What to measure
Desk drawers are shallow, and the height is the measurement people get wrong. Close the drawer on a lump of modelling clay or a folded strip of card standing on the drawer floor, then open it and measure what is left: that is the real clearance under the desk frame, and it is often 10 mm less than the height of the drawer side. For the width and depth, measure the drawer floor with a steel ruler pushed into the corners. If the drawer has a pencil groove moulded into the front, measure behind it.
Choosing the compartments
With the values here every compartment is about 58 mm square inside, large enough to get two fingers in and lift out a paper clip. Smaller than about 40 mm and small items become hard to pick up from the bottom. If you want a long slot for pens, generate a second bin, for example 180 by 60 mm with one compartment, and place it behind this one. Pens are around 140 to 150 mm long, so a 180 mm slot takes them with room to spare.
Clearance, wall and material
Take 0.5 mm off the measured width and depth so the tray lifts out for cleaning. A desk tray carries almost no load, so walls, dividers and floor are all 1.2 mm, three passes of a 0.4 mm nozzle. That is the quickest setting that still prints as a firm wall at 30 mm high. Going down to 0.8 mm saves a little plastic but the rim then flexes when you pull the tray out. PLA is the natural choice: stiff, easy to print flat, and a desk drawer never gets warm.
Printing
Print floor down with no supports. A 0.2 mm layer height gives a smooth rim; at that layer height the 1.2 mm floor is six solid layers, so check in the slicer preview that the floor is shown solid with no infill pattern in it. The inside corners of the compartments are square, which is where dust collects: a light pass with a deburring tool or a fingernail removes any elephant-foot lip at the base of the outer wall so the tray sits flat.
Outline drawing
Top view, to scale. The tray is 30 mm high with 1.2 mm walls, dividers and floor.
Parameters the generator will use
| Setting | Link parameter | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Model | model | drawer_bin |
| Outer width (X) | width | 180 |
| Outer depth (Y) | depth | 120 |
| Outer height (Z) | height | 30 |
| Wall thickness | wall | 1.2 |
| Floor thickness | floor | 1.2 |
| Compartments across (X) | cols | 3 |
| Compartments deep (Y) | rows | 2 |
| Divider thickness | divider | 1.2 |
All lengths are in millimetres. Outer size from these values: 180 x 120 x 30 mm.
Open the generator with these values
This model is free. One $7 licence key opens five more models. Get a licence key on Gumroad ($7)
The fitted drawer organiser bin is the free model: no licence key and no account are needed to preview it and download the STL. The other five models (pipe and cable clip, hex bit holder, screwdriver rack, 42 mm grid bin and drill guide jig) need a licence key.