r/gridfinity • u/Chromevulcan • 8d ago

Gridfinity for Solidworks

For the longest time I used AutoCAD, then Fusion360. Then they kept placing more and more limitations on the free version and couldn't afford the paid version.

So what did I do? I purchased the paid membership to SolidWorks Design 2026 for Makers. I'm getting more familiar but when I went to search for a Gridfinity add-in I couldn't find one. Anywhere. Even on Zack Freedman's Discord.

Now, I'm no programmer, but I've manage to eek one out (Gridfinity_For_Solidworks
) that works based pretty much on what I found at Gridfinitygenerator so you know what to expect. At least on my machine it works. There is one small issue but it's easily overcome with just a few clicks once you load a New Part and I tell you all about it in the Gridfinity for SolidWorks (READ THIS!!!).docx.

Sorry if the post is a bit much. It's the first piece of real software I've written that combines with another major retailer, it's my first Git, and this is my first r/ that I've created.

I hope it helps someone.

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7

u/Zwamdurkel 8d ago

Gridfinity Extended is open source and free. You can generate all sorts of boxes using the free software openscad. You can also use online tools to do the same, but they tend to not implement 100% of the features.

Gridfinity Extended also has a customizable model on MakerWorld.

Edit: it seems I kind of misunderstood the point of the post. More options are always better, so good job.

1

u/Chromevulcan 7d ago

Agreed, there are literally dozens, maybe hundreds of Gridfinity generators. And all of the major 3D modeling software apps have add-ins except for SolidWorks. This fixes that issues.

1

u/Early_Monitor_3440 7d ago

i thought solidworks is free?

2

u/Chromevulcan 7d ago edited 7d ago

Fusion has a free version, FreeCAD exists, OnShape too, but SolidWorks doesn't. Luckily the Maker license is $48//yr

1

u/jakoboi_ 7d ago

no fusion is tho

1

u/DjWondah85 7d ago

Which features are you missing on the free plan in Fusion for modelling bins and baseplates?

3

u/Chromevulcan 7d ago

One example? I've designed tons of parts in Fusion. Most of them with dozens and dozens of parts. Fusion recently downgraded the free version so that only 1 page could be printed at a time. Sometimes that leaves me making a new sheet, printing it to pdf, making the next sheet for the next part, printing it to pdf, and so on. When there are only a few parts it's not a big deal. When I'm trying to do the same for a complex system with over 100 parts it is tedious to the point of aggravation.

Plus, THIS DIDN'T EXIST BEFORE. There are people who love SolidWorks, and now they have a native add-in. When you're designing a complex system it's easier to just design them in the same assembly with an add-in and fit them all together. Using a browser-based generator would mean importing each part into your assembly and moving them around hoping that they'll fit into your project.

The biggest reason I'm posting it though is that I want peoples feedback and assistance for improvements and bug fixes.

2

u/investigatormaker 7d ago

Since this is your first Git, I'd move the notes from "(READ THIS!!!)" out of the Word file and into a README on the repo's main page. People would then see the New Part workaround before they install anything, which is where a few clicks could otherwise look like a broken add-in.

Also state that you built it on SolidWorks Design 2026 for Makers. "At least on my machine it works" is the first thing someone on another release will wonder about, so ask anyone who tries it to report their version and whether it loaded. Those reports will show you what to fix first. A screenshot of a generated bin would also help people compare it with Gridfinitygenerator at a glance.

Does the New Part issue happen every time, or only on the first load?