A small maker project run out of Ohio.
TracetoForge started as a personal problem. Anyone who owns a decent set of hand tools eventually hits the same wall: the tools are fine, the toolbox is fine, but the inside of the drawer is a loose mess of pliers rolling into wrenches into screwdrivers. Every time you reach for a tool you have to rummage. Foam inserts help but they are expensive, they do not last, and cutting them by hand is slow.
3D printed inserts are the obvious answer, but the existing workflow to design one was not obvious at all. You needed to learn Fusion 360 or FreeCAD, manually measure every tool with calipers, model the shape by hand, then extrude it into a tray. For a single pair of pliers that is a 30 to 45 minute project. For a drawer full of them, a whole weekend. That gap is what TracetoForge was built to close.
The idea was simple. A phone camera already captures the shape of a tool more accurately than any human with calipers. Edge detection is a solved problem. If you could point that pipeline at a top-down photo of a tool on a sheet of paper, you could skip the measuring and the modeling and go straight to a printable file. Everything else is plumbing.
TracetoForge is operated by Qwikymart LLC, an Ohio-registered small business. The team is one person who writes the code, answers the support email, and packs the physical inserts that ship from the shop. It is not a venture-backed company and it will not be one. The goal is to cover its costs, serve the 3D printing and maker community, and grow at a pace that keeps the product quality honest.
The owner is a longtime hobbyist maker based in Northeast Ohio. No fancy credentials, no pedigree. Just a garage, a 3D printer, a toolbox that used to be a mess, and enough web development background to turn an idea into something other makers can use. Every feature in the editor got built because somebody (often the owner) hit a wall trying to do something in Fusion 360 that should have taken two minutes.
The software side. TracetoForge is a browser-based editor that runs entirely on your device. You upload a photo of a tool, OpenCV traces the outline, and you export a print-ready STL, 3MF, SVG, or DXF. The app supports Gridfinity, Milwaukee Packout, DeWalt ToughSystem, and any custom tray dimensions. Tracing and previewing are free. Exporting a file costs one credit. New accounts get three free credits on signup.
The physical side. Not everyone owns a 3D printer. For those folks we print and ship inserts from the shop, using PETG filament that holds up to garage heat and vehicle toolboxes. The inserts are listed on the TracetoForge Etsy shop and on Amazon, sold under the Qwikymart LLC seller account. Each insert is traced from the actual tool, not from manufacturer spec sheets, so the fit is real.
An honest opinion, because this site is not a neutral encyclopedia. A few things we have come to believe after making a lot of these:
Shadowbox trays beat bin systems for flat tools. Gridfinity is brilliant for small parts and anything you want to stand up. For pliers and wrenches that want to lie flat, a drawer-tray format with a precision cutout wastes less space and looks better. Not every tool wants to live in a bin.
PETG is the right filament for tool inserts. PLA looks cleaner off the bed but warps above roughly 60°C, which is a normal summer day in a closed garage or a truck toolbox. PETG handles 80°C, prints fine on a cheap printer, and ages well. ABS and ASA are overkill unless the shop gets really hot.
Socket organizers are a solved problem, leave them alone. There are hundreds of free socket holder designs on Printables, MakerWorld, and Thingiverse, and most of them work. Wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, utility knives, and specialty tools are where the gap is. That is where TracetoForge focuses.
Most of the work happens in the editor. It gets better when users report a case where tracing failed or a tolerance was off. The blog is a slower project: one post at a time, focused on practical questions real makers actually ask instead of SEO fodder. Support email is support@tracetoforge.com and it is read by a human.
The best way to reach us is email at support@tracetoforge.com. Feature requests, bug reports, tracing problems, or just hello, all welcome. There is also a contact form if you prefer.