3D render of the Battery Dispenser: a white dispenser with three chutes of batteries, one battery in each tray, and an orange lid
Free 3D model

Battery Dispenser

Fill the chutes from the top and take batteries from the tray at the bottom. They lie on their side on a floor that slopes down to the front, so the bottom one rolls out under the front wall and stops against the lip of the tray, and the next one drops into its place. The opening is 2 mm higher than one battery and much lower than two, so only one comes out at a time. Two chutes take 8 AA batteries each, the third takes 12 AAA. A slot in the front of each chute shows how many are left. It stands on a desk on rubber feet or screws flat to a wall, and a lid keeps the dust out. Two printed parts, no supports.

  • 2printed parts
  • 4 × 16 × 14 cmassembled (L × W × H)
  • ≈ 0.2 kgfilament in total
  • 158 mmbed width needed; the dispenser prints 140 mm tall
Download all files ZIP · 35 KB

Free for personal use under CC BY-NC 4.0: print it, remix it and share it with credit to Shapekit. Please don't sell the files or the prints.

Take it apart in 3D · Parts · How to build it

In 3D

Turn it, take it apart

Every part as you print it. Pick colours to see what your filament will look like.

The 3D model (0.2 MB) loads when you get here.

Preview colours

Dispenser
Lid

Drag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom

In the download

2 parts, ready to print

Every STL is already placed the right way up. Download them all at once, or one by one.

Dispenser

158 × 41.5 × 140 mm. Two AA chutes (52 × 16 mm inside) and one AAA chute (46 × 12 mm), each 1.5 mm bigger than the largest battery of its size, with a 10° floor, a tray with a 10 mm lip, an 8 mm viewing slot, four countersunk screw holes in the back and recesses for rubber feet underneath.

Size
158 × 140 × 42 mm
Print
Standing upright on its bottom. No supports: the front walls bridge over the exits.
Filament
≈ 173 g
STL 0.2 MB

Lid

Covers the top. A plug drops 4 mm into each chute, with 0.3 mm of room on every side, so it stays in place but lifts off easily.

Size
158 × 22 × 6 mm
Print
Upside down, plugs up. No supports.
Filament
≈ 14 g
STL 8 KB
Also needed

Parts you buy

  • AA and AAA batteries, alkaline or rechargeable (NiMH). Lithium-ion 14500 cells with a protection board can be longer than 50.5 mm and may not fit.
  • Optional, for the desk: four self-adhesive rubber feet, 10 mm across and up to 3 mm thick.
  • Optional, for the wall: four countersunk wood screws of 3.5 or 4 mm, about 30 mm long, with wall plugs to suit your wall.
Print settings

Slicer settings

0.20 mmlayer height
3walls
15%infill
PLA or PETGmaterial

For a 0.4 mm nozzle. Filament amounts are estimates for these settings.

Assembly

How to build it

Print the parts

Print the dispenser standing up and the lid upside down. Neither needs supports. Check that the inside of each chute is clean, without strings, so the batteries slide freely.

Add the feet

For the desk, stick a rubber foot in each of the four round recesses underneath.

Or mount it on a wall

Hold it against the wall, mark the four holes through the back of the AA chutes and drill for your wall plugs. Put the screws in through the front slots with a long screwdriver; the countersunk heads sit flush with the inside of the chutes, so the batteries roll over them.

Fill it

Drop the batteries into the chutes from the top, lying flat, the long way across. The first one rolls out onto the tray; the rest stack up behind the front wall.

Take one

Lift the battery out of the tray. The next one rolls forward to take its place.

Put the lid on

Press the lid onto the top so the plugs drop into the chutes.

Keep batteries, especially button cells, away from small children. Don't mix used and new batteries, and keep metal objects out of the chutes.

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