Battery Dispenser

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Fill the chutes from the top and take batteries from the tray at the bottom. They lie on their side on a floor that slopes down to the front, so the bottom one rolls out under the front wall and stops against the lip of the tray, and the next one drops into its place. The opening is 2 mm higher than one battery and much lower than two, so only one comes out at a time. Two chutes take 8 AA batteries each, the third takes 12 AAA. A slot in the front of each chute shows how many are left. It stands on a desk on rubber feet or screws flat to a wall, and a lid keeps the dust out. Two printed parts, no supports.

• 2 printed parts

• 4 × 16 × 14 cm assembled (L × W × H)

• ≈ 0.2 kg filament in total

• 158 mm bed width needed; the dispenser prints 140 mm tall

Parts

Dispenser: 158 × 41.5 × 140 mm. Two AA chutes (52 × 16 mm inside) and one AAA chute (46 × 12 mm), each 1.5 mm bigger than the largest battery of its size, with a 10° floor, a tray with a 10 mm lip, an 8 mm viewing slot, four countersunk screw holes in the back and recesses for rubber feet underneath.

• Size: 158 × 140 × 42 mm

• Print: Standing upright on its bottom. No supports: the front walls bridge over the exits.

• Filament: ≈ 173 g

Lid: Covers the top. A plug drops 4 mm into each chute, with 0.3 mm of room on every side, so it stays in place but lifts off easily.

• Size: 158 × 22 × 6 mm

• Print: Upside down, plugs up. No supports.

• Filament: ≈ 14 g

What else you need

• AA and AAA batteries, alkaline or rechargeable (NiMH). Lithium-ion 14500 cells with a protection board can be longer than 50.5 mm and may not fit.

• Optional, for the desk: four self-adhesive rubber feet, 10 mm across and up to 3 mm thick.

• Optional, for the wall: four countersunk wood screws of 3.5 or 4 mm, about 30 mm long, with wall plugs to suit your wall.

Print settings

• 0.20 mm layer height

• 3 walls

• 15% infill

• PLA or PETG material

For a 0.4 mm nozzle. Filament amounts are estimates for these settings.

How to build it

1. Print the parts: Print the dispenser standing up and the lid upside down. Neither needs supports. Check that the inside of each chute is clean, without strings, so the batteries slide freely.

2. Add the feet: For the desk, stick a rubber foot in each of the four round recesses underneath.

3. Or mount it on a wall: Hold it against the wall, mark the four holes through the back of the AA chutes and drill for your wall plugs. Put the screws in through the front slots with a long screwdriver; the countersunk heads sit flush with the inside of the chutes, so the batteries roll over them.

4. Fill it: Drop the batteries into the chutes from the top, lying flat, the long way across. The first one rolls out onto the tray; the rest stack up behind the front wall.

5. Take one: Lift the battery out of the tray. The next one rolls forward to take its place.

6. Put the lid on: Press the lid onto the top so the plugs drop into the chutes.

Keep batteries, especially button cells, away from small children. Don't mix used and new batteries, and keep metal objects out of the chutes.

More

3D viewer, colour preview and the full guide: https://shapekit.cc/battery-dispenser.html

Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0. Print it, remix it and share it with credit to Shapekit. Please don't sell the files or the prints.

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