The evolution of my 3d printable gaming trays for tokens, resources, etc. have led me to these hexagonal stacking gaming trays.
I started with spline based profiles revolved around a central axis. Then someone asked me for hexagon shaped ones so they would nest better. Another request was for a divider in between. I had to move away from the splines for the sweeping along paths with the more complex paths, and towards lines and arcs.
I recommend printing in PETG for strength and flexibility, if possible, but my earlier models in PLA have held up well so far.
Printing Tip:
You can greatly speed up the print time by speeding up the external perimeter print speed. Most of the print time is building up the walls and that is about as easy on the printer as possible since you are just going around the shape in a continuous motion with no sharp corners. I ramped my external perimeter speed from 25 mm/s to 100 mm/s and it cut the print time in a third. My prints in PETG came out looking amazing at 100 mm/s on a Prusa i3 MKS3+. You don't want to speed up the entire job's speed because you still want the quality surface finish for the base which is a top solid infill.
I created this model so that others can dial in the settings to produce trays that precisely fits their needs. For example, if you want a wider tray, you can increase the width. The actual width between parallel sides is width + 2 * spread. If you a steeper side, you can reduce the taper angle.
The fillets used to round the corners are not parametric, so you may need to tweak them if you adjust the parameters too much. Usually what I have found is the geometry has changed to make the current fillet for that edge not physically possible and making the fillet smaller fixes it.
Check out my other designs for 3d printable gaming accessories including trays, dice towers, upgraded game resources, etc. EcoDad's Gaming Accessories Collection by EcoDad.
The author marked this model as their own original creation.