Holder for hex bits, made to measure

Measure across the flats of your bits with a calliper and choose how many columns and rows of pockets you want. We draw every pocket from your figure with the clearance you pick, so the bits drop in and lift out by hand, and the block prints base down with no supports.

What you need before you start

What it will take

Across the flats of the bit's hexagon: 3–13 mm
Columns: 12 to choose from
Rows: 8 to choose from
Pocket depth: 5–20 mm
Base under the pockets: 1.6–8 mm
Nozzle size: 5 to choose from
Filament: 4 to choose from

As it comes

Pocket across the flats, as drawn6.65 mm

Clearance left if the print comes out tight0.10 mm

Pockets12

Length of the block67.1 mm

Build plate: 68 mm as it comes, never more than 256 mm.

What you need to hand

A calliper for the hexagon of your bits, across the flats.
How many pockets you want, along and front to back.
Your nozzle size and the filament you will print it in.

Your bits

Measure across two opposite flats of the hexagon with a calliper — 6.35 mm for a standard quarter-inch bit. Give the fattest bit you will keep in it.

Across the flats of the bit's hexagon

Measure across two opposite flat faces of the hexagon with a calliper — not across the corners. A standard quarter-inch bit is 6.35 mm. Give the largest figure among the bits you will keep in it.

The holder

How many pockets along and front to back, how deep each one is, and how much solid base sits under them. How snug the pockets are drawn and the wall between them are under Finer adjustments.

Columns

How many pockets along the length of the holder.

Rows

How many rows of pockets, front to back.

Pocket depth

How far each bit sits down into the holder. What is left of the bit stands above the top.

Base under the pockets

The solid plastic under the bottom of each pocket. Thicker makes a heavier block and takes longer to print.

The printer it will come off

Set these to the nozzle you will print with and the filament you will use; what is filled in is only our usual setting. The nozzle decides whether the walls and the base come out the thickness we drew. The filament does not change the model.

Nozzle size

The nozzle you will print with. It does not change the model — it decides whether the walls and the base come out the thickness we drew.

Filament

Only a note on where each filament suits. It does not change the model.

Finer adjustments

Pocket clearance

How much wider than the bit we draw each pocket, across the flats. The smallest setting gives the snuggest pocket we will send out; more lets the bits drop in more easily and sit more loosely.

Wall between pockets

The plastic between two neighbouring pockets, and around the edge of the block. More spaces the bits further apart for your fingers.

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