Finding a new use for clutter is always a welcome thing. Take MatterHackers’ empty filament spool hack for example. With a few 3D printed drawers, you get a handy storage solution.

Ah yes, the empty spool. It’s large, it’s plastic and, unless you have free lengths of cable or rope just lying around looking for a new home, utterly useless. And if you’re particularly prolific in your 3D printing, chances are you have a lot of them cluttering up your space of making.

You could recycle them, but not all manufacturers stamp the material type on their spools. In fact just looking around the All3DP print room we see recycling information on less than half of the branded spools that we use.

So with some questionably disposable, it begs the question: What to do with them?

Over at MatterHackers’ digital design section, Alec Richter has come up with an answer in the form of a series of 3D printable drawers. Fixed to the center and occupying the space formerly filled with filament, you’re left with a portable stowaway for vitamins and all other kinds of goodies that may otherwise litter your workbench.

3D Print Your Way to a Tidy Life

There’s a 14-file list of various different drawers and compartments so you can change it up and customise the build to your needs. It even includes a nifty SD card holder.

Richter’s instructional refers to Pro Series PLA or ABS spools, but he claims the designs and process may work for other spools, so play around. Alternatively, tweak the files to the dimensions of your spool in your preferred 3D modeling software.

Once you’ve 3D printed out the compartments to slot inside your empty spool, you need to hinge them. Before you can do this, you need to drill holes into the spool, guided by the handy 3D printable jig (included as a file in the bundle, too).

Next, gently drill through the holes printed into the compartments to give you space to thread a length of filament through. The actual hinging mechanism comes by way of dropping a blob of superglue into each hinge’s respective hole and feeding an offcut of filament in to act as a pin.

Leaving the compartments ‘open’ as the glue dries prevents them sticking shut. Give it a bit of time to dry, and you’re good to go with a new desk tidy.

You can find the files over at MatterHackers, but take note that you must be signed in to access.

What do you do with your empty spools? Let us know in the comments!

Source: MatterHackers

All images: MatterHackers