Charger Space Storage for Milwaukee Drill Case

TLDR: Store your bits ‘n’ bobs safely in the empty charger space in your M18 brushless drill case.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I bought my Milwaukee M18 drill a few years ago, and absolutely love it. I find that the two batteries are more than enough for my domestic needs, so the charger spends almost all of its time idle atop my workbench.

The case that came with the drill is beautifully vacuum moulded to fit everything supplied with the drill. But it's woefully short on storage space for all those little bits and bobs we keep handy for basic jobs around the place. Of course, you can buy useful cases and handy-dandy totes to keep all this stuff in, but that means an extra item to be lugged around or forgotten the one time you really need it.

So I thought “Since I rarely have the charger in the case, why not keep all these extra gubbins in the space vacated by the charger?”.

So I came up with a design that's a gross simplification of the main outline of the charger. But because I wanted to make sure that the box would be a good tight fit, I experimented a little with the footprint dimensions until I found a size that would stay in place nicely with friction. It's tight, but not too tight to be able to be pulled out easily when necessary.

I also considered utilising the small void below the charger-space as part of the design. But my experiments along these lines ended up with a box that didn't look right when it was taken out of the case, and required support to print. Then I realised that, with the storage box or charger in place (and therefore acting as a lid), it's actually more useful as a separate storage area in its own right. In my case, it's just deep enough for a small pocket tape measure and a set of step drills, and that suits me just fine - since they can live in the case perpetually regardless.

The design needed a dividing wall to give strength so I added one at the most obvious place. This split the box nicely into two storage sections. I decided to use the right hand side for storing hex screwdriver bits etc, while the left side was perfect for keeping longer items such as drill bits, pencils, centrepunches, and so on.

To keep things tidy, the right hand side would benefit from a storage inset. So I designed one as a single piece affair while I was printing the main box. But, while the box was still printing, I started to panic that the insert wouldn't clear the finger-hole strengthening lips I'd used in the box's design. So I split the insert panel into two separate parts to be on the safe side. However, it turns out that there's actually enough flex in the PETG side walls for a one-piece design to squeeze past anyway. So I've included both variations in the attached files so that you can choose whichever suits your personal needs.

You only need two (or three) files of the included files to actually print this design. But, as usual, I've included the original FreeCAD file for tinkerers, along with the .step, .3mf, and .stl files for each part. Just use whichever file type you prefer to work with. 

I printed all parts in PETG, using 0.24mm layer height. Since I quite like the variable layer height function in Bambu Studio, I used it to give me neater curves on my print. But don't worry if your slicer doesn't have anything like this (they probably all do, but I'm out of touch with the various other slicers!) because the design will print just fine without it.

I was worried about the risk of the metal bits falling out and somehow shorting the contacts on the spare battery. But having shaken the case around a lot to test this risk, nothing's escaped the box yet. This may be down to the fact that I keep the drill's manual in the case's lid slot, or perhaps just sheer luck. But the contatcs are pretty well shrouded so i think the chances of it are extremely low. 

Potential Future Improvements:

After putting my taller screwdriver bits in the box, I realise that there's plenty of height available at the front of the box. Had I spotted this earlier, I would probably have added higher side and front walls for additional space and security. A lid of some kind might be a future option too. But, for now, the design works well enough for my needs, and I won't be rushing into a re-design any time soon.
 

So there we go; a place to store your bits ‘n’ bobs. I don't want to bore you, but you all know the drill!

Happy Printing!