Fully customizable dog crate plaques/labels

Create fully customized wire crate labels with OpenSCAD! Front plaque with name/text and two nuts to hold it in place. Adjust size, text, positioning of threaded rods to adapt to your crate.

Uh… OpenSCAD? What's that?! Do I need to learn how to write code?

No, you don't! It's actually very simple, and you don't need to “speak SCAD” to build your very own crate labels.

While the instructions may make it seem complex, it's a very straightforward process if you follow this step-by-step guide. 

Prelude - Installing the required software

Installing OpenScad

• Download the nightly build from https://openscad.org/downloads.html#snapshots
  
  The nightly builds are very stable, the last “official” release is years old and hopelessly out of date.

• Install, open the app, and go to Preferences>Advanced>3D Rendering. Make sure Backend>Manifold is selected, to get a huge gain in speed.

Installing the BOSL2 library

• Download the .zip release file for this library. Currently you should be able to find this at https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

• Unpack it (usually right-click>unpack or uncompress).. It should create either a BOSL-v2.0 or BOSL2-master directory with the library files within it. You should see "examples", "scripts", "tests", and other subdirectories.

• Rename the unpacked main directory to BOSL2.

• Move the BOSL2 directory into the OpenSCAD library directory. To find it, run OpenSCAD and select Help>Library Info, and look for the entry that says "User Library Path". This is your default library directory. The most common locations are

  • Mac OS X: $HOME/Documents/OpenSCAD/libraries/

  • Windows: My Documents\OpenSCAD\libraries\

  • Linux: $HOME/.local/share/OpenSCAD/libraries/

• Quit and restart OpenSCAD.

• If you’re curious, documentation for BOSL2 is at https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2

Let's create the model

• Open OpenSCAD, then use File>Open to load the “Crate Plaque.scad” file.

• If the Customizer is not visible on the right side of the OpenSCAD window, go to Window>Customizer and select it.

• In the Customizer you can adjust many attributes of the model: Size, distance between the rods to fit the mesh width of your wire crate, etc. Options should be self-explanatory. See drawing for more information.

• Adjust settings so the plaque and nuts fit your crate. The defaults are the ones I used for my Midwest Homes crates that had wire distances of 31 mm and 34 mm. The key parameters besides size are probably the “Rod distance” and the “Rod base height”, which can be adjusted to the spacing and diameters of your crate wires. Rod distance is distance from center of one threaded rod to the next. Rod base height is the height of the circular base the rods are sitting on and should be close to the diameter of the wires in your crate.
  
  Some parameters such as diameter of the rods can’t be changed from the Customizer, to make sure the model prints okay. 

• After setting the parameters in the Customizer, press F5 or Design>Preview for a preview of the model. Make sure it looks okay. The code does some basic error checking, but it’s possible to enter values that generate non-sensical models.

• If you’re happy, press F6 or Design>Render to render the final model.

• Press F7 or File>Export>Export as STL (ascii) to export the model as an STL file.

Let's add text

• Open Prusaslicer and use File>Open to load the exported STL file. 

• Right click on the model and select Split>To objects.

  

  You should now see two objects in the object tree.

• Press 2 or View>Bottom to look at the model from below.

• Click on the plaque to select it, then press T for the text edit tool

• Change text, style, size etc. to your liking. Note that some fonts don’t allow for italics or bold styles in Prusaslicer.

• Make sure that Depth is set to 0.6mm (i.e., 3 layer heights)!

• Select Operation>Cut to create a recessed text.

• If you have a printer with multi-color printing capabilities such as a printer with an MMU or a Prusa XL, select Operation>Modifier. Then assign a second extruder to the text.

Print the model

• For print settings, I would suggest Balanced or Structural print profiles, infill set to 30% cubic, PETG or ASA.  See attached examples for use with or without MMU.

• Slice, save the project as a 3mf file, and send the gcode to your printer.

What if I don't want to use OpenSCAD?

For a limited "prefab" version sized for Midwest Homes crates, which also includes Fusion CAD files, see https://www.printables.com/model/1514137

If you like what I'm doing…

 … consider buying me a coffee or joining my Printables Club.