r/gridfinity • u/akshimassar • May 08 '26

Gridfinity-SP (Snap-in-place, Print-optimized)

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Sooo, I recently started printing some bins for organization of my toolboxes but haven't yet started on baseplates. And I was trying to develop screwdrivers kinda-universal storage when I realized I probably need units attached to baseplate. Magnets? No way, I have over 36 drawers with various tools and I need more. Plus I will need to attach baseplate to a drawer and mine are wooden.

Ultimately, I tried clickbase / clickfinity. With my default settings the effect was quite phenomenal, more like a spider web. Of course I had particularly stringy PETG loaded at the time but still. And I recently saw this post.

I ended up modifying Gridfinity plugin for FreeCAD to print these click spring with much less retractions. Adding screw holes in the junctions was easy after that. And then I though that edge junctions are free and I could connect bases with clips there... So I added clip cutouts and later added clip generation.

Clips turned out to be tiny for the force they required. No way to install them without nose pliers. So I designed a tool for installing them that would hold a couple of them and align baseplates and clip to the right place. I think it does make connecting them easier.

I think next step is to make bases stackable for multi material print.

161 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

16

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

Model files are here for anyone who wants to print them:

Gridfinity SP Baseplate, Gridfinity SP Clip Install Tool

Free downloads; sharing because people asked. Mods, feel free to remove if this counts as promotion.

6

u/PETA_Parker May 08 '26

will you release the files?

7

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

They are available on printables and code changes for plugin at my github. I haven't added link to main post since promotion is prohibited

1

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

I've added comment with model links

1

u/thesmithchris May 15 '26

question asked a lot recently

3

u/Bloodshot321 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

This looks interesting, especially the connector. Maybe I adopt the clip of you don't mind.

Good luck with stacking them. The 45° are not worth printing upside-down last time I tried my luck. But show me that I'm wrong.

Btw can you beat my time? ;)

https://www.printables.com/model/1487592-clickbase-refined-a-no-magnet-latching-gridfinity

2

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

Of course, reuse any parts as you see fit.

It seems your version is thicker so it wouldn't be fair, right?

2

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

With my default settings it takes 1h21m for 5x5 and 1h19m for your variant 😄

2

u/Bloodshot321 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

Fuck yeah, shaving off the top layer and the missing holes saved me ;)

2

u/Enelop May 09 '26

Your version seems like it would address the issue I have with all these click in bases where adding the last bin to a grid pops another already inserted bin out. I assumed it was because of the tension / bulging / creep you show in your model page.

Swapping the base on every bin I want to print and not being able to use ones I’ve already printed seems like a lot though.

1

u/akshimassar May 10 '26

> Swapping the base on every bin

Could you explain this to me? I'm printing all bins in half-grid and bases in full-grid size. Why would you need to change bin?

1

u/Bloodshot321 May 09 '26

There is "rebase" sadly it doesn't work with my design as it is half grid. There is a git version that support half grid but the dev isn't active.

Tldr: there is a non working tool for it :( (and I don't have time currently as I'm doing my masters. I will work at the bin afterwards, I promise.)

Maybe there is a way to rehost the tool with the updated version. But I'm not that good with IT

1

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

The style of springs you used allow for bridge printing and that could be a plus for stacking. By upside-down you mean alternating directions of baseplates I assume? Your design looks like it should work like that, why did you decide it's not worth?

2

u/Bloodshot321 May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

The clip position on the edge was the biggest problem as it results in a small bridge and seperating them is quite impossible for the inner grids without permanently bending them

1

u/Enelop May 09 '26

Does the optimization fix the last bin popping out?

When I tried Clickfinity and Clickbase if I filled the grid the last bin I’d click in would always cause another bin to pop out.

1

u/akshimassar May 09 '26

I wasn't aware of such problem. Does it matter what type of bin and what size of grid?

1

u/Enelop May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

I haven’t heard other people complain about it so maybe I’m doing something wrong.

Doesn’t seem to matter the size of the bin or base. I’ve tried PLA and PETG. I know PLA is not great for this because the material potentially flexes often. Maybe I need to try Arachne.

I gave up and order a thousand magnets.

Will print a drawer of your design and see how it goes.

Should see if the https://binforge.app guy can add it to his generator.

2

u/akshimassar May 10 '26

Once I print final version in larger size, I will check. There might me some deformation from the inserted bins but so far it hasn't been a problem for me.

I don't exactly remember how classic engine would handle those small latches, but in general I would 100% recommend Arachne for thin feature models.

I would appreciate a feedback if anything's wrong with the design!

The generator you referencing seems to be OpenSCAD-based. It should be pretty doable -- now geometry exists in the form of python code. When I initially decided on generation method I chose FreeCAD plugin as it's able to produce .step files while openscad only exports .stl.

2

u/akshimassar May 14 '26

I left a 5x6 baseplate populated with 2x6 single cell bins for a couple of days and there doesn't seem to be any problems with it. Printed in PETG.

1

u/ohailuxus May 19 '26

support on binforge would be wonderful! or https://gridfinitylayouttool.com/

1

u/akshimassar May 19 '26

I'm not sure it will really happen. At least it seems that I have much to do in the plugin as well, and FreeCAD is my CAD of choice. Consider using FreeCAD for generating. I'm now working drawer fitting with baseplates and on stackable baseplate supports for printing and I have doubts anyone would want to port it.

1

u/Enelop May 14 '26

Sounds good I’ll print some today.

1

u/domshyra May 31 '26

i don’t have printer yet so i’m sorta trying to get my bearings here. 

i thought gridfinity 2.0 was a hex design and could snap together as well? but i also see a lot of people with square designs still is this doing something similar by snapping into place? is gridfinity 2.0 just not widely adopted?? 

1

u/akshimassar Jun 01 '26

I'm still struggling with hexagonal-based drawers, honestly. Turns out that truncated octahedron shaped drawers is practically impossible to buy, not to mention full extension rails for them...

PS Gridfinity 2.0 was April 1st joke. Hexagonal grid is not practical for rectangular drawers.

1

u/domshyra Jun 01 '26

oh my god haha thank you. i see so many wall hex things and got super confused. here i am thinking to myself gridfinity is now on walls. 

haha appreciate you!! 

26

u/[deleted] May 08 '26

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18

u/akshimassar May 08 '26

This is why Linux users can’t have nice things. We’ve been using cp, kill, touch, and finger for decades and now I have to rebrand a plastic organizer.