Parametric Shipping Container

This is an SCAD file to generate 3D models of shipping containers.

The model is widely customizable and supports containers of different dimensions, different types of wall styles, different forms of assembly as well as some supplemental architectural features, such as windows and interior walls.

Prerequisites

This should work with any recent version of OpenSCAD.

Basic customization

The script generates a standard shipping container with a frame and ISO 1161 corner castings. Most aspects of the container's appearance, such as the container size and the wall styles, can be customized by changing single variables in the script.

Measurements

The measurements of the container are specified by

EXT_LENGTH = 6.06;
EXT_WIDTH  = 2.44;
EXT_HEIGHT = 2.59;
SCALE = 100;

THICKNESS_WALL = 1.5;
THICKNESS_WALL_INT = 1.5;
TOLERANCE = 0.1;

Here, the first four measurements refer to the container dimensions and the scale:

• EXT_LENGTH: Length of the container (in m). Standard lengths are 6.06 for a 20', 12.19 for a 40' container.
• EXT_WIDTH: Width of the container (in m). The standard width is 2.44.
• EXT_HEIGHT: Height of the container (in m). Standard heights are 2.59, or 2.90 for a High Cube container.
• SCALE: The scale of the model. Standard is 100, tcommon scales would be 87 for H0 scale, 160 for N scale and so on.

The other settings refer to the generated model:

• THICKNESS_WALL: The thickness of the container's external walls (in mm).
• THICKNESS_WALL_INT: The thickness of the container's internal walls (in mm). For placing internal walls, see "Architectural features" below.
• TOLERANCE: The tolerance between wall parts when generated as separate parts. By default this is 0.1 mm.

Styles

The look of the container is determined by a set of style directives:

STYLE_FRONT="door";
STYLE_BACK="ridges";
STYLE_RIGHT="ridges";
STYLE_LEFT="ridges";
STYLE_TOP="ridges";
STYLE_BOTTOM="flat";
STYLE_FILL="walls";

Wall styles

All walls support the following styles:

• "none": generates an empty wall that consists only of the container frame.
• "flat": generates a flat wall without ridges.
• "ridges": generates a corrugated wall with ridges.

The "short" front and back walls (STYLE_FRONT, STYLE_BACK) additionally support the following style:

• "door": generates a simple door that is inset somewhat and has a few ridges, hinges, a center divider and a horizontal latch.

The bottom cover (STYLE_BOTTOM) additionally supports the following style:

• "crossbars": generates a container bottom with a few wide crossbars.

Fill styles

The fill style (STYLE_FILL) determines the container's interior. Currently there are the following fill styles:

• "none": generates a hollow, empty container.
• "infill": generates a solid container that is easy to print as a single object without overhangs.
• "walls": generates a hollow container with walls placed on the inside (see "Architectural features" below).
• "tank": generates a tanktainer with a single tank on the inside. Most useful with the walls set to "none".

Assembly

The container can be generated as a solid object or disassembled into several pieces. This is governed by the assembly style directive:

ASSEMBLY_STYLE = "parts";
PART_D = 3; 

Currently the following assembly styles are supported:

• "box": generates the container as a single box
• "lid": generates the container as a box, and places the top cover separately
• "parts": generates all walls separately, face up, except the bottom, which will be generated in place. This makes it easy to print interior walls, but it also means that a container bottom with ridges can be hard to print.
• "faceup": generates all walls separately, face up. This assembly style means that interior walls cannot be placed, as they would extend below the Z plane. They will be ignored.
• "facedown": generates all walls separately, face down.
• "custom": custom placement for every part, see below.

All wall parts are generated with 45° edges in order to make it easier to assemble the container.

The part distance PART_D (in mm) specifies the distance between the disassembled parts.

Custom assembly

If the standard assembly styles are not flexible enough (e.g. if you have a window in a single wall that needs to be placed upside down for printing without supports), you can customize the placement for all walls individually:

PLACE_TOP = "inplace";
PLACE_FRONT = "faceup";
PLACE_BACK = "faceup";
PLACE_LEFT = "facedown";
PLACE_RIGHT = "faceup";
PLACE_BOTTOM = "inplace"; // inplace = facedown

There are three placement options for each wall:

• "inplace": generates the wall in place
• "faceup": generates the wall face down. This means it can be printed on the flat back side, with 45° overhangs (and some extra overhangs for the frame parts)
• "facedown": generates the wall in place. This means that it needs to be printed on the ridged front side. This may be useful in some cases to avoid overhangs.

