Resistor Boxes

Hi there, wonderful people!

As you well know, I love closure and latching mechanisms! I've been exploring what are effectively printed springs lately, and it occurred to me that I could use a sprung stopper as a means of keeping something firmly closed.

In the photos you'll see there's a wedge-shaped tab tucked away on the inside of the lid, and that has enough clearance to move entirely out of the way if it's pushed outwards, but it will of course spring right back right after. There's a notch in the front of the main body of the box with which the tab engages, but it takes a little force to push the tab out of the way in the first place.

You might have noticed that the tab is shaped to be pushed by something moving horizontally, and that's because the lid slides on in a slightly off-centre way, and is then clicked closed, leaving the tab sitting in that main body notch.

Print Description

This is a regular mode print, but dimensional precision and general print quality will directly impact how well things fit together.

Print Dimensions

The main body of the largest of the boxes occupies 72mm x 52mm on the print bed and is 27mm tall.

Supports Needed?

Not at all!  Designed for straightforward printing!

Scalability

These should scale reasonably well, but obviously the tolerances will be affected and the operation of the latch itself is hard to predict!

Print Orientation

The main body of the box prints right-way-up while the lid prints upside-down.

Further Thoughts

I originally envisioned this as an alternative to the tiny earplug boxes I made years ago, though I already use those rotating magnetic closure boxes for that purpose. The important thing is that both these Resistor Boxes and the magnetic ones are both really just fidget toys in disguise :P

Happy printing!

xoxo

Sven.