Sci-Fi Stackable Storage Trays - 2026 Remix

Why I made these:

Last year,  I made some storage trays and organizers, aiming for a sci-fi theme. I fell a bit short in my opinion, so when I was reorganizing my work space around my new printer, I decided to revisit them with another years worth of drafting experience. These are completely backwards compatible and I am much happier with them now and I hope you will be too!

Print Settings:

Your preferred settings should work just fine, supports are optional (you know your printer best). For best result I recommend printing in PLA. I love PETG but these will print better in PLA as it tends to create fewer strings during travel moves. If you really want to print in PETG, I would recommend setting your perimeters so that the outer and inner walls meet up in most places, and using a height-range-modifier to set the sparse-infill to 0% above 5mm.

I would also suggest using a brim or mouse-ears on the corners. I have not been able to prevent these corners from lifting slightly on the longer prints. This doesn't interfere with stacking the bins, but mitigating this as much as possible should help reduce the chances of printing defects.

Multi-Colour Printing:

I used multi-colour printing for one of the bins shown, and you can too, but it takes longer and can be costly in flushed filament. The colour swaps may also leave artifacts inside the tray. In the picture below, you can see the estimated material and time costs after optimizing colour choices to reduce filament changes.

Customizing your Trays:

Beyond colour-printing or painting them, I also left a blank panel on either side so you can add words, textures or numbers to your Trays, what ever you like. 

Customizing your Bins:

I added reinforcement ribs to strengthen the original bins. They can be Cut to whatever height you desire, discarding the top. (Using scale may cause them to not fit into the trays.)

Just keep in mind that they should not be taller than bevel at the top of the intended tray so as not to interfere with stacking. There should be at least an 8mm difference between the bin and the tray you intend to put it in (eg. a bin for the 50mm Tray should not be more than 42mm tall)

Customizing The Project Bins:

I made the Project-Bins 12.6mm tall, which allows for a little over 10mm of inside depth. You can make them deeper in your slicer by following a few easy steps.

1. Cut the bin at 10mm, ensuring you keep both parts:

1. Then, select both parts, right click and select assemble. Lift the top piece above the bottom.

2. Select only the top piece from the objects list and click on scale. Uncheck Uniform Scale and scale it along the Z-axis to you desired height, less the bottom.(eg. to make a bin 15mm tall, scale up the top to 5mm.)

1. Use the Assemble tool and select the top of the bottom piece and the bottom of the top piece. Set the Parallel distance to 0.00.

1. You can slice it there or you can make it one piece again by selecting the assembly, right clicking on it and selecting Mesh Boolean.

You can probably think of all kinds of different ways to customize your trays and bins, that's why I've also included the .STEP file, so you can put it into your CAD software and edit them how you like.

If you like this project and you make your own, I'd really appreciate it if you posted a make or a remix. Happy printing!