Hex Tile Tub for Ikea Pegboards

Howdy, wonderful people! 
 

Pegboards are such useful things, but I noticed a distinct lack of hexagonal tubs that could be tiled across them and had to set out to fix that!

As you probably noticed from the title and the photos, we're specifically talking about Ikea Skadis pegboards here, which have tremendous advantages when it comes to printed attachment hardware, and for which there's already abundant support. You can even print your own pegboard! I'm not sure that's actually cheaper than picking up a mass-manufactured one, however :)

Back to the hardware, though - those long slots allow for much more substantial connectors compared to classic round-hole pegboards. So, printed hooks and connectors can be printed without being completely fragile.

Ideally you'd print pegboard hooks so that the layer lines run parallel to the hook for strength, and that was my initial approach, including a version with folding hooks that printed flat and folded into place. However, all of that was fairly complicated for little benefit, and I figured I'd try just integrating the hooks into the model, even if that meant printing them in a sub-optimal orientation.

I did at least manage to arrange the hooks so that they printed at an angle, and thus the layers have a bit more cross-sectional area to keep them in one piece. Of course, care is still needed, because the tub is effectively a big lever and just hauling up on it when removing it from the pegboard is not going to end well for the hooks :P

I did try a few versions of a hinged lid/door on this as well, but that gets problematic the moment you have a few tubs tiled together, as there's just nowhere for such a hinged thing to move.

Print Description

This is a regular mode, straightforward print, nothing tricky!

Print Dimensions

The Hex Tile Tub occupies 132mm x 125mm on the print bed and is 95mm tall.

Supports Needed?

Not at all!  Designed for straightforward printing!

Scalability

You're probably not going to want to scale this one unless you're also printing your own scaled version of the pegboard, too!

Print Orientation

The tub prints upside-down-ish, with the open part facing downwards so that the hooks on the back are ideally positioned for printability and strength (in as much as the latter is possible when the layer lines need to run the direction they do).

Further Thoughts

If you look very carefully you'll find that these are not actually regular hexagons, but slightly irregular ones! That's the reason the tubs tile precisely. We're ultimately at the mercy of the spacing of the pegboards, and tiling actual, identical regular hexagon tubs just isn't compatible with that pattern of holes. It's close, though, and didn't take too much adjustment to make things work out :D

Happy printing!

xoxo

Sven.

---

474 Hex Tile Tub for Ikea Pegboards