box from the future

After acquiring a fancy new couch, I realized that it's too short for resting my legs in a comfy way.

So I checked out furniture stores to find the perfect stool (is this the proper term? Somehow it feels wrong to me) but most were too large to fit my cramped room or had the wrong height or simply looked boring.

This offered yet another excuse to waste some plastic and the idea of a semi-futuristic, semi-simple and semi-stupid box-like stool was born.

Advantages are:

• it's a box
• you can put things in it
• it's a stool
• you can sit on it
• it carries the weight of one regular human
• one panel is detachable
• there's one version with a simple hinge too
• it looks like a prop stolen from a sci-fi movie

Disadvantages though:

• it's got huge gaps in it; boxes aren't supposed to have gaps
• small things will fall through the gaps
• it's not a good stool
• you'll prefer to sit on a real chair instead of a box
• it probably won't carry the weight of two obese humans
• one panel always HAS to be detachable
• the simple hinge is super flimsy (didn't break yet though)
• it looks like it's from a really low-budget sci-fi movie

Definitely there are way more efficient and cheaper and ecological responsible ways to achieve the goal, but do they come with beveled edges? I don't think so. And all you need is one tool: a 3d printer. And a screwdriver. And some sandpaper maybe. But these aren't real tools, right?

The boards I've used here were pre-cuts from the hardware store which are reasonably cheap (roughly 10€ per box? don't remember exactly). Plywood works very good for that but OSB is fine too if you prefer that rancid look as much as I do.

Initially I designed the box for boards of 15mm thickness but I only uploaded the 18mm version of the angles since I designed also a hinge-version of it and it makes the whole thing a bit more trustworthy.

Future plans:

• add a recess for integrating Nd magnets in order to keep the hinge-version shut securely in horizontal orientation. One screw in the door would be a simple and effective counterpart.
• maybe add wheels to ease relocating? I'm using one of my currently 3 boxes as a laundry box and carrying it to the washing machine is a bit laborious.
• telescopic (steering) wheels with arduino and motors and an android app! RC controlled box would be absolutely sick.
• autonomous driving
• creating a shelve out of multiple boxes

Hardware store parts:

The slim edge boards need to be cut 42mm shorter than the other boards. Width is 50mm. Recommended screws: spax 3x25 (20 pc. per standard box, 4 less with hinges) and spax 3x20 if you also want to add that hinged lid (8 pc. per lid)

edit: BTW, I've learned, it's called a footstool! And no, that's not a disease.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Wanhao

Printer: 

Duplicator9

Rafts:

No

Supports: 

Yes

Resolution:

0,4-0,5mm

Infill: 

20

Filament: Extrudr, DasFilament, Filamentive Greentech, PLA, ONE PET black, transparent, blueish

Notes:

Recommended printing orientation is with the hole pointing upwards.

I used a wide nozzle (0,8mm) and thick layers for that printed aesthetic. 2 Walls were enough for proper strength but I'd do more (+ higher infill ratio) if I'd make larger and structurally more demanding boxes.

Try to keep fan speed as low as possible for good layer fusion.

Slicing can get a bit complicated if you want transparent/translucent parts with a uniform look; some fine-tuning with horizontal expansion angle and related settings might be required. At least that's how it's called in cura.

Use plenty of support where needed.

Generally it's a bit of a tricky print if you want the parts to have a nice look... and that's what it all is about I guess.

Material usage is about 150g per piece. So make sure to have roughly 1,5kg of your desired filament at your hand. For each box. I didn't say it's going to be cheap.

Category: Furniture