Colored Pencil Desktop Chest with Integrated Front Facing Swatches

Colored Pencil Desktop Chest With 4, 6, or 10 Drawers for 84, 126, or 210 pencils

Note: I have uploaded a new drawer design. It still fits in the same chest but I optimized the design to both substantially reduce filament usage and print time while significantly increasing the size of the front panel to allow for larger swatches. I have also found that clear PLA is a viable option for the drawers. I left the original drawer model up if anyone wants it but it is requires a lot more plastic/print time for no functional benefit.

One of my main gripes about most colored pencil sets is that the painted barrel rarely matches the actual color on paper, and constantly jumping back and forth between a separate swatch sheet and a case/box to find the right pencil is a pain.

The Evolution of the Design

My initial plan was to make a custom case using 3D-printed binder pages where each pencil slot had a corresponding swatch. However, after burning through an entire spool of PLA on prototypes, I wasn't happy with the design. It required a massive binder, the binders themselves were expensive, and just setting it down too quickly could cause the pencils to go sliding out. I saved some of that core geometry and went an entirely different direction.

Capacity & Ergonomics

• The Layout: The chest holds 6 drawers, with each drawer holding 21 pencils (the maximum capacity I could comfortably fit on my printer's build plate), for a total of 126 pencils.

• My Setup: I designed this around a standard 100-pack of Crayola pencils paired with a 24-pack of Crayola "Colors of the World" (this is a great way to get a bunch of flesh tones in one set).

• The View Angle: I angled the chest back because the swatches are very small and the angle is needed to get a clear view. However, if there is enough demand, I can post a flat version that prints faster but requires you to lift the front of the chest to clearly see the swatches.

Integrated Swatch & Label System

I used a dual-label system to make sure there is enough room for the necessary information while still keeping the front swatches small enough to avoid needing a much larger unit.

• Front Swatches: The end of each drawer has a tiny cutout for a 7.5mm x 10.5mm physical color swatch. (if using the older drawer design it is 7.5mm x 8.5mm).

• Internal Name Tags: In the center of each pencil slot, directly beneath the pencil itself, there is a dedicated space for a matching 7.5mm x 29.5mm tag to write the pencil's name or color code.

Note: I highly recommend printing at least the drawers in white or clear filament. White acts as a completely neutral background that won't project colors onto or through your swatches, which can throw off your results.

Print Settings & Optimization

This model was heavily optimized to minimize material cost. Prototyping aside, I ended up using about 3/4 of a spool on the final design.

• Orientation: The drawers print cleanly without any supports. The chest is designed to print on its back.

• Supports: The chest can be printed with or without supports depending on how well your printer handles bridging and overhangs. The one in the photo was printed without supports, so I did have to do some cleanup on the large cutouts (necessary to reduce the material cost).

• Bed Adhesion Warning: Because of the height and footprint when printing the chest on its back, I highly recommend using a hefty brim and setting it to inside and outside, as well as removing any separation between the brim and the part. I had an early prototype detach from the bed mid-print before making this change and that was with a standard brim enabled.

Creating Your Swatch Templates

I recommend creating a template for the swatches and printing out a couple of full sheets of them on whatever paper type you normally color on, allowing you to color them in all at once before cutting them out. The recommended size allows them to slip in easily. I generated a template using AI, so I am not including my personal swatch template file. However, if you are not comfortable creating them manually, you can easily ask any AI tool such as Google Gemini to spit out a printable template matching the 7.5mm x 10.5 mm and 7.5mm x 29.5mm dimensions.