Better (Partially) Printed Drawers

Ive tried making printed drawers before and always ran into the same issues: 

1. They take forever if you want more than just a couple drawers

2. Unless they're printed in vase mode they use a ton of material

3. if they are made in vase mode then they are too flimsy to be useful.

I decided to solve this by printing a sort of scaffold that could then be fleshed out with 1/8 inch or 3mm sheets plywood, or whatever else I have lying around. The finished drawers will take significantly less time to make, very likely be more durable, look better, and be less expensive.

I've thought of everything except for the things I haven't. Parts have been designed to attempt to minimize print time and filament usage. The drawers have a spot for a 6x3mm magnet to hold them closed and have a ramp at the front to make it easier to retrieve small parts. I have also made printable versions of the parts that I think should be made from sheet stock if anyone wants 100% printed drawers and have done my best to minimize the amount of material needed while retaining some rigidity. The printable drawers are arranged as a flatpack that can be folded and glued to keep the layer lines in the strongest orientation throughout. I have also made templates for drilling holes in the plywood faceplate and aligning the label holders, and for cutting adhesive backed felt to line the bottom of each drawer in 2 sizes (1 for fabricated drawers and 1 for printed drawers which have a couple extra mm of internal width). Working on making dividers and larger drawers.

I recommend using one of the frame backers as an alignment tool when gluing in the vertical frame walls, just be careful not to glue it to the frame. I would also suggest printing in PETG or something else thats a bit more skookum than PLA. Don't get me wrong, PLA is a great material especially when you need stiffness but it tends to break down over time (at least in my experience) and if you aren't in an air conditioned workspace it can be deformed by heat. It'd really suck to have a warm summer day spill all your screws on the floor. For the felt lining I would caution against using black or white as black might make it difficult to see small black parts like oxide screws, and white will show every bit of dirt and grease in a hurry. I like dark red but you can use whatever you want, I'm not your dad.

Here's a list of materials I used:

1/8x12x12 plywood

Self adhesive felt

6x3mm magnets

Thick superglue

Thin superglue

Good, cheap petg

Bronze petg for accent pieces

The plywood can be cut with a few strokes from a utility knife and straightedge if you're careful. Thick vs thin superglue is going to come down to personal preference, I like the thick for parts like this where you might have slight gaps to fill but the thin has its uses too. The frame backers can be stacked to build whatever size drawer unit you want. I make mine 3 units wide because that's the widest I can get out of the 12 inch plywood, and however many units high I need to fit the space I'm going to put it. There is a connector to attach more units horizontally with a cosmetic spacer to fill the small gap at the front. There are .3mf files with supports for the parts that need it, and one for the knob and label holder with the settings I like (hot tip, finer layers on angled overhangs can prevent sagging, and concentric top solid infill looks best for parts with a domed top). I've also added models for double-wide drawers, which just barely fit on the bed of a mk3 if you trim off about half of the square peg that the knob slots onto using the plane cut tool. Want triple wide drawers? You're crazy, you're insane, and I don't condone this behavior (but I'll add the models for that soon if I remember.)

Will update if I think of anything else.