Custom Center Armrest Tray

[cottony]

Hi everyone,

I got a lot of positive feedback on the Custom Cubby Organizer post I shared, wanted to build on that and share a slight modification I made to the center armrest storage area.

I only put little knick-knacks in there like my work badge or car wash coupons, but since the storage is really deep (7 inches to be precise), it feels unnatural to reach so far down for my items. Additionally, I felt like a lot of the volume in the storage space goes to waste because unless I'm putting something that is 7 inches inside, the top portion is just empty air.

I'm currently iterating on a simple tray design. I noticed the storage area is narrower at the bottom, so the idea is for the tray to take advantage of that narrowing and create a shape to be held in place by friction. Adding this tray will allow for a second level of storage as well as putting my knick-knacks within easier reach.

I got this idea from Tesla, which has a 2-level storage system for the center armrest (although the implementation is a bit different).

I'll be more than happy to share files for this design if there's any interest, although I think it's a couple more iterations away from being ready. Right now, the handle to take the tray out of the storage area is a bit flimsy, I'd like to strengthen it before sharing the files.

Please let me know if you have any questions or ideas/suggestions to improve, thanks!

 

[Diego]

Not bad at all, love it!!! I agree with you about the need of something to keep things you need in the "upper" section and other things below. Unfortunately, coming from a Tesla M3, that has plenty of spaces to put things around, I miss the storage options I had.

 

[thealbs]

Looks great! Given the space in there you could even elaborate further and have a 3-tier system in place. Maybe you better copyright it before someone else's steals your idea!

 

[sloubere]

Could be nice to add some kind of handle or partition in the middle of the tray to easily grab it to access the space under it?

 

[DanielFrench]

Could be nice to add some kind of handle or partition in the middle of the tray to easily grab it to access the space under it?

Agree with the above, and I'd definitely have one of these - it's certainly missing in the car...

 

[alxman]

Make the front wall/edge taller with a horizontal slot so you can grab it. Or add a narrow lip to the top edge of the front wall/edge.

 

[cottony]

Thank you everyone for the kind words and suggestions, especially about adding a handle! My initial approach was to do almost as @alxman suggested and add a lip to one of the side edges (in the “after” picture you can barely see that the edge closer to you has a slightly thicker lip).

But in testing it didn’t feel as natural to grab from the side as I thought and the long lip was a bit flimsy — I definitely plan to try a front lip next!

 

[cottony]

Looks great! Given the space in there you could even elaborate further and have a 3-tier system in place. Maybe you better copyright it before someone else's steals your idea!

thanks! Your idea of a multi tiered system reminds me of the Russian doll toys haha

 

[DanielFrench]

Thank you everyone for the kind words and suggestions! My initial approach was to do almost as @alxman suggested and add a lip to one of the side edges.

But in testing it didn’t feel as natural to grab from the side as I thought and the long lip was a bit flimsy — I definitely plan to try a front lip next!

Probably a lip at the rear would work best, as the centre console narrows at the front, and to lift the insert tray out it would be best to do this from back to front...

 

[alxman]

Not sure since the armrest opens on the front therefore making it easier to grab and insert/remove.

 

[Diego]

Or simply make an hole in the center so you can usa a finger to take it away….

 

[cottony]

Or simply make an hole in the center so you can usa a finger to take it away….

ooh that is a great idea as well! could even be something like a honeycomb pattern across the bottom -- additional benefit is that this will also save on material costs as the design will use less filament

 

[LivingTheDream]

I like Diego's idea, especially if you place the hole in alignment with the gap formed by the front-most cup holder. It would be very natural to grab the tray that way.

For my part, I'd encourage keeping the interior dividers on the minimal side—just low enough to prevent things from sliding around. That way, larger objects could sit across the dividers as needed and still fit within the exterior walls of the tray.

 

[cottony]

quick update -- decided to take *everyone's* inputs and put a lip on every edge haha and added some supports to strengthen the lip. i'll test this design out for the next few days and if all goes well, i'll release the files for open-source!

thanks everyone!

 

[tmrqs]

So I typically have a box of tissues in that storage area, the cube shaped type.
Would this tray sit above such a box? How deep does it go inside the storage area?

Once again, great job!

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