Sharps Disposal Can for Utility and Hobby (X-Acto) Blades

This is a little 50mm (dia) x 60mm tall can for disposal of old/used hobby and utility/box-knife blades. It's sturdy, strong (even when printed in PLA), and printing it should be relatively quick and inexpensive.

I had a growing pile of used hobby blades that I didn't want to just throw away (and potentially injure our garbage collectors), nor did I want my children to be able to get to them and accidentally harm themselves. This little jar screws together easily but when tightened, will stay shut and be pretty difficult to open. (As an extra precaution, I put a small dab of superglue on the threads when I assemble mine to be sure it can never be opened.

I devised a unique area within the cap that has ridges, an offset, and is set at a 10-degree angle driving anything that touches the top away from the narrow (1mm) slot-opening of the can. This makes it just about impossible for any blade to come out once inserted.

** Always throw the entire can away when it feels like it is about half-full, and just quickly print another one with whatever filament you have lying around. (You never what to be in a position where you feel like you have to shove something into a sharps container). - As an added safety measure, (if you work with casting resin and/or two-part silicones), pour some in the slot before throwing it away to seal the slot and bind the blades together.

The big threads are easy to work with - even when printed at layer thicknesses of .25 or even .3mm; allowing for fast, easy printing with nice, thick, well-adhered walls. It is tough, durable and will resist breaking or crushing. I've dropped it rolled it down the stairs, kicked it, done all kinds of things with it (I'm really clumsy) and I've never seen a blade come out nor have I ever broken a can.

I hope you find this useful, I feel much safer having all of my used, broken, or otherwise dangerous blades safely disposed of in this can - especially with little kids running around the house!

I hope you do as well.

Cheers!

Print instructions

I generally print these at .25mm layer thickness using a standard 0.4mm nozzle. Minimum of three perimeter walls as well as at least 5 solid layers top and bottom, with 30% or more overall infill - this is, after all a safety item. No need for rafts, brims or supports. PLA is fine and is what I generally use.