thzinc

Hobby knife blade holder

I love a good “cutty tool,” and there’s nothing quite like using the right X-ACTO knife for the job at hand. However, I didn’t like the storage option provided by the X-ACTO Basic Knife Set. Getting the blades in and out of the plastic shell was a bit fraught and I often had to use a pin to assist with prying the blade out.

Official product photo of the X-ACTO Basic Knife Set hinged box showing ten blades set in a plastic shell inside the lid and three blade handles in the base

One of the few features I did like about the basic knife set’s box was the magnetic strip that helped keep the blades in place. I decided to borrow this feature for a new design that made getting blades in and out of a holder easier and safer.

Photo of finished blade holder showing two rows of four blades on a relatively thin plastic card. There are compartments for each blade and the blades are held in place by a magnetic strip across each of the two rows.

After a few iterations, I realized that I could design a compartment for a blade that had a raised center with a magnetic strip so that pressing on either end of the blade would pivot on the center fulcrum and made handling the blade easier to do. I designed a “card” to hold a total of eight blades and made sure that multiple cards could be stacked neatly with a fillet along the top and bottom perimeters.

Sketches titled "Rough layout". A rectangle with two areas denoted across the top long edge saying "blade holder w/ magnet strips" and "tool holders." Across the bottom long edge under "tool holders:" "blades" and "handles" explain crude drawings of the hobby knives. On the short edge near "blade holder:" "lift-out trays" and "handle" pointing to an oval in the center of the tray. An inset diagram titled "Individual bladeholder" indicates that a single blade compartment is 14.5x50.5mm and has a magnetic strip that is 13mm tall in the center of the compartment.

I fit the 13mm (~1/2in) magnetic strips in the holder and loaded the blades up. This print came out super clean and it’s one of my self-designed things that I really love using.

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