If your manufacturing workflow includes a 5S Lean initiative (sort/ straighten/ shine/ standardize/ sustain), you might know that the literal translation of Step 2 is “Arrange for ease of use.” An efficient shopfloor and manufacturing line absolutely calls for such organizational aides as logistics trays, tool racks and wall-mounted shadow boards. With these in place, all tools can be easily located, accessed, returned and accounted for. But how can you quickly create these custom physical setups?
A common answer nowadays is, “There’s an app for that.” It’s true for calculating paint-gallons needed for a given room size and now it’s true for designing custom 3D-printed part trays, shadow boards and more, with new design tools from trinckle, a Berlin-based software company that recently teamed up with Stratasys.
One tool is good, three tools are better
My 3/8-inch sockets were loose in a bin in my garage, and I wanted to create a labeled nesting tray where each could be neatly stored. Perfect timing to try out trinckle’s new Additive Apps Suite (free Beta trials as April 2026) that offers more than ten targeted software tools as a complement to their fixturemate automated fixture-design product. The Suite is going to be available sometime in Q3 2026 as a total package or as separate standalone tools; fixturemate is already available as an app within Stratasys GrabCAD Print Pro software. (More on the latter soon in a separate blog post – it is such a time-saver!)
Since I didn’t have 3D models of my sockets and wrenches, I first used the trinckle Photo-to-Outline app to create STL files for ten sockets and two handle/extender parts. You do this by downloading a kind of QR-code-looking square image, (paper) printing it with a little scaling-work to make it measure 40mm per side and taking a photo of your parts laid out on the same page. (Set the paper and parts on the floor and stand over them with your cell phone.) There was a little bit of shadowing, but overall it worked fine.
I did this for both the handles and an assortment of the sockets that would easily fit within the printed bounding box, leaving at least 1cm space between parts.
Then I simply uploaded the photos to the trinckle app. If you just want to quickly view the workflow, there is a Demo Photo right there that you can use. The app automatically generates a 3D-printable outline of your part, giving you the choice of saving everything as all one file or creating individual STLs, which is what I did for maximum placement flexibility.
Shadow Boards
From there, I opened the trinckle Shadow Boards app. It, too, has an easy guided workflow, beginning with importing your STLs; this is the recommended format, but 3MF and STEP files are also allowed, then internally converted to STLs.
I brought in twelve models and saw them laid out on a default square board, based on Auto orientation. You can choose Flat, Upright and more, and also turn on x/y/z/angle controls for reorienting individual parts as desired.
Next come all the Layout possibilities. I recommend you edit the board dimensions first, as that sets the limits for fitting each part next to another. I chose 225mm x 325mm so the board would easily fit on the build-tray of my Stratasys F370 FDM printer (10in x 14in or 255mm x 355mm). I also edited the default border size and gap between parts. That made my first cut look like this:
Then I defined the depth for each recess and added individual part labels. I tried a few different layouts and part-spacings until I was satisfied with the overall size and look.
From there, you have Cavity options: this lets you define the height of the board, the cutout depth for each part (global or individual) and the offset (edge) value. The default for the latter is 1mm; I went with 2mm but next time I’ll stick with 1mm – that would have been plenty as the photo-generated outline size/scale was excellent and there was no need to allow extra room. Here’s what the final board looked like.
Freeform Labeling
At this point, the completed board was ready to export as either an STL or a STEP file for 3D printing, CNC machining, or processing in other CAD software if desired. Just because I could, I took one more step. I imported my model into a third trinckle Additive App, Freeform Labeling, using the Engrave (deboss) vertical Direction and 3mm depth to put my name vertically along one side.
Lastly, I exported the completed STL file for 3D printing on a Stratasys FDM F370 printer. The final part, printed in Ivory ASA for a smooth finish, turned out great and fits nicely into a bin. No more rolling sockets or guessing on the size at hand.
For additional information, check out these links:
PADT Inc. is a globally recognized provider of Numerical Simulation, Product Development and 3D Printing products and services. For more information on Stratasys printers and materials, contact us at info@padtinc.com.
(All images courtesy Pam Waterman)
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