Battery storage box (AAA, AA, C, D)

At home, I have a large stock of batteries, so I decided to share my battery storage boxes with you. The boxes were entirely designed by me, and thanks to the customizable battery inserts, you can personalize them however you like. You can create one larger box and add inserts for different types of batteries.

I’m sharing parametric files in FreeCAD. If you encounter any issues with them, feel free to reach out, and I’ll do my best to fix any problems.

I’m also including my prints and the STEP files I used.

A helpful tip: Print the inserts first, measure them, and only then generate the box. Unfortunately, after printing 12 AA battery inserts, I found that each one was slightly wider, which added up to an extra 2mm in total. To avoid reprinting everything, I trimmed 0.5mm off each side of the last two panels. If you run into the same issue, you can also use sandpaper :) (I experienced the same with AAA inserts).

The hinge with the filament inside is my own idea. You need to push the filament in with pliers, a few millimeters at a time. You can also use WD-40 or another lubricant. I’ve noticed that it sometimes helps to thread a piece of filament separately through the lid and the bottom of the box a few times to remove any small printing imperfections inside the holes. If you need a stronger hinge, use a piece of nylon, and if you’re designing something for heavier-duty use, consider using 3mm diameter nylon. Trim the ends of the protruding filament and melt them with a soldering iron or a piece of heated metal.

I’m providing versions of the lids both with and without labels.

In FreeCAD, if you want to parameterize it yourself, the top and bottom of the box are the same element – the bottom just needs to be deeper and without labels. Unfortunately, the labels don’t auto-center, so you’ll have to do that manually (using Transform). Maybe I’ll fix that in the next version of the file :)