Socket Rail, anyone try 3D printing a set?

[joe_pinehill1]

I need a few more socket rails, and like the plastic rails. I saw a few files on thingiverse , anyone try to 3D print a set?

I like plastic rails but they seem way over priced for injection molded plastic.

 

[signcrafter]

There was a guy on here about a month ago(I think) that printed his own for the sizes he wanted. Printed it in 3 pieces. I know he said he was going to share his design on thingiverse or whatever it is. Guessing it's his file you found.

 

[joe_pinehill1]

Maybe, there are several files on thingiverse.

 

[ChrisLS8]

It will cost more to print them yourself. He said it was about 90ish dollars for the 3 he made

 

[Mr Ratchet]

Here's the link to the other post.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378922

 

[48Connor]

It will cost more to print them yourself. He said it was about 90ish dollars for the 3 he made

Yeah it was a lot for someone to pay someone (library in his case) to print them off. For me that was like $20 in material, mainly due to it being 100% infill.

EDIT: The guy was using his local library that charged $0.15/gram, so it worked out to $70 to print the thing. Not really worth it, as you could make an aluminum one for near that



To the OP, it can be done. Next time around I might to ABS or PETG, but I've had no issues with my PLA holders.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

Ironic that I saw this topic come along as I have been searching for a good model that would work for my needs and just couldn't find such. So I designed my own.

Pretty much just a sliding post design that lets you get really dense storage in a small space. I tried multiple commercial units, but the base height was always too tall and deep sockets would not fit in the drawer. My design has a very shallow base but is quite sturdy with sliding pegs.

Right now it's just 3/8", but I'm tinkering with some replacement pegs for 1/4" and 1/2". Each peg has to be slightly smaller than the size needed, but not too small or the sockets wobble or could come loose easily.

Each rail is about 7" long, which was a comfortable size for my printer. To combine them, I just flipped them upside down and used gaffer/rigger tape to connect them how I wanted. When they are flipped back up, the sides are flush and it looks like a solid one piece design. Should be able to combine then side by side the same way if you want.

I did my test pieces in red and blue to make sorting standard and metric easier. Now I'm fighting a failing printer extruder before I can print up more. Clearly I need a bunch more as you can see.

Search Thingiverse for 2777681

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2777681