Modular Tagging System - For Plants, Boxes, Drawers, ...

Update History:

May 21 2021:

• I have redesigned the tag box: It is now the same size as the plate box, and I made it much sturdier than the previous box. It stacks well with the plate box:

April 26 2021:

• Added tags with clips that you can hang on trees or bushes:

April 18 2021:

• I also added a box for the tags, so you can store the tags right along with the plates in a drawer. See section “Storage” below.

April 11 2021:

• Added a third layout “vertical” for the plant tags (see photos)
• The STL files for tags now also contain the correct number of trays.
• Added links to my other related designs at the end of the description

Motivation

I really liked the idea of labeling plants with 3D-printed tags. But all the designs I could find did have a fixed label in the design. In my garden plants come and go, so I do need different label texts often. Recently, I bought nine different types of strawberries to find out which one would grow best in my garden:

Of course, with 3D designs you can always change the label text, create the STL file, go through the slicer and print a new tag. But I really did not want to go through the complete design process each time, for just changing the label text for a new plant. I rather wanted to have a modular system with separate characters to put together a new tag with any text within a minute. This is why I elaborated this design.

Overview

The design constists of multiple parts, that can easily be assembled to build the tag you want for your plant or for any other purpose:

• Various character plates to build the text from
• A tray to slide the plates into
• A Tag to slide the tray into

Features

• Modular design, extendable
• Slide-in and snap-in design holds the parts in place without using any kind of fasteners
• Source code included (see separate section below)
• All front faces are printed facing to the bed. So printing on a textured plate results in a very nice look:

• The bottom of the plates have a marking, for not to accidently placing the characters upside down:

Getting started

For making first steps I recomment printing "plates-characters" and "tag-plants_1x80mm" or "tag-1x80mm". So you can check if you like the design after less than 2 hours of printing.
Note that you need to perform a color change for printing the plates. I opted for starting with black and then changing to yellow: 

Assembling a tag

A complete tag consists of 3 parts: plates, tray and tag. Assembly is straightforward:

1. Get all the characters required for your label text, a tag of your choice and a tray:

2. Slide the plates into the tray. Make sure the plates can not fall out of the tray, by holding the tray like so:

3. Fill up the remaining space with empty plates:

4. Slide the tray into the tag, until it snaps in place:

5. Place the tag where it belongs:

Printing more Parts for more Tags

If you like the design, you surely will want to have more character plates. So I recommend printing at least one set of "plates-all" to complete your first set of characters and symbols. You might then want to print "plates-characters_3x" in order to stock up on characters. There is also a set of plates with years ("plates-years") and a set of empty plates ("plates-empty_5x") to fill up remaining space in the trays.

Finally print any kind of tags, as required for your needs. I have included some variations in the download files.

Storage

If you want to get fancy - and I recommend so - then go ahead and print a box for the plates: 

So you can keep your plates organized and assembling more tags is a treat.

There is also a box for the tags that stacks well with the plate box:

Details about Printing

I recommend printing in PETG. I have provided the 3MF files containing my print settings, so when using PrusaSlicer you can use those settings to start from. Also, when printing on a MK3s or MK3s+ you can use the provided gcode files. For more flexibility you can also start from the STL files:

• All parts are printed lying on the front surface. I recommend printing on a textured sheet.
• The plates are printed in 0.15mm layer height, with a color change from "background color" (e.g. black) to "font color" (e.g. yellow). Of course the empty plates could be printed in one color only, but I decided to also print them with color change, so that one can easily make sure to have the textured side on the front.
• The tags and the trays are printed with 0.2mm layer height in single color (e.g. black). Note that the tags rely on bridging to close the back side of the tag.
• The plate box has been printed in variable layer height (0.2 ... 0.3mm) to speed up printing. There is a color change from "font color" (e.g. black) to "box color" (e.g. white)
• The tag box is also printed in variable layer height (0.2 ... 0.3mm) using just one color.

Future Development

I am very happy with the current set of tags for all my uses as of today. If you have any ideas for improvements, please let me know in the comments. You can also use the privided source code to make extensions.

Source Code and Design Considerations

The tags have been designed using OpenSCAD. So you can add any missing characters  or symbols. Also the tag can easily be customized by providing the number and length of the lines, the length of a spike - or 0 if none. Also you can have a second column, opening to the right side of the tag.

I opted for 80mm line lengths for all of my tags, because it seems to be long enough for most purposes and also is short enough for the tray not to become too flimsy.

Happy printing!

If you like this design, then please leave a like and also post a photo in the comments. Also check out my other designs. The tags fit really well with the following designs:

Rain Gauge:

Colorful Wind Wheel:

Also, inspired by the the tagging system, I created a new design for indoor use, you might be interested in:

Slide-in Label Holders: