Make custom storage solutions with deckinabox

Two years ago I bought myself a Silhouette Cameo. I built some nice papercraft statues with it and then went to my old love. Boxes.

So I created deckinabox, an online tool to create boxes and trays.

Models for folding paper or cardstock

Originally it could only generate boxes for card decks, but I fairly quickly extended it to support token trays. With it I make storage solutions for many of my board games, for instance Agricola, 7 Wonders Duel or Paper Tales.

No need to draw, align or think about the maths to build your box. You specify its size, some additional configuration (what kind of lock mechanism do you want?). That’s it.

If you are building a tray, it exposes a simple interface to choose where your separators go. And then it exports multiple formats that makes it available to people with different machines, or even to cut by hand.

The trays and boxes made with cardboard are sturdy (sturdier than what I expected to be honest). They are easy to build, even if for complex trays it can be relatively time intensive.

Models for 3D printing

I wanted to expand this approach of offering a similar tool for models for 3D printing. Usually STL models are built for one purpose only (with small variations). Or can be parametrised with numeral, or if you can, changes in the code.

But I wanted to offer a way to create a model with a custom interface and complex options. I needed to learn a lot of things about 3D modelling and how to build 3D modelling software, but now deckinabox can also generate quick draw decks and token trays models for 3D printing.

It uses the same type of interface as the models for folding paper. Standard card sizes options for decks and separators for the token tray generator.

CodeCAD is great

I am quite proud to be able to offer a solution that allow someone who is not interested in 3D modelling a way to create personalised models for their need.

I could build this tool around a community of people working on codeCAD tools. CodeCAD is this (small?) movement around using code to draw.

If you are interested, have a look at maker.js (that I use for the 2D paper models) and my own replicad for everything 3D!

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