Upcycling CD Cases: Doll's House // Toy Shelves

Doll House // Toy Shelves using recycled CD Cases

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those CD cases laying around the house? Why not turn them into something useful? With a few simple 3D printed pieces (designed with FreeCAD) we can make a doll house or shelving units for toys. The sky’s the limit! You can use the 3D printed pieces to make all sorts of configurations. Plus you can use paper printouts (placing them inside the CD case where the CD cover was) to personalize your doll house or toy shelves.

Step 1: Building the Parts

Download parts from Thingiverse or from GitHub:

• http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1307851

• https://github.com/G4lile0/Generic-3D-designs/tree...

I have printed them using PLA with the (bq prusa i3 hephestos), these are the printer settings:

• Layer Height = 0.2 mm

• Wall Thickness = 1 mm

• Top/Botton Thickness = 1 mm

• Infill Density = 100%

No need for Rafts or supports.

Due the printer tolerance, I suggest you to print just one piece, and check if it's fit wll, if not scale it a bit down.

Depending on your design you will need more or less parts, for example for the design on the photos or on the video you will need:

• 8x L

• 4x T

• 2x I

• 2x X

• 2X (2 X60 y -X60) For the V shaped roof.

Step 2: Remove the black tray and the paper from the CD case

• Locate the lid of the CD case and open it.

• Place the CD case so that the black tray points to the floor and the transparent lid points toward the ceiling.

• Place the left-hand thumbnail in the left corner of the CD case where the transparent lid and the black tray are located and press down. Press and hold until a small space appears between the transparent cover and the black tray.

• Place the index of the right hand and the fingers of the middle fingers in the space. Remove the upper left corner of the CD case from the black tray by lifting it up.

• Pull the black tray out of the transparent CD case until the right corner is dislodged.

• Insert your fingers further into the case and toward the lower left corner. Grasp the black tray and gently pull the lower left corner of the black tray of the clear case.

• Unhook the last lower right connection and remove the back paper.

Step 3: ​Assembly

Assembly is simple and doesn’t require any glue nor tape. Keep symmetry in mind when joining the pieces and make sure to leave the empty gap (left after removing the black plastic) facing outward on either side but never towards the front nor back of the structure as this would affect its stability.

If your happy with the model you have build, you can make it stronger with hot glue, tape, or just using rubber bands.

Step 4: Printable CD Cover

To improve the design,you can add printable CD cover, use Google Images and search with a "wallpaper doll house" or something similar.

Use the old paper to help you to cut the right dimension, check the video for futher details, minute 2:41.