I designed this silica gel container mostly for two reasons:
- I looked at several different silica gel containers and even printed a few but always found something I was not entirely happy with (I most likely didn't look at every single option there is though).
- Designing stuff is just so much fun (something I actually didn't expect before I purchased my 3D printer)
These are the things I tried to achieve:
- The silica gel I bought consists of rather small pieces (especially when the pieces are broken). Therefore the gaps in the walls should be pretty narrow but still let a lot of air in. Slots seem to fit this requirement better than holes. To let even more air in I added a hole at the bottom that contains air slots as well.
- Opening it should be be quick and easy but it should be more or less impossible to be opened by accident. Something with a screwable lid seems the best choice for this.
- It should fit inside a filament spool.
- It should be easy to print and and don't require supports.
- It should be reasonably sturdy but don't waste too much filament.
There are three different variants (best seen in the second picture):
- NoCore - Regular container without hole in center
- HalfCore - Container with hole in center half way through
- FullCore - Container with hole in center all the way through (including lid)
Each variant comes in four different sizes. All have a diameter of 50mm. There heights (including the lid) are:
The lid is the same for all sizes. The FullCore variants have their own lid with a hole in the center.
To aid filling the FullCore variants with silica gel there also is a center plug and a screw on funnel.
The author marked this model as their own original creation.