3D Printed Trinket Trays: Ideas, Uses & How to Resize Them
One of my favourite things about 3D printing is being able to take one design and make it work for completely different spaces and purposes.
A small trinket tray might sit beside your bed holding rings and earrings. Print the same design larger and suddenly it can hold keys by the front door, stationery on your desk, craft supplies, or all those little everyday things that never seem to have a proper home.
I've been building my own collection of 3D printed trinket trays, and I've quickly discovered just how versatile they can be.
In this guide, I'll share some of my favourite trinket tray ideas, along with how you can easily resize a printable tray in Bambu Studio to suit what you want to use it for.
What Can You Use a 3D Printed Trinket Tray For?
That's the fun part. There really isn't just one answer.
Smaller trays are lovely for rings, earrings, coins, hair clips and little keepsakes. On a desk, they can hold paper clips, USB drives and other small stationery that would otherwise disappear into a drawer.
Make your tray larger and it can become a catch-all tray near the front door for keys and everyday bits and pieces.
If you're a crafter, they can also be handy for keeping beads, charms and other small supplies together while you're working.
Some ideas include jewellery, keys, coins, hair accessories, paper clips, craft supplies, beads, charms, small keepsakes and packaged treats.
Trinket Tray Ideas for Around the Home
A practical organiser doesn't have to look like office storage.
That's one of the reasons I love turning cute designs into trays. They can become part of the decor while still having a useful job to do.
A bakery-inspired trinket tray can sit on a dressing table holding jewellery. A colourful design can brighten up a craft desk. A larger tray can become a little drop zone for the things you empty out of your pockets at the end of the day.
You can even print the same design in different sizes for different rooms.
And because you're printing the tray yourself, you're not necessarily stuck with the size the designer originally created.
How to Resize a 3D Printed Trinket Tray in Bambu Studio
If you've found a tray design you love but it's too small or too large for what you have in mind, you can resize it before printing.
In Bambu Studio, select your model and open the Scale tool.
When you want the entire tray to stay in proportion, make sure uniform scaling is enabled. This keeps the X, Y and Z dimensions proportional while you increase or decrease the overall size.
For example, if your original tray is 120 × 120 mm, scaling it to 75% makes it approximately 90 × 90 mm, 125% makes it approximately 150 × 150 mm, and 150% makes it approximately 180 × 180 mm.
So if you love a design as a tiny jewellery tray but want a larger version for keys or craft supplies, you don't necessarily need another model. Try scaling the one you already have.
Check Your Build Plate Before Printing Plate Before Printing
Before you get carried away making the world's most enormous trinket tray, check the final dimensions against the usable area of your printer's build plate.
Bambu Studio lets you see how the resized model sits on the plate, which makes it easy to experiment with different sizes before slicing.
Also remember that scaling a model changes everything proportionally, including its thickness and decorative details. Scaling a design dramatically smaller may make fine details or walls harder to print, while making it substantially larger will increase the amount of filament and printing time required.
I always recommend checking the sliced preview before committing to a significantly resized print.
Choosing the Right Trinket Tray Size
Rather than thinking there is one correct size, think about what you want the tray to hold.
For rings and earrings, a smaller print might be perfect. For stationery, craft supplies or everyday bits and pieces, the original or a moderately enlarged version may work beautifully. For keys or larger items, try increasing the scale and checking how much usable space that gives you.
That's part of the beauty of 3D printable trinket trays. You can make the design fit your space instead of trying to make your space fit the design.
Can You Use 3D Printed PLA Trinket Trays for Food?
Once you start printing larger trays, it's tempting to fill them with snacks and treats. And they can make very cute displays!
But there is an important distinction to make here.
A finished FDM print shouldn't automatically be considered food-safe simply because it was printed using PLA.
FDM printing creates small grooves and spaces between printed layers where food residue can collect and which may be difficult to clean thoroughly. Filament pigments and additives, printer components and how a finished object will be cleaned and reused can also matter when something is intended for food contact.
For my decorative PLA trays, I prefer to keep things simple and use them for wrapped or packaged foods rather than placing unpackaged food directly onto the printed surface.
That could include individually wrapped lollies, packaged biscuits and snacks, tea bags, coffee pods and other treats that keep their own protective packaging between the food and the print.
If you're planning to 3D print something specifically for repeated direct food contact, it's worth researching the food-contact information supplied by your filament manufacturer as well as the printing, finishing and cleaning process you're using.
That little bit of extra research is much better than assuming that anything printed in PLA is automatically suitable for food.
One Design, So Many Possibilities
This might be my favourite thing about printable home decor.
One little file doesn't necessarily have one little job.
Print a favourite design small and use it for your jewellery. Make another for your desk. Scale it up and use it near the front door. Change the filament colours and suddenly the same design can look completely different again.
And if you're printing products for your own handmade business, being able to experiment with different sizes can give you even more ways to use a design.
I've been having far too much fun turning some of my designs into trinket trays lately, so my own collection is steadily growing.
♡ Love These Tray Styles? ♡
Choose your favourite designs, download, print and start creating!
If you'd rather start with a ready-made design, you can explore my growing collection of 3D printable trinket trays from Artistry by Anna.
I create my trays with both the practical and pretty sides in mind, because sometimes the little container holding your paper clips deserves to be cute too.
All of my Etsy 3d print designs, including these tray packs are only $3.99 each.
Use the SOCIAL15 coupon code to get 15% off your order!
And there are plenty more designs still to come.
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