Customisable Index Card Box with Dividers

Update 16.09.2025

One of my printers had some warping issues so the walls came out a bit wobbly. Because of that, the cards didn't fit properly. So, I've added a version which is a bit wider. The scripts were updated accordingly.

Also, I've added pictures of a small box.

Customisable Index Card Box

If you want to organise recipes, contacts or vocabulary lessons on A8 index cards, this box might be the right thing for you. Optionally, you can also print exchangeable text plates to label the boxes. You can also print the dividers which let you categorise the cards inside the box. 

Customisation

Note: This is my first project using OpenSCAD. So, the scripts might be a bit confusing and not state of the art. 

OpenSCAD (https://openscad.org) is needed to create your own version of the box. You can adjust things like text on the lid, text on the dividers, box size, etc. To do this, download the zip archive under Other Files and extract it. You'll find the config.scad file where customisation mainly takes place. Every parameter is commented, so, reading through the file will give a good idea on how to adjust stuff. The file can be edited in any text editor.

Because I the box to store index cards for language learning, the whole thing is designed around lessons. Each lesson is divided by four dividers. One lesson is assumed to have 90 cards. To easily change the size of the box, adjust the values n_cards_lesson (cards per lesson), n_dividers_lesson (dividers per lesson),  and n_lessons (lessons). For short boxes, the text label for the lid is not created. For long boxes, additional latch and hinge mounts are added.

Under src/, there is the main.scadfile. Open this in OpenSCAD and click Preview or F5 on the keyboard to preview your changes. Clicking Render or F6 will render the model. This might take some time. After that, you can click Export as STL  or hit F7 to export the model which then can be opened in the slicer.

Some might prefer to work with Visual Studio Code. There is an extension called OpenSCAD Language Support which is quite useful. You can open the project in VS Code, make changes there and hit F5 to preview the changes in OpenSCAD. After saving a file, the preview in OpenSCAD will be updated.

Print Instructions

All parts here and the ones created in OpenSCAD are in the right print orientation. Also, no supports are needed.

Print Settings

• Layer height: 0.2 mm
• Walls: 3
• Infill: 20% (not too low for easy top layer printing)
• Nozzle: 0.4 mm
• Supports: No

Color Changes

Use the print settings recommended above. To print the texts on the dividers and lid-label in a different color, add a PAUSE or M600 (depending on your setup) at the beginning of the following layers: 

• divider: layer 4
• lid-label: layer 8

If you use different settings, you may need to issue filament changes on different layers.

Assembly

Latch & Hinges

Use a short piece of filament and insert it into mounts on the lid and the box and through the latches and hinges . If you want to make absolutely sure that the filament pins don't fall of, you can melt the tips a bit with a soldering iron at around print temperature.

Lid Text Table

Place the lid-label on the lid. Insert the pins as shown in the image bellow. 

Disclaimer:  The prism-chamfer library (https://github.com/hraftery/prism-chamfer) by Heath Raftery is used in the OpenSCAD scripts to chamfer the bottom edges of the boxes.