5 Clever Milwaukee Accessories You Can 3D Print At Home

Not all that long ago, 3D printing was primarily seen as a fringe activity relegated to those in the tech-y set. These days, 3D printing is not only far more accessible for the Average Joe, but a practical — and in some cases economically sound — way to procure certain types of gear.

There are, of course, some items that it is not advisable to 3D print. There are even a few items that could land you in trouble with the law if you go the 3D-printing route. But if you’re looking to fill out your home workshop with a few clever accessories that are as useful as they are cool, you should be at least legally in the clear if the 3D printer you’ve got set up in your home is tasked with the work.

If you’re a fan of the legendary Milwaukee Tools brand, you might have a keen interest in going the 3D-printing route for some of your accessories, as gear featuring its logo can be pricey at the point of purchase. Even if you’re not up to designing and executing a 3D print entirely on your own, you can likely still find a workable template for the gear you desire via any number of online outlets and work it up yourself at home. Here are a few Milwaukee accessories we found to be as cool as they are clever.  

Of course, before you can print at home, you’ll need to ensure you have the right 3D printer for your needs. Assuming you’ve already made that vital decision, the list of 3D-printable Milwaukee accessories at your fingertips is almost limitless. That’s particularly true if you’re looking for clever ways to better organize your precious Milwaukee gear. And if you’re a fan of the legendary brand’s popular Packout line of storage gear, this printable miniature crate might be worth a look.

The template for this clever little milk crate comes from FxHDesigns, who have specifically designed it to attach to the lids of compatible Packout tool boxes. Like most milk crates, the primary purpose of this tiny vessel is storage. To that end, the Packout-compatible crate could prove to be a unique way to keep track of smaller items like nuts, bolts, washers, and screws when you’re on the job. As FxHDesigns points out on its product page, the crate can also be a handy way to secure a warm or cold beverage for those who choose to indulge on the job. 

For what it’s worth, the 3D-printable crate has also been well-rated at five stars by users. Those who have chosen to undertake the print have raved about the cleverness of the versatile little crate’s design and the ease of the print, as well as its fit with compatible Packout gear. 

It’s safe to assume that both pro workers and home-set DIYers are constantly looking for ways to power their gear, both in their home workshop and out on a job. And for most folks, that means a heavy reliance on the trusty old power cord. But as vital as those accessories are, they can be a royal pain to wrangle when it’s time to unpack. They can cause even more trouble when the job is done, and it’s time to pack everything away again.

Even as forward-thinking as the Packout system has been over the years, Milwaukee has not gone all in on giving those handy crates a good way to secure extension cords, with only third-party options available. While those models — which are typically designed to affix to the front of a Packout roller — are hardly expensive, you can easily save a few bucks by 3D-printing them on your own. To that end, the designers at Cheeseprint have provided their own version of the Packout cable wrangler on Printables.

At its core, this should be a very simple print for most who choose to do the job at home, though some reviewers note you may need to slightly adjust the print size to ensure a snug fit on your Packout case. Either way, these little hooks could prove a major time and headache saver for those reliant on extension cords. 

Given the cost of big 3D prints in terms of both time and materials, it’s a safe enough bet that most home printers might prefer to keep their projects on the smaller side. Thankfully, some 3D print designers have proven quite adept at providing small print designs for objects that offer big upside. That includes the designers of this Milwaukee-themed multi-tool, who’ve managed to squeeze four-tool capabilities into this pocket-sized package.

This clever little print provides both a sheath fronting a classic Milwaukee Tools logo, as well as a slide-in storage compartment that is designed to hold up to four quarter-inch bits. When needed, those bits can be removed and slotted into the tip of the sheath, transforming the device into a functional hand tool. While previous models of this multi-tool were specifically designed to only hold Milwaukee bits, the new version is also compatible with most generic ¼ hex bits, too. That’s no doubt a welcome upgrade because, well, even if you’re a Milwaukee die-hard, you’ve almost certainly got a few bits hanging around the shop made by other factions.

Just FYI — you might need all those extra bits, as the available download is for the tool only. Still, folks who have printed the multi-tool out largely rave about its design and its functionality. Some have even remixed theirs to front other tool brands, with one user refashioning theirs into a USB holder.

Now, in terms of handy gear that the folks at Milwaukee Tools have kept in steady production, you’ll find no particular shortage of storage options. That list includes Packout tool boxes and any number of hooks, shelves, fasteners, and fittings for mounting to walls, pegboards, and elsewhere. And among those items, you’ll find quite a few hooks built to help you safely store your M18 power tools and the Lithium-Ion batteries — a Milwaukee Tools original, by the way — which power them. 

But some of those options can be pretty expensive. For those who’d prefer not to pay Milwaukee Tools prices for such a fixture, printing your own is very much the way to go. There are hundreds of printing templates out there to choose from. While we’d wager most of them will fit your storage needs, we like this tool or battery holder from CMS_3D_Designs because of its simplicity, a feature that makes it as useful and easy to install as it theoretically should be to print.

Apart from materials, each holder is designed to engage 18V Milwaukee drills and battery packs and looks to be easy to affix to a wall or to the bottom of a shelf with screws. Like most of the projects included here, this template will cost you a few bucks to download. But even accounting for materials, it’s likely still a cost-efficient method to secure your Milwaukee gear.

Here’s a little something for the tech-savvy Milwaukee Tools fan who refuses to go to any worksite without their precious AirPods. Given how much we’ve all come to rely on our mobile devices and their cordless in-ear accompaniments, that list includes most of us. But those little devices are not only expensive, they can also be easy to break if you don’t properly store them away in a secure case when they’re not in use. And yes, if you want to pretend you’re protecting your in-ear gear with Milwaukee Packout toughness, the 3D printing masses have got you covered via a bevy of downloadable options.

This Milwaukee Packout AirPods carrying case design from SonRawson caught our attention because it’s one of the better-looking options we’ve seen, boasting a crisp, detailed sheen. It’s also one of the better-rated options we found, with printers almost universally praising the case for those same reasons.  

Slickness aside, we should point out that the case does not provide the charging capabilities that come with Apple’s official AirPods case. Likewise, some users found assembly after the print to be a little difficult. Even still, one look at this case makes you think Milwaukee is missing the market on such a device. So much so that we wouldn’t be surprised to see the brand release an official Milwaukee model with full charging capability sometime in the near future. Here’s hoping. 

The purpose of this article is to highlight a handful of clever 3D-printable accessories that fans of the Milwaukee Tools brand might find useful in their day-to-day workflow, or just plain cool to have lying around their workshop. The items that made this list were selected based on their usefulness, price point, and user satisfaction. Whenever appropriate, user reviews may have been cited directly to ensure accuracy.