[DIY] Hex Allen Keys Holder (metric) - 3D Print

Needed a portable holder for hex keys to take them on jobs. There's a plethora of 3D printable holders out there but most are just cylinders to slide the keys into, so the keys fall out when upside down. And many don't include intermediate sizes like 3.5mm / 7mm / etc, and either don't list the key sizes or the numbers don't look crisp.

So I designed a holder with positive retention, thanks to flexible fingers holding the keys in place, and that holds all the sizes from 2 to 10mm (2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). It is printed face down, resulting in crisp lettering.

Will work next on a 'freedom-units' 🦅 version.

It isn't clear to me yet if, over time, plastic creep will significantly reduce the force generated by the fingers. Time will tell.

Fusion360 CAD (very messy), STEP and 3MF files are on Github and MakerWorld

Happy printing to all !

 

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Print settings

• PETG, or ABS if exposed to summer temps above 30ºC (90ºF)
• 0.4mm nozzle
• 0.2mm layer height (don't use other values or the small holes will come out oblong)
• 3 walls for casing, 14 for the finger plates (need solid unidirectional material)
• Concentric infill and top
• 0.6mm top, 1mm bottom
• 35% Adaptive Cubic infill
•  Infill Combination on 

 

Note the extra square in the upper right corner of the plate. This 0.2mm high cube primitive is used to build up filament pressure in the nozzle to ensure crisp / fat printing of the numbers. Its position on the plate makes the Bambu slicer print it on Layer 1 before the numbers get printed. Not critical, not needed most of the time, but I find that without it the first letters can be underextruded sometimes.

 

Warning: once printed, wait at least 24 hours before leaving keys in the holder, or early creep could significantly reduce the fingers' spring rate. The finger plates need to be fully cooled down and, ideally, hygrometrically stable (especially for hygroscopic filaments) before exposing the fingers to prolonged bending.

 

First, apply glue around the perimeter that will hold the finger plate, and apply dabs of glue on the ribs:

To avoid glue spilling over and sticking to the fingers, swipe the sides of the ribs. Of course, never use your own finger for that, or you'll risk becoming an allen keys holder yourself, what idiot would do that...

Once the finger plates are glued in, glue the casings together:

 

And, tagada tsouin tsouin, we're done: