Soap Dispenser Tray

thingiverse

In our house we use these Method refillable foam-soap dispensers, which are great except that my kids have a hard time pushing them straight down. On a tiny sink ledge like in the picture, this means the soap dispenser is constantly ending up on the floor. So, I designed this little holder for the dispenser. It mounts on the wall with two drywall anchors, and also rests on the sink ledge, so there is lots of strength underneath it. There is also has a little hole for stray water to drain into the sink. It fits this kind of bottle, which has a diameter at the base of just over 80mm: http://www.amazon.com/Method-Foaming-Hand-Wash-Waterfall/dp/B004O61852 The filament ridges will collect a bit of grime, but it easily wipes clean. You might want to put a bit of caulking around the rim where it rests on the wall, if your kids are as messy as mine. See the print instructions for details. Designed in Autodesk Fusion 360. Instructions I printed on Replicator2 at medium-quality defaults, with support. The STLs are oriented in the way that I found best to print at. The mounting bracket should be printed with all the contact surfaces off the print bed. It will probably warp a little bit, but in the orientation I provide, this will not cause any problems for the fit. The small inset on the back of the bracket is to provide space for the front rim of the drywall anchors, so that you can still get it flush with the wall. The tray has a small lip around the hole underneath, which is there to make sure that the water will drip and not run along the base. This does mean that the bottom will be covered in support. which means the bottom will be covered in very short support that is hard to break off by hand. I use a wood chisel to slice support off large flat areas like this, it works great. Once the parts are printed, you may have to lightly sand the bracket to get it to slide into the slot on the back of the tray. Do not try to force it in, or you won't be able to get it back out!! A safer option is to screw the bracket to a block of wood for testing the fit. The cavity is slightly angled, so it will have stairsteps. Printing at high quality might help with this. You can sand it if you want, but in my experience the water still runs down-hill. I tested the dish in various orientations, here are the problems. With the cavity facing downwards, Makerware will may to bridge it (!). With support, cleaning the cavity will take a long time, and you will want to sand it smooth so that water can flow. With the whole thing vertical (ie in the rear face), any warping will mean that it will be very hard to fit into the bracket, and it will not be flush against the wall. Also the filament lines will be stair-steppy right at the most visible part, whereas printed flat they look reasonably nice.