Bolt Stash
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Large bolt with a hidden compartment large enough for US bills, cough drops, etc.
- Rating
- 5 / 5
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- Downloads
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- Makes
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- Reviews
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Updated at source:
Model information
- Source
- Printables
- Category
- Other Gadgets
- License
- Creative Commons — Attribution
Background
I've seen metal bolts with a hollowed-out shaft and a removable cap before and always wanted to make one myself but just didn't really have the tool setup to do it. When I recently printed a clamp for my desktop and looked at the bolt it came with, I immediately thought it would be cool to make a 3D printed version of one of those stash bolts, so I did.
While I'm sure this has been done before, I did this partly as a learning experience. I've never created a 3D model before beyond the first few in a YouTube AutoCad360 tutorial I was following, and this is my first attempt at creating a model of my own so go easy on me. :) I didn't know how to make it a print in place sort of thing, but I think this would be a good candidate for that, so I'm trying to figure that out now. In the meantime, here's the model.
Printing
I printed both in PLA at 210c/60c at 50mm/s, with a 0.2mm layer height.
- Shaft: Orient the shaft so that it is open end facing up. Because it is tall and skinny, a brim is the safest bed adhesion here IMO.
- Hex Cap: Orient this so that it is open end facing up as well, though no bed adhesion is necessary.
Assembly
The threads on the cap and shaft are lefthanded, so that means lefty tighty, rightly loosey. It is a fairly tight fit the first time you twist it together, but after you've done it a couple times it is smooth. I added a drop or two of PTFE oil and it works great. I may need to adjust something in the model that is causing this, but I'm still figuring things out here so if anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.
Update
08/02/25 - A while back someone had asked for a nut to go along with this, and I got sidetracked and completely forgot about it. Anyway, I just made one and added it to the model. I also updated the shaft to be oriented properly, I didn't quite get how to change than when I first made this and included a new 3mf file with updated print settings.
Update again: Turns out the way I modeled the original shaft to look nicer on the end also prevents a nut from being threaded on it. So I uploaded a new bolt shaft you'll need to print if you want to thread a nut on it.