Enameled Wire Storage Case and Dispenser

Five little spools of enameled wire, loose in a drawer, will find a way to roll around and unwind into one tangle. This is a case for them: one spool in use, four waiting, and a front plate that keeps everything where you put it.

Which spools

I have AliExpress 0.1 mm enameled copper "copper link wire" mini spools, 11.5 m each. Mine were listed here.

Other wire gauges on the same spool fit too. The label is the only thing that says 0.1 mm. If your spools differ, see Make it fit.

How it works

The box prints on its back with five bays: four for storage, one for dispensing. The dispensing bay (left end) has a plug-in spindle. The other four spools just sit in their bays.

The brake is gravity. The spool's rims drag on the floor, so it stops when you stop pulling. No spring, nothing to wear out.

The spindle's square end sits in a pocket with a lip over it, so a tug on the wire can't pull it out. To remove it, lift about 1 mm and slide it forward.

The front plate slides in from the right in a dovetail and clicks onto a detent. It carries the label and an exit hole for the wire, with chamfers so the enamel never drags over a sharp edge. A peg on the plate holds the loose end. Windows in the back wall and the dividers show how much wire is left on each spool.

Use the bays from the left. When bay 1 runs out, drop the empty spool, move the next one onto the spindle, and leave the empty bay at the right.

What to print

• The box.

• The spindle.

• One of two front plates.

The STLs are all there, already in print orientation, and that's all you need. The 3MF is a Bambu Studio project with both plates laid out (plate 1: box, spindle and blank plate; plate 2: text plate); OrcaSlicer opens it as is, other slicers will at least take the geometry.

Text plate: raised "0.1mm Cu Wire" in a second color. Add a filament change at 2.20 mm in your slicer (the 3MF already has it); the text is the three layers above that.

Blank plate: a 56 x 13 mm recess for a 12 mm label-maker tape. One color.

Print one plate, not both.

Feet: four TPU feet, 2.6 mm tall, so the case doesn't follow the wire across the bench. They snap into teardrop pockets in the floor: push one edge of the flange under the lip, then work in the rest. They have their own 3MF; print them with your usual TPU profile. If you'd rather not print TPU, the pockets also take 10 mm stick-on rubber feet.

Loading and use

1. Slide a spool onto the spindle from its free end. With the plate out, put the spindle and its spool in through the front: square end into the left wall's pocket, tip into the first divider.

2. Thread the wire end out through the hole.

3. Slide the plate in from the right. Keep some slack so the wire isn't pinched.

4. Before removing the plate, pull the end back through the hole.

The wire has to come off the top of the spool. If it doesn't, flip the spool end for end.

Put your thumbs on the plate face when sliding it out, and not on the fragile peg.

Printing

Print everything as supplied, flat as the files are oriented: the box on its back, the plate flat, the spindle standing on its chamfered tip.

• No supports, no brim.

• 0.20 mm layers, 3 walls, 15 % infill.

• The lip over the spindle pocket is a short bridge.

Everything fits a 180 mm bed. Nothing needs a multi-material system: the text plate is one filament change, the blank plate is one color.

Make it fit

The OpenSCAD file is parametric. Change these at the top:

• spool_od, spool_bore, spool_w, flange_t: your spool.

• n: number of bays.

• labeland label_size: the text.

• win_w, win_h, dwin_d: window sizes.

• foot_d, foot_lip, foot_clr: foot pocket size, lip, and foot clearance.

• If you want different feet, foot_lipand foot_clrare the knobs if it comes out tight or loose.

Notes

• The brake is light by design. If you yank the wire, the spool can overrun.

• A small notch is at the front edge of the left wall; it shows winding direction.

• Loose wire ends can wander between bays through the divider windows. Wrap the tail once around the peg.