in easily. I tapered the tops of channels that hold the miniatures in place at 45 degrees so that the entire thing can be printed without any supports. As you might expect, it accommodates my 25 mm numbered bases perfectly. To stack it, simply print four RiserOutside pieces and slot them into the outside of the sheets as shown in the photos. They feature tabs to ensure they go into the correct spot and are at the right orientation. I built these tabs so that additional layers can be stacked on top of each other using the same slots if you need more than two layers. I glued the risers to the bottom tier of the sheets and then allowed the next tier up to sit down on the tabs. Then, I could lift off the upper layer to access the contents on the lower one. Small binder clips can be used to hold layers together if needed. Gluing the risers onto the bottom layer was also helpful as it provided an easy way to grab the layer and lift it out of my tote box. I think I'm going to go ahead and print risers for all of the layers, even if I don't intend to stack additional ones on top, just so that I've got those easy grip points for packing and unpacking. I created additional risers in the RiserInside.stl file. Those are designed to be glued on top of the dividers in the middle of the sheet if additional support is needed. PLA is certainly flexible when printed this thin over such a long distance (1.5 mm thick over a 210 mm length, with all those cutouts), so these additional support structures can help keep upper layers flatter if needed. I haven't needed them yet and so haven't bothered to make them, but they're there if you need them. I printed mine with .15 mm layers and no supports. If you're interested in learning how I made this, I wrote a blog post about it here: http://objectforge.blogspot.com/2018/09/new-thing-yet-another-mini-storage.html Update: As I've been using this, I've found myself wishing for a way to prevent the miniatures from sliding out of the rows while driving around (the tapered bottom on my bases slides right over the bump on the edge of this), so I've uploaded an additional version with little posts that a rubber-band can be attached to.