Swivel Tray Box (OpenSCAD)

This customisable box has a tray to hold small items and locks in place with magnets. The floating lid swings open and into place with satisfying smooth motion. The simple design was inspired by a Kickstarter campaign of the Revov Tray Box. I used this box to store my charging cable stuff, but I needed a slightly wider variant, so that not everything had to be crammed in. A good opportunity to get to know OpenSCAD a bit better and to go overboard to make everything parameterizable. The OpenSCAD file contains some examples, like a box to hold AA or AAA batteries and a pencil box with space to store 3M Post-it® notes.

Supplies

It is recommended to use a metal pin for the rotating mechanism, especially when it comes to a larger design. In web shops such as Amazon they can be found in different sizes when you search for "stainless steel dowel pins". In addition, you need four equal sized, not too large, neodymium magnets, two in both the box and the tray. Both round and rectangular magnets are supported. I have good experience with strong neodymium round magnets with a diameter of 8mm and a thickness of 4mm. These give a good attraction so that the lid stays tightly in its closed position.

Files

The SwivelTrayBox.scad file is the most important, with which you can create a STL of your own configuration. The 3mf files provided are mainly used as an example, as you will probably use a different size axis and magnets yourself.

Customisation

The OpenSCAD file contains many options for modifying the design. Not only the dimensions of the box and the tray, but also the layout of the compartments in both the box and lid, the thickness of the outer and inner walls and the roundness of the corners. And of course the dimensions and position of both the swivel axis as the magnets. Check the comments in the code for details. Although the code does some input validation on the parameters which can be set, make sure to check the rendered design, especially when using very small or large dimensions. If you're new to modifying an OpenSCAD file, online you can find lots of tutorials, like this one.  Playing around with an existing project is a good way to learn the basics.

Printing

I printed several designs on my Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ in PLA with a 0.4 nozzle and 2mm layer height. No supports needed as the bottom of both tray and box are flat. If you use a recess at the bottom of the box, you can turn on the "support on build plate only" when this recess is wide. Insert a pause at the beginning of the layer covering the magnets, for both the box and the tray. The 0.2mm margin as clearance works fine on my Prusa, if gives the magnets a good fit and the tray has just enough space to swivel around the axis. Use a small dot of super glue in the magnet recess to be extra sure if needed. Note the orientation of the magnets (same pole up for both box and lid), so that the tray is attracted to the box instead of repelled. Before printing double check the position of the axis and magnets while slicing to see if they're not too close to any edge. If you use a printed axis instead of a metal pin, it's recommended to print this axis solid and don't make it too thin to minimise the risk of breaking it. Use a cylinder shaped modifier and place it over the axis pin and change the infill of this cylinder to 100%.

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