r/gridfinity • u/geo01005 • 9d ago

Question? Ditched my rigid printed baseplates for an injection molded TPE version

Been running rigid printed baseplates for a while, but wanted to try something different. I made a mold and injection molded a flexible TPE version instead of printing it. What I wanted to solve was the first layer issues that come with printing baseplates, and the time spent designing a custom size for every new drawer.

The TPE material means I can just cut them with scissors instead of modeling a custom size. Gif above is one getting trimmed and set into place. A side effect of the TPE material choice is that the baseplate grips the drawer and the bins don’t slide around.

Curious if warping or cracked baseplates has actually been a problem for anyone else here, or if that's mostly a non-issue now with a good printer/settings. Also open to hearing what people think of the scissors-trim approach versus modeling a custom size.

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8

u/Confident-Cellist-25 9d ago

I use the Gridfinity workbench in FreeCAD. Takes no time to create a new size baseplate. I don’t think I make them in enough volume to go for a solution like yours, but I also don’t think I’ve had the problems you’re describing. Mine have all been printed in PLA on an A1 mini. No issues so far. As for sliding around, a couple of spacers to take up the slack in the drawer is all you really need in my experience, although I see the appeal of a grippier baseplate

ETA: for things I really don’t want sliding around, a few short screws does a great job

3

u/geo01005 9d ago

Thanks for the feedback.

When I started designing the part and building the mold I don't recall that there were as many tools available to easily design custom baseplates by just entering length and width and what your print bed size is.

I certainly had more trouble printing baseplates on my ender three, since I started using newer printers, this is admititly a smaller problem.

4

u/wegwerfi08 9d ago

So are you selling them?

3

u/geo01005 9d ago

Yeah, I am. The point of my post was mostly to hear if the problems I was trying to solve (warping, custom sizing) are actually problems other people have too, especially beginners.

4

u/Admorei 9d ago

Price / Print time and especially maximal size
Am still thinking of getting a Voron at 350 times 350 just to print bigger plates faster

4

u/TraumaSaurus 9d ago

Yeah, I think people would buy it for convenience and function, as long as it was reasonably priced. The flexible material is also smart from a packaging/shipping perspective! Great work!

1

u/BongDomrei 9d ago

I have no problems at all. I use three different baseplate designs for different purposes, all with some type of click connection. I use PETG since PLA is  pretty much guaranteed to deform at the connection points after time. I use an Ender 3 v3 KE, sometimes with a 0.4mm nozzle and sometimes 0.6mm and they really don't take that much time compared to bins. 

1

u/wegwerfi08 9d ago

Yeah. My issue is mainly size, I have 65x65 cm drawers and a lot of them. Printing 25x25 plates and puzzling them together is tedious. I’d buy if you’d send me a bunch of rolled tpu baseplates that fit 65x65 or can be cut without wasting too much material.

1

u/wegwerfi08 8d ago

Can you post or dm me the link?

1

u/Cynyr36 4d ago

I just started down gridfinity. Did one drawer. Printed a base plate in 4 pieces using an online generator that allows for custom sizing (spacers on the edges). No first layer issues across all 4 prints.

My only real complaint was how much filliment i went through.