Estrogen Injection Vial Case / Protector / Storage Container

An early beta collection of mix-and-match lids and containers to protect your vials! Different combinations cover home use, travel, short- and long-term storage. Currently for 5ml Xiromed vials. Whenever I find the time/motivation I plan to bring more improvements, cover more vial dimensions, and add some accessories for a more complete injection kit.

🎉 Features 🎉

• Snappy* locking mechanism!

  • *stiff. see warnings below. prints fine for me but, yeah

  • maybe a threaded version once i figure out custom threads

  • nicer action and knurled version in-progress for better accessibility

• Two sizes!

  • "Thin" to keep as minimal as possible (~15g in PLA/PETG)

  • "Thick" for better protection, more room for infill, etc.

• Three lid styles!

  • "Solid" best for storage and protection

  • "Hole" allows using vial in the case while maintaining coverage

  • "Flush" lid for the lowest profile and easiest use

• Optional windows!

  • "Solid" for complete coverage of the vial glass

  • "Window" single window, aligned with the gap in the vial's label to see medication level

  • "Symmetric" two windows, making it easier to see inside vial when drawing

• Fully interchangeable!

  • Print one body and multiple lids to swap out when using/storing

  • Use "thin" lids with "thick" bodies, or vice versa

  • Swap your "window" body for a solid one when traveling

  • Stay tuned for more accessories (gridfinity when?)

⚠ General Warnings ⚠

• The tolerances for this model are tight.

  • Test the fit of the lid and the body on your vial separately before closing it up.

  • Do not force the lid down over a vial. If the fit is bad enough it might deform the metal cap.

  • Also maybe make sure you can open it back up again before putting a vial in it.

• This is an early version. It works and I am personally using it, but there are a few improvements/accessories/alt-versions that I am already working on. If you find/print this and like the idea but it doesn't work for you, let me know! In the meantime I've linked a few design inspirations at the bottom that might be a little more polished.

• Follow safe injection procedure. A regular ol' 3d print isn't even food safe*, let alone injection safe. Adding this case probably doesn't mean you need to clean your vial any more or less prior to injection than without it. However, the "hole" version of the lid does have a very thin edge around the rubber top where moisture or droplets of medication could become trapped between the case and the vial cap.

*without significant effort and care

🛠 Printing Notes 🛠

All files should be oriented correctly for printing. Neither should require supports or brims.

Filament

I have tested these prints in Deeplee's Rapid PLA+ and Rapid PETG, and both should be fine. I find the snap-lock comes out a lot more satisfying in PETG, and may be more resilient in the long run.

I am planning to run off a test with ASA at some point, but given the current tolerances I might recommend scaling the model up a teensy bit or playing with hole/contour compensation if you're going to use ASA or something similar.

Basic Settings

All of the prototype versions were printed on a 0.4mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer height with the stock "Standard" print profile for the Elegoo Centauri Carbon in Orca Slicer. Hopefully this means a decently-calibrated printer with more or less default settings should just be able to print this.

If you're uncertain about running off this print with all the warnings everywhere, you can definitely get away with sub-10% infill, and for a more guaranteed fit you could definitely just scale up the lid and body 1-2%.

Specific Settings

If you use OrcaSlicer, some notable settings I've found it experimentally worthwhile to mess with:

• Scarf Joint Seams - This is fiddly and time consuming to tune, but for the smooth circular models without knurling, trying to get this dialed in might be worth it for that sweet sweet surface finish. Lovely guide here.

• Seams - As an alternative to the above, I set "Seam position" to "Nearest", and then enable "Staggered inner seams", "Role base wipe speed", and "Wipe on loops" for pretty decent results

• Precise Wall - Not 1000% sure how much this helps, but it is a simple option to improve dimensional accuracy a bit without messing with scaling or hole compensation.

• Wall Generator - As mentioned above, I did test these with the stock unmodified "0.2mm Standard" profile for my Centauri Carbon, which uses the "Classic" wall generator. I would honestly keep it on Classic, but Arachne's default settings work fine as well and may offer some further tuning.

• Wall Loops - Totally fine with 2 walls, but if strength is a concern do 3 or more. I prefer 2 walls on the "Thin" body versions to leave a lil more room for fun infill patterns but that's just me being silly.

• Top/Bottom Surface Pattern - I like to change this to Concentric for these very circular models. Doesn't really matter but came out a bit nicer in my testing.

• Avoid Crossing Walls - I'd suggest turning this on. Another thing that doesn't super matter, but especially with the outer fillet in PETG and in general the window versions I think it helps a lil.

📂 Different Files 📂

There are currently two main versions - one as thin as possible to keep material and bulk down, and one that's a bit thicker for better protection.

For each version, there are 3 lids:

1. *-lid-flush.stl shorter overall height, bringing the lid close to flush with the top metal of the vial

2. *-lid-hold.stl has a tapered hole cutout for just the rubber bit** while covering the metal top

3. *-lid-solid.stl which completely covers the top of the vial for storage/travel/etc. 

...and 3 bodies:

1. *-body-solid.stl is completely solid, covering the whole vial for the best protection

2. *-body-window.stl has a window on one side, allowing you to see the level of medication inside

3. *-body-window-symmetric.stl has windows on both sides, for better visibility and also symmetry

All lids should be compatible with all bodies, but there are a number of combos I haven't actually tested.

For convenience' sake there is also a generic .3mf which includes all the parts, and some pre-plated combinations to get this fired off more quickly.

**apparently this is called a septum? the more you know :3

🙏 Credits and Inspiration 🙏

Inspiration/Reference

This very cool protective vial case here on Printables

This was the direct inspiration for this project. I thought the fit and idea were super cool, but wanted: a) something easier to print, and b) something that could work interchangeably for storage and usage. It was super helpful as both the spark to work on this, and as a reference to correct the less-than-perfect measurements from my janky ass calipers. Also should let me do an American Reagent version at some point as I don't have access to a physical vial of those dimensions but would love to be able to cover other options.

Recommended Alternative

The Iconically Octagonal quiet.ink Vial Protector*

*(careful clicking around this website - it is not all SFW and almost entirely not about 3d printing)

Idk if this one is well-known or not, but this is the case I've been using for a while and I recommend it to anyone who wants something a bit cooler and more polished than my files. I've printed several batches of these to use or give to friends, and probably still will even as I switch over to my own design here. Very cool work, also helpful for puzzling out how I wanted this design to work and fit. The nice little bump-stop at the end of the threading was why I decided to come up with the locking mechanism in v1.

Also covers AR, Xiro, and 10ml vials if you're in need of that :)

There's a version of my vial container still in the works with a nonagonal outside pattern as a cheeky and hopelessly obscure reference to this octagonal vial protector being my go-to.