Description
I purchased a US General 44 X 22″ double bank roller cabinet a few months ago and I wanted nice drawer labels. The handle extrusions on this cabinet and other US General cabinets already have a way to use paper labels, but I wanted something more visible from a close angle. I found I wasn’t the first person to create labels, that honor goes to billb1788 over on Thingiverse with their US General 26″ Toolbox Drawer Labels.
I tried printing one of their labels, but the labels aren’t very readable on the bottom drawers when you are standing next to the cabinet. So used that label design as a base and made a label with a plate that sticks out and angles up.
I also changed the text font to Ariel and used all capitals to make what I though were more legible labels, but you can change the font in the openSCAD Model if you wish.
Files
Print Settings
Printer: Prusa i3 MK3
Slicer: PrusaSlicer
Material: Inland PET-G
Resolution: 0.3mm with a 0.4mm nozzle
Wall Lines/Perimeters: 2
Infill: Minimum 10% Gyroid. The higher infill percentage the stronger the part.
Notes: You need supports!
Instructions
The labels are set to print at a 20° angle. So when you slice them they need to have support underneath. The supports double or maybe even triple the print time, but I think the ability to ready the labels when you are standing close to the cabinet to be worth it.
To remove the supports, You must first get under them with a thin edged putty knife and then you can just slide the knife underneath the supports and remove them in one clean motion.
I have noticed now that it is 20°F in my garage, it is hard to get the labels to slide into the handle extrusion, where they used to slide pretty freely when it was warmer. I put it down to the contraction of the metal. The most likely place the fit interferes is where the supports were connected. You can just sand down the back a little if you have issues getting the labels to slide in.
If you want other labels, flat labels, or labels that are at a different angle you can download the openSCAD model and customize the model yourself. See here for general instructions.
will these fit Craftsman tool cases, please? If not, are you interested in a custom order?
Thanks,
Doug
No, these are designed specifically to fit into the handles of the US General tool boxes. The Craftsman toolboxes have no such way to attach labels. If you really wanted you could attach some magnetic tape to the back of these and use on any flat steel surface.
Further, I do not sell anything or create custom designs for people, sorry.
Really awesome designs you are putting out! Thanks for sharing like you do. Hope this happens more and more…
Do you just set a height modifier and switch filament to get the white/black difference or are you printing multi color/material?
Not sure what you mean by “the height modifier,” but yes I am switching filament when I get to the text layer.
I just use feature in PrusaSlicer where you move the layer slider to the layer where you want the filament change and click the plus next to the arrow. In Cura, I would figure out which layer I needed to change filament and go into the g-code and insert an “M600” command (which is basically what PrusaSlicer automates for you).
If your 3D printer does not support switching filament, you can always use a Sharpie in a contrasting color and simply ‘paint’ the tops of the letters. It works well and I’ve done that on many projects