Note that there is no sanity check. It's easy to generate a container with all side walls placed separately, but with the top generated "inplace" and hanging in the air.

Advanced customization

Architectural features

Advanced architectural features, such as openings, windows, interior walls or text, can be placed individually.

In order to define such architectural features, find the FEATURES = [ list and add your desired features after it.

Whether architectural features are placed or not can be controlled separately. Placement of windows (including openings) and interior and exterior text can be controlled using the dedicated variables:

PLACE_WINDOWS = false;
PLACE_TEXT_INT = false;
PLACE_TEXT_EXT = true;

The placement of interior walls is enabled by setting the fill style of the container to "walls".

Openings

An opening is a hole in the container from floor to ceiling, essentially a missing section of wall.

Example:

opening(wall=RIGHT, x=0.5, width=4)

Here:

• wall: the wall you want the opening on: RIGHT, LEFT, FRONT, BACK
• x: the position (in m) where the opening starts
• width: the width (in m) of the opening

Windows

A window is a smaller opening in a container wall with a frame. Note that window frames stick out at 90° angles, so they need some care when 3D-printing. Containers with windows are easier to print as separate walls (using the "parts" assembly directive).

Example:

window(wall=LEFT, x=0.75, y=0.8, width=1.8, height=1.7)

Here:

• wall: the side you want the window on: RIGHT, LEFT, FRONT, BACK
• x: the position (in m) to start the window
• y: the height off the ground (in m) of the window
• width: the width (in m) of the window
• height: the height (in m) of the window

Note that there is no sanity check of the window's dimensions, so you need to take care that your windows are not higher or wider than the container wall.

Walls

Walls are placed internally in the container. Walls can be either be placed lengthwise (in X direction) or across (in Y direction).

Example:

wall(dir="x", x=1, y=1.2, length=1.5)

Here:

• dir: the direction of the wall: "x", "y"
• x: the position (in m) to start the wall
• y: the position (in m) to start the wall
• length: the length (in m) of the wall

Interior text

Interior text is embedded in the floor of the container in the inside. So far it can be placed only in X direction.

Example:

text_int(text="Robe", x=0.25, y=2.1, size=6)

• text: the text to show (keep it short!)
• x: the position (in m) to start the text
• y: the position (in m) to start the text
• size: the text font size. For the font, Arial is used by default.

Exterior text

Exterior text is embedded in the floor of the container on the outside. This makes most sense with the "flat" bottom style, as other bottom styles will interfere with the text. So far it can be placed only in X direction.

Example:

text_ext(text=str("1:",SCALE), x=0.25, y=2.1, size=6)

• text: the text to show (keep it short!). In the example, this prints the scale of the model into the bottom, using the OpenSCAD str() function
• x: the position (in m) to start the text
• y: the position (in m) to start the text +=size=: the text font size. For the font, Arial is used by default.

Other customizable dimensions

Most dimensions of the container are specified through variables and can be customized. Note that it is easy to break the model in this way.

Some of the more useful customization options specify the dimensions of the container frame, and the orientation of the side panels and walls to the container frame:

• FRAME_THICKNESS = 0.10: Dimension of the container frame (in m). The default assumes 10 cm or 4x4" bars.

• FRAME_INSET_X = 0.02: Offset of the vertical frame bars in X direction (in m), default: 2 cm.

• FRAME_INSET_Y = 0.02: Offset of the vertical frame bars in X direction (in m), default 2 cm.

• TOP_INSET = 0.02: Offset of the top panel below the top frame (in m), default 2 cm.

• SIDE_INSET = 0.03: Offset of the side panels towards the inside of the container (in m), default 3 cm.

The defaults look good in a model. However, they can make the container hard to print when the side panels or frame parts are printed on the side. In those cases, it may be preferable to set them to 0.

Todo

Here are some of things that could be supported in the future:

• Support rotation of text
• More realistic wall ridges at angles other than 90°
• Forklift holes for 20' containers (in both X and Y direction)
• More realistic corner placement for very long containers (45' and 53')
• More different door styles, e.g. a simple door that prints well at small scales, or a more complex door that has more realistic latches.

Author and license

(C) 2019 by Philipp Reichmuth (phrxmd)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Acknowledgement

The original idea, as well as a good part of the code was taken from gundyboyz' Parametric Shipping Container model published on Thingiverse under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.