Resolute Box (reworked!)

Originally posted on Patreon, now moved here to Printables! :)

Resolute Box Reworked

If there's one thing I've spent a lot of time on in the year since I published the Resolute Box, it's printability.  These days, I have a bunch of cheap printers using default slicing profiles purely to test the resilience of designs in the face of untuned print setups.  I test print, find problems, and see if there's a way to design around them.  But back when I designed the original Resolute Box I was printing solely on very capable, well-tuned machines, printing slowly and carefully.

Those little branches that form the hexagon holes are a bit fragile unless everything is perfectly set up.  A tiny bit of curling and you'll get snapping pieces, which leads to its own set of problems.  So, let's look at what's changed.

The problem, of course, is that the cross sectional area in those branches was quite small, making it all fragile and prone to deformation.  So, first change is that the hexagons are slightly further apart.  Significant improvement, but we needed more!  The footprint and top of the outer frame model hasn't changed, but if you look at it side on, you'll notice that the outer surface now extends out at 45 degrees for a millimetre, making the entire thing thicker, then shrinks back the same way at the very top.  This makes the cross section much larger, and everything is easier to print, even on my cheap and cheerful printers :)
Oh, and I also whipped up an alternative with vertical slots instead of hexagons :)

Printing Tips
This one is all about making the printing easier, but you'll still want to watch your print settings.  Check your retraction in particular, and make sure things are printing nice and neatly.  The tolerance between the outer frame and the inner box is fairly generous, but you might still want to check your dimensional accuracy, especially since the lid needs to fit in there!

Final Thoughts
It's fascinating to look back on old designs and appreciate how much you'd do differently if starting again.  I'd like to think that's a good thing - if you aren't shaking your head at your old work, you haven't evolved... or something like that :)
Thank you as always for being on the journey with me! :)

xoxo
Sven.