Summary

I made this ridiculous thing because my wife likes Red Bull, I drink it occasionally, and when we take cans out of the fridge we forget to replace them half of the time. This Red Bull dispenser holds a full 24-pack case of 8.4oz Red Bull and fits within a footprint of about 375mm/15 inches deep, 160mm/6.5 inches wide and 290mm/11.5 inches tall including the clearance the cans need on the top. I have it in the bottom of an EdgeStar KC3000 kegerator which has been converted to normal mini fridge mode. The dispenser would also work to hold Red Bull outside of the fridge if you so desire.

This was inspired by ljhtom's generic drink dispenser which can be scaled for different can sizes. I scaled that design for Red Bull cans and it worked ok, but only held 11-ish cans and I had a lot of space above it in the fridge so I decided to make something more suited to Red Bull.

Pieces are sliced such that they should all fit on a 250x250mm print bed. Some supports are required but I tried to minimize them. It's designed to not need any extra parts or fasteners, and to hold together based on assembly. It took a few revisions to get it to work well and be fairly sturdy - I think it's pretty neat! If you think so too, you can buy me a coffee (though it's certainly not expected) - thanks!

Print Settings

Printer:

Lotmaxx SC-10 Shark and Qidi X-Plus

Rafts:

Supports:

Yes

Resolution:

0.2mm

Infill:

15%, 25% for connecting parts

Filament brand:

Hatchbox

Filament color:

White

Filament material:

PLA

Notes:

Printing Recommendations:

Print the connecting pieces (i.e. the pegs protruding from the ramps and the rails) with 25% infill and an extra wall, everything else can be printed with 15%. This will make them a bit more sturdy for assembly and for inserting the rail pegs into the lower pieces. In Cura, you can do this using the Support Blocker to cover the areas you want to reinforce like the pegs, then select the Support Blocker mesh and select Per Model Settings > Modify Settings for Overlaps and set Infill Percentage to 25% and Wall Thickness to 0.4mm which adds an extra 0.4mm wall to those areas.

Print all rails with supports for the pegs, i.e. supports touching build plate. The holes in the rails shouldn't need support.

Ramp 1 will need some minor supports for the pegs that protrude.

Ramps 2 and 3 shouldn't need supports - the holes are small enough that most printers should handle it.

Print Ramp 4 (the large ramp with the logo) with supports everywhere at 45 degree angle or lower, it'll make the curved section look better. I normally do 50 degrees but it left the curve looking jagged on both of my printers. You may want to support block the two small holes on the top of the ramp below the full slightly indented "Red Bull" logo, as they're small enough to not need support on most printers. Up to you if you want to dig supports out of them or not.

Print Ramp 5 and 7 with support touching the build plate only to support the connecting arms that stick out.

Print Ramp 6 with supports everywhere to support the large connector holes near the tip of the ramp.

Print 4x long Ramp Locking Pegs and 2x short Ramp Locking Pegs. The tolerances on them are tight so you may want to scale them down by a few percent and/or trim any elephant footing off the top in order for them to fit better.

Post-Printing

Assembly Tips

Each rail and ramp is labeled for easy reference and assembly. L and R refer to left and right when looking at the project from the front, looking at the logos. Make sure you keep the left and right sides together - the two pegs on each piece are offset 1mm so that they only line up flush with their correct side.

When assembling rails, it may help to insert one peg at a time and twist it around in each hole a bit to smooth out the peg and the hole so that they slide into place more easily.

You can gently bend the top part of each rail to the side and lightly tap on the bottom block with a rubber mallet to assist in assembly. Make sure the holes in the rails and ramps are lined up first and don't smack too hard or you may break the pegs.

The connecting pegs and blocks that are printed as part of the ramps don't need to be perfectly smooth, but the holes on the ramps that receive the locking pegs should be cleaned out as close to their original diameter as possible. As mentioned above, you can scale the locking pegs down a tiny bit when you print them if they fit too tightly. If they don't insert all the way, they may block cans from rolling properly, especially on the upper levels.

Once the locking pegs are in place, they're probably not coming out unless you drill them out or something, so don't insert them until you're ready for those two pieces to be permanently assembled.

Step 1

Note: Ramps and rails are referred to by their filenames. Ramp 1 and 2 are the bottom pieces, Ramps 3, 5 and 7 are the flat ramps for levels 2, 3 and 4 which the rail pegs go through, and Ramps 4 and 6 are the large ramp pieces with curves on the upper front and rear. Ramps and rails have identifying marks next to connections based on the level they consist of, levels 1-4. You should be able to figure it out because the ramps have different connectors and only really assemble one way. Just pay attention to rails and make sure they're correctly placed on the left or right side and correct level as marked.

Slide Ramp 1 and Ramp 2 together. Insert Rail 1L and 1R, and this will lock the two ramp pieces together.

Step 2

Insert Rail 2L and 2R into the corresponding Rail 1L and 1L pieces.

Step 3

Connect Ramp 3 and Ramp 4 by sliding them together and inserting the short locking pegs (note: installed pegs not shown in image). Connect Ramp 4 to Rails 1L/R by setting it on top of the front tall square pegs.

Step 4

Line up the holes on Ramp 3 and the assembled rails, and insert Rail 3L and 3R to lock Ramp 3 in place.

Step 5

Connect Ramp 5 and Ramp 6 by sliding them together and inserting the long locking pegs (note: installed pegs not shown in image). Connect Ramp 6 to Ramp 2 by inserting the rectangular pegs into the matching slots on Ramp 2.

Step 6

Line up the holes on Ramp 5 and the assembled rails, and insert Rail 4L and 4R to lock Ramp 5 in place.

Step 7

Connect Ramp 7 and Ramp 4 by sliding them together and inserting the long locking pegs (note: installed pegs not shown in image). Gently bend Rail 4L/4R to the side if needed to get Ramp 7 into position.

Step 8

Line up the holes on Ramp 5 and the assembled rails, and insert Rail 5L and 5R to lock Ramp 7 into place. If Rails 5L/R don't stay connected well at the front of the assembly, you can use a touch of hot glue or epoxy to hold them down.

Congratulations!

You have a ridiculous and overengineered Red Bull fridge dispenser.

How I Designed This

I designed this using Autodesk Fusion 360 and a few weeks of revising it. I had a similar but entirely different design that didn't fit on 250x250mm print beds and had crappier assembly connectors, and once I assembled it the cans didn't roll properly because there was room for them to be pushed upwards and wedge against the walls at the front and back. Whoops!

This design improves on all that, so hopefully you find it useful!

Red Bull 8.4oz Can Fridge Dispenser Rack by RBZL

0.2mm layer, 2 walls, 15% infill