While I was making my Embroidered Earrings I was thinking about how I've always just wrapped my extra embroidery floss around the little skein and threw them in boxes or baggies and figured I needed to start getting organized. I knew that there were bobbins people used and figured, why not just make my own!

In this tutotiral, I'll talk about how I made both the bobbin and box to hold a collection of them.

Instructable 392

Supplies

Tinkercad
3D Printer - I have a Prusa MK3
Natural Filament or filament of choice. I like seeing the rainbow colors inside.
Elastic - 1/4"
Hot Glue
You can find all the STL files and Bambu print profiles on MakerWorld.

*Any Amazon links are from the Amazon Associates Program.

Embroidery Floss Bobbins and Box

Step 1: Bobbin Design

It seems like embroidery floss bobbins are around 1.5" tall and wide, I ended up making mine 1.5" tall and 1.521" wide. The second image from Joann Fabrics gives you an idea of what a traditional bobbin looks like. They also have holes at the top which you can easily add in in Tinkercad if you'd like. Makes it easy to put them on a ring.

I put some bumps on the top sides and bottom sides to hold the thread in place so it doesn't just slide off and put slits on the top and bottom to lock the thread in place.

From there I played around with the design a little because I work on projects that require less threads so then I like to store the separated threads away from the full strands. I created a design where there is a small seperate section for those separated threads while also having a spot for the full strands.

Step 2: Box and Slots

With the other custom 3D printed box I created, I did it all from scratch. This time, I thought I would try out the Adjustable Box and Lid shape from the Shape Generators section of the Shapes Panel. If you are going to use the box, make sure you make all adjustments in the Parameters box and don't do anything manually to it or your measurements will no longer match up to the Parameters box and you'll need that to get the cover and base to fit together.

I wasn't sure what size it was going to be so I started with just making it a random size and then made the slots to put the bobbins in. My first test the slots were too thin/tight and it was just too hard to get the bobbins in and out so I made sure to leave enough room that they slide easily in and out without slipping out of place within the box.

Step 3: Finishing the Box

Now that I have the slot, I need to figure out how these are going to fit in the box. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't decide to do a certain amount right away, but ended up estimating how fat they would be when they are wrapped with thread (by measuring one wrapped in thread), and then duplicated those in the box. Then I matched up the slots and made additional rows of these slots.

I ended up with 5 rows of 9 slots making it hold a total of 45 bobbins.

Since I didn't do any manual adjustments to the box, I could duplicate it and switch it to Lid and it should prefectly fit the box when printed.

Lastly, I added slots on the sides, like I did with my previously posted organizer, to make it easy to wrap elastic bands around it to hold it closed.

Print your box! It shouldn't require any special settings. I used Clear/Natural filament for fun.