The DDD Printable Wall Control project provides a wide range of modular pegboard hangers for use with the Wall Control powder-coated steel pegboard solutions available on Amazon. After much research I landed on Wall Control as a durable, high-strength and low-price organization solution which works with existing 1/4" standard pegboard pegs. The panels also add 1" slots which allows for greater strength and rigidity for compatible hangers. I've found their panels to be inexpensive, well-made, and available in a range of colors and sizes.
Wall Control sells a line of high quality hanger accessories compatible with these slots and I've found them to be reasonably priced and of good quality. However, printed solutions can offer a highly-customized solutions made at home for your own organization needs and can do so quickly and inexpensively. One might consider leveraging both solutions as needs arise.
The DDD Printable Wall Control collection is designed for easy printability, with all parts provided in a printable orientation and no supports should required. The Quickhooks series are fast-printing models for lightweight use cases. Sidepieces and Centerpieces snap together to create strong, modular hanger solutions.
| Quickhooks | |
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Quickhooks are fast-printing, two part hook/hanger solutions designed for quick and easy printing for lightweight use cases. Available in a range of sizes. |
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Sidepieces are designed with a hook that catches into the Wall Control slots. Sidepieces extend out from the wall and come in a variety of lengths and shapes, and are offered in left/right/center variations. |
| Centerpieces | |
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Centerpieces are designed to mount between a pair of sidepieces. Centerpieces are designed to create custom hook, shelf, or hangar solutions which can snap into place between a variety of sidepieces. Some centerpiece models offer an additional locking feature which allows for completely rigid connections to a Wall Control panel. |
The DDD system mixes "side pieces" with "center pieces" to assemble a complete hanger. Most use cases will involve a left/right combination of sidepieces with a centerpiece in the middle that will hold onto whatever you're hanging.
Let's walk through an example hanger using DDD Printable Wall Control parts to create a hanger for tools with a belt clip such as a tape measure or pocket knife. The completed model will look something like this when empty and like this with some tools hung.
Print the following parts for a 3in wide hanger as seen on the right in the example photos above, substitute 4x wide or whatever you need for larger/smaller hangers.
- 1x 3x0 Flat Left.stl Left-hand sidepiece, 3 inches tall and flat in the front so there's nothing sticking forward. A sidepiece 3 high and 0 forward will have a filename starting with 3x0.
- 1x 3x0 Flat Right.stl Right hand sidepiece, same as above.
- 1x 2x3 Spacer clip-on.stl Center hook for the clip, this one is 2in high and 3in across. A centerpiece 2 high and 3 across will have a filename starting with 2x3.
- 1x 1x3 Locking Spacer.stl Allows the hanger to be locked to the wall control panel via a locking pin.
- 1x 8mm Lock Pin.stl Screws into the locking spacer to press a pin into the 1/4" holes on your Wall Control panel, providing a fully-constrained fit on the wall. Drive into place with a quarter-inch square drive ratchet. This is the core feature of this system, so print a bunch!
- 4x 4x10x8mm Pin.stl Some centerpieces do not have tabs on the model to press into the sidepiece, such as the "Spacer clip-on" centerpieces used in this recipe. This is always a result of avoiding "supports" in the print job. Print out a set of these 4 pins, press-fit on either side of the "Spacer clip-on" part, then press into the left/right sidepieces along with the Locking Spacer.
- Sidepiece dimensions are
height x depth - Centerpiece dimensions are
height x width - Sidepieces come in left/right pairs. They have a hook that connects to Wall Control and are usually used to attach a centerpiece to the wall
- Centerpieces usually are there to actually hold whatever you are trying to hang
- Locking spacers can be used to fully constrain the part so nothing moves around
Start with the centerpieces, find something suitable for the thing you want to hang, then find a matching set of sidepieces using the dimensions from the centerpiece.
Check here for some parts lists ready-to-go to get an idea of how you can use this system, or add your own recipe to share your ideas with others!
The parts are designed with a press-fit, one can use a vice or clamps to force the parts together. The final fit will be determined by the calibration of your printer, if anything is loose you can add a drop of CA glue to keep parts held tightly.
Several Centerpiece models offer a locking feature based on a fantastic idea from Seth Altobelli. A locking screw can be printed and screwed into these models to provide a solid, positive-lock fit with the Wall Control system. A locked part is fully constrained and will not move while hanging or removing a tool which greatly improves the experience over traditional pegboard offerings.
The locking screw uses a 1/4" square drive, same as one would use to drive a 1/4" drive socket.
Wall control sells panels which are oriented vertically or horizontally, and the hole patterns between the two are different. Centerpieces and sidepieces which make use of the locking feature have separate models for horizontal panels to accomodate the difference in hole patterns.
Wall control panels are available in a range of colors or as a simple unpainted, steel sheet. The slots cut in the plain steel panels are slightly wider than those in the powder coated panels due to the thickness of the paint itself. The catches in these models are designed to attach firmly to the powder coated panels, while unpainted panels might have a little more play due to the difference in thickness. If your assembled part doesn't fit tight, try including one of the locking parts to ensure a secure fit.
While several-dozen variants of Quickhooks, Centerpieces and other models are available to download as .stl files; you can download and modify the following sources to customise various parts for your needs.
- SketchUp Sources - The original sources used to create the base models found in this repository. Requires SketchUp 2021 or later, with special instructions for exporting.
- FreeCAD Sources - Reverse-engineered parametric models maintained by Flynn. Includes source files for Quickhooks and Centerpieces, with more on the way. Requires FreeCAD 0.20 or later, but can also be easily converted to
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Click the Discussions link above to ask questions, get help, suggest new ideas, or submit your own models!
This project is powered by coffee. I might get a little weird about it at times, but it's not much of a stretch to suggest that coffee both powers and consumes a fair portion of my mental energy. Hook me up if you think these models are cool. Thanks!
