4 3D prints that make moving into a new apartment much less annoying

Published Sep 26, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Sydney Butler is a technology writer with over 20 years of experience as a freelance PC technician and system builder and over a decade as a professional writer. He's worked for more than a decade in user education. On How-To Geek, he writes commerce content, guides, opinions, and specializes in editing hardware and cutting edge technology articles. Sydney started working as a freelance computer technician around the age of 13, before which he was in charge of running the computer center for his school. (He also ran LAN gaming tournaments when the teachers weren't looking!) His interests include VR, PC, Mac, gaming, 3D printing, consumer electronics, the web, and privacy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Research Psychology with a minor in media and technology studies. His masters dissertation examined the potential for social media to spread misinformation. Outside of How-To Geek, he hosts the Online Tech Tips YouTube Channel, and writes for Online Tech Tips, Switching to Mac, and Helpdesk Geek. Sydney also writes for Expert Reviews UK. He also has bylines at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Tom's Hardware, MakeTechEasier, and Laptop Mag. I'm almost certainly going to move into a new place next year, which means that familiar dread of having to pack up everything is starting to creep in. But as I'm staring at my table full of 3D printers and considering how I'm going to transport them, it occurs to me that maybe these machines could actually help make the whole moving process easier. So I started browsing the usual suspect 3D printing sites to see what sorts of things people have designed that could smooth out my move, and it turns out there are a few real corkers that I'm keen to try as soon as I stop procrastinating about packing. You'll get a kick out of this one This is a print-in-place model with an ingenious design. It works like those kick-stopper doorstops you might have seen on TV, but creator Anefecious' Kicky Door Stopper takes full advantage of a 3D printer's ability to create objects with complex internal structures. It's all made from normal PLA filament, but there's a smart release mechanism built in, so that you can remove the doorstop from a door you've secured using nothing more than your foot. If you have a place with hard floors instead of carpets, you might want to stick some sort of rubber pad on the bottom, though, for grip. This box flap retainer, uh, retains your box flaps It's actually an annoying problem we forget about until the day of the move Credit: Ragni Hefthyn via Printables Ragni Hefthyn remixed this Cardboard Box Flap Retainer so that it can be printed with some more strength, but Ryan Amey's Cardboard Flap Retainer original will probably work just as well for something you might only need for a few days. Either way, this simple object can be printed at any scale you need to match your boxes, and it takes care of the super-annoying issue where box flaps won't stay down when the box is open. I've personally experienced shin-level cardboard cuts before in my life, so I think I'll be throwing a few of these on the build plate both for packing and unpacking purposes. Cardboard carrying handles Get a grip on moving day Credit: MGDesign via Printables This is another genuinely great idea, created by MGDesign. These Cardboard Carrying Handles solve another huge issue: carrying the actual boxes. Usually you grab them by the bottom, but that's awkward and makes it hard to see where you're going. These handles are designed to be punched in through the box's sidewall. The model has an integrated punch for that purpose, and depending on how thick your boxes are, it should be relatively easy to push (or gently hammer) them through. Once the handle is in, it gives you a reinforced and comfortable place to hold the box, and you don't have to hold it up high anymore. The only issue I can see here is if your box is overloaded and the bottom can't handle the weight, but that's an issue of packing your stuff wrong, not a problem with this design. Velcro box tabs turn a box into a temporary bin Just add the Velcro Credit: hobbyguyme via Printables These Velcro closure tabs for cardboard boxes are almost the opposite of the box flap retainer. Instead of keeping the flaps down, you can use these tabs to securely close a box, but because of the Velcro strips you stick on them, you can open them as you need to. This is perfect when you're moving in, because you might need some stuff from a given box right away, but the rest of its contents hours or even days later. Heck, I've had boxes stay half full for months after a move. These tabs keep dust (and cats) out of the box, without the need to tape it up every time. That's a significant amount of hassle saved, especially if you have a lot of boxes to process. The only downside here is that you need to buy some adhesive Velcro strips, but then again, you probably need to add rubber pads to the door stoppers too, so there was going to be a trip to the hardware store one way or another. You might even consider modifying this print with embedded magnets instead of Velcro. Making the right moves is easy if you have a 3D printer I'm surprised more of these ideas haven't become commercial products, but it's nice to see that smart designers all over the world have contributed so many tools that can make moving into a new place more tolerable. Just keep in mind that most of these items should be printed with solid infill if they're going to be load-bearing or otherwise need to stand up to a fair amount of abuse.