Parametric Cutter/Plier Holder
Projects | | Links Printables | Onshape
A customizable cutter/plier/scissors/more holder with support for multiple wall organization systems.
After unsuccessfully printing a couple Multiboard remixes of the original HSW cutter holder, I figured the design wasn’t too complicated and that I could re-model it myself in Onshape to make it width adjustable and fix the Multiboard connections. That quickly lead to a multi-week learning process where I tried to make almost every aspect of the design configurable.
The final model, configured as shown in the poster (2A with the Multiboard push-fit connector)
Design process
The first step was to come up with a model which matched the original, and from there, making the basic height/width/depth dimensions be variable-driven was an easy change. I also added a configuration variable for the wall width, as I thought the original design was a little bulky for my needs. This also necessitated the chamfer width being configurable to accommodate thinner walls.
These features were all I personally needed, but I challenged myself to rework the file so it could generate the other variants, mainly the multi-slot variants and the perpendicular, B-style mount. The multi-slot support mostly came down to a linear pattern, but it required some rework to not duplicate the taller rear back plate; that had to be moved out of the base extrude and instead be rebuilt after the pattern had been applied. The B-style mount was a matter of mirroring the base design, disabling the back rebuild, and moving the connector, though integrating the B-style with the multi-slot support required some fancier variable logic. Not only did the B-style connector need to be re-centered depending on the slot count, but it being two-slot by default made an off-by-one error that had to be handled with ternary expressions.
Finally, when I came back to this project to share it, I realized that I had fallen short by one last aspect; the mounting connector. I thus made myself a library of Multiboard and HSW connectors in standardized orientations, imported them all into the project, and added a configuration option to switch between them. With this last feature, I think the parametric design can replicate almost any of the remixes I have seen.
Closing thoughts
My biggest takeaway is how powerful Onshape’s configuration system is. While I found some of the surrounding features lacking, I was overall impressed with how easy and intuitive it was to implement configuration-based logic with the in-UI tools, and that’s even before you get to a full dev environment with FeatureScript. The other Onshape benefit I’m really liking is how easy the in-browser platform makes sharing parametric designs. There’s no need for any downloads or sign-ups by the end-user, nor any difficult navigation to find where to edit the design; just visit the publicly shared doc (see the top of the page) and get configuring. It does scream of something that will be on chopping block as soon as they make a new monetization push, but so it goes with closed-source software.
This project was certainly a reminder of scope-creep, but I’m really quite content and proud of my final design. It’s by far the most complex parametric model I have created and I think it’s a solution that will be genuinely useful for a number of people.
