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If your desk is anything like mine, you’ve got a ton of cables twisting this way and that, in various states of coiled, making for a visual and functional mess. I’ve tried Velcro straps (annoying and lint-trapping), little adhesive clips (they don’t last too long), and even a dedicated box for my cables (too bulky to keep on the desk). None of it stuck, literally or figuratively.
I went looking for some great 3D cable organizers on MakerWorld, and I wasn’t disappointed. There are a ton of them. I picked a couple of solutions that I think will stay on my desk for a long time, and found a couple more I’m planning on printing here soon. Now my desk doesn’t look like a bachelor pad gone wrong anymore, as if I made actual decisions about cable storage and organization.
Every model here is free on MakerWorld and prints without support. If you have a Bambu Lab printer like my P1S or A1 Mini, these are a quick print to get your own cables under control.
I wanted something that could grow when I got new cables, so I found this modular Cable Organizer on MakerWorld. It’s basically a base with slots in it that then hold the little clips that hold coiled cables in them. I printed out a 12 cable base and eight cable clips in white and blue, respectively. The whole set took less than a couple of hours, and now all my USB-C, USB-A, and even my Nook USB charging cable are available when I need them, but nicely stored when I don’t. I used six of the clips and spaced them out for aesthetics, but there’s room for six more if I need them. Honestly, it’s a great solution to keeping my cables accessible but organized.
It can be a little fiddly to get the cords into the clips if you have a smaller, thinner cable, and you’ll have to get used to wrapping them the right size so the force in their tendency to uncoil keeps them contained. Still, it’s super cost-effective and easy to print, and uses very little filament overall. Plus, they won’t attract pet hair as much as a Velcro tie does; it’s win-win in my book.
Once the individual cables were tamed, I needed a way to route them along the desk edge. The Universal Cable Holder V2 on MakerWorld was the solution. I added a Command strip to the flat side of this folded ribbon-style cable holder and stuck it to the side of my desk. The organizer handles cables up to 8mm in diameter, and V2 improved on the original with thicker clip walls (around 0.60mm versus 0.45mm in V1) for better stability when you’re pulling cables in and out regularly.
The designer tested all the variants on an A1 Mini, and the largest one that I printed on my P1S came out fantastic. There’s also a screw-enabled version if you want to skip the stickers. These are super fast prints (you can print a handful in under an hour) and I’m planning on putting several of them on the rear edge of my desk and maybe on the back of my monitor, too. For now, though, this is a fantastic solution to routing cables.
Not everything is a short USB charging cable. I’ve got a long Ethernet cable that lives in a loose coil on the shelf and a couple of longer HDMI cables that are too thick and stiff to fit into the above solutions. This Extension Cable Reel on MakerWorld uses leftover cardboard filament spools (you know you have a ton of these). You just snap the printed halves around an old spool and wind the cable onto it. I can’t wait to get this printed and used for that Ethernet cable. There’s also a cable clip you can print to lock the wound cable in place while it’s stored.
The last thing I want to manage are all those cables that run from my power strip under the desk up to the various items on it. These are the cables you only notice when they’re hanging wrong. This under-desk cable organizer channel on MakerWorld is a printable track that mounts under your desk surface with (again) Command Strips or double sided tape and routes those cables out of view. It prints support free in modular sections, and a new 90-degree corner piece was recently added for desks where your cable needs to turn.
Honestly, I don’t mind having cable clutter, but seeing all the amazing, organized desk setups by other authors here on the site really inspired me (read: shamed me) to look into a better way. None of these prints are super flashy, but taken together, they cover every category of cable chaos I’m still dealing with. Now I have a system that handles small USB cables, winds up longer cords, and routes and hides all the rest. Plus, it all costs just a few hours of print time and whatever filament you already have. That’s a better deal for cable management than I’ve ever seen at retail.
A superb beginner-friendly enclosed printer with outstanding software for your smartphone or desktop. Combined with the AMS (Automatic Materials system), the P1S can produce stunning multicolor prints: up to four filaments can be stored in a single AMS, and up to 4 AMS units can be combined for 16 filament printing. However, you should be aware the multicolor prints produce a lot of waste, and to mitigate that, you’ll need to print either in multiples or print additional “waste” objects to soak up the purged filament.