lovetap
Well-known member
Makes sense, putting in an order. I like the matte colors.
Gridfinity Tool Storage
- Thread starter rdoty
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PelicanPines
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Quality stuff... I got 12 spools... Printed with two flawlessly so far.
Oh... You can mix the colors and type in the 12 spools...
PelicanPines
ALLIANCE MEMBER
The matte grey printed very nice.
I ordered a bunch, haven't done much with it yet but printed a couple parts bins. I try and run petg thru a drier no matter where it comes from just to make it consistent before it goes in the printer. There is a spool of gray in the AMS now, will try and run some max flow volume tests in the next day or two so I can see how hard I can push the speed
Gridfinity coming for my kids bathroom drawers on order of the wife
Bins just as a test to see what sizes I need are with bins I had already printed. While the ladies aren't looking a third of the "stuff" being stored in this drawer might magically disappear....less stuff makes all organization better!
Bins just as a test to see what sizes I need are with bins I had already printed. While the ladies aren't looking a third of the "stuff" being stored in this drawer might magically disappear....less stuff makes all organization better!
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After you brought this up I took a look at this again and realized I'd already printed like half or more of the parts I needed, so decided to finish it up.
In the process I realized that the drawer I had set aside for my box wrenches would *almost* fit everything, but I'd have a little overflow. Since we're obsessive sorters here, we can all agree that would simply be unacceptable so I came up with a new problem in need of a solution, which is a 3D-printable "drawer within a drawer" or mezzanine tray designed to hold GF baseplates. This allows you to take a drawer that has excess depth and add one or more partial drawers within it to give more space. This works well for me because I prefer to have lots of shallow drawers that make seeing and accessing contents easy.
Because I was lazy and spending too much time building Gridifinity $#@! instead of finishing real projects, I simply hot glued the rails to the tool chest drawer sides and it seems to work just fine for now. The only part that feels a little janky are the wheels, which have a seam because I printed them on draft quality, so they thump a little as they roll. I might try to do a nicer set just so it feels smoother. The final version shown below uses four of the red cross-members that attach to both the yellow/green supports and the Gridfinity baseplates so the end result is more rigid than I expected. With the weight of the wrenches shown below there is no bowing or bounce and I suspect it could easily handle double the weight.
While I have a lot of ideas for how to make this better I've decided to try living with this for a while to see how it holds up. Gridfinity is a bad enough time **** on its own, the last thing I need is meta-gridfinity projects to work on too
The design files in Fusion are a sloppy mess so I don't want to publish them but depending on interest I might try to do a nicer version. I have a few more drawers I might give this treatment to so will probably revisit this concept in the future.
Color me interested!
Model A Fan
Well-known member
That is a great idea, I like the side to side sliding design over a back to front. What you could possibly do would be to place small wrenches on the top sliding tray and all the larger ones below to minimize the weight/sag issue. However, with the amount of reinforcement you have, I doubt you'd have any issues. If you do decide to publish any, I am interested in them as well! Great design!After you brought this up I took a look at this again and realized I'd already printed like half or more of the parts I needed, so decided to finish it up.
In the process I realized that the drawer I had set aside for my box wrenches would *almost* fit everything, but I'd have a little overflow. Since we're obsessive sorters here, we can all agree that would simply be unacceptable so I came up with a new problem in need of a solution, which is a 3D-printable "drawer within a drawer" or mezzanine tray designed to hold GF baseplates. This allows you to take a drawer that has excess depth and add one or more partial drawers within it to give more space. This works well for me because I prefer to have lots of shallow drawers that make seeing and accessing contents easy.
Because I was lazy and spending too much time building Gridifinity $#@! instead of finishing real projects, I simply hot glued the rails to the tool chest drawer sides and it seems to work just fine for now. The only part that feels a little janky are the wheels, which have a seam because I printed them on draft quality, so they thump a little as they roll. I might try to do a nicer set just so it feels smoother. The final version shown below uses four of the red cross-members that attach to both the yellow/green supports and the Gridfinity baseplates so the end result is more rigid than I expected. With the weight of the wrenches shown below there is no bowing or bounce and I suspect it could easily handle double the weight.
While I have a lot of ideas for how to make this better I've decided to try living with this for a while to see how it holds up. Gridfinity is a bad enough time **** on its own, the last thing I need is meta-gridfinity projects to work on too
The design files in Fusion are a sloppy mess so I don't want to publish them but depending on interest I might try to do a nicer version. I have a few more drawers I might give this treatment to so will probably revisit this concept in the future.
Me too.
Noted - what size drawers are y'all working with where you might want to use this?
I've got two HF US General Gen 2 42" boxes.
Fyi to @zanyad and @Model A Fan and anyone else interested, I've done a couple new iterations on the design while I was stuck away from the shop. I haven't printed either one yet so caveat emptor but if you use Fusion and want the model file I'm happy to send it to you.
I ended up making two different versions. Both are driven by user parameters so they can be quickly adjusted to fit your exact drawer size. The first one is similar to what I posted above, and is mostly refined for easier assembly. It is adjustable so it will fit a variety of drawer widths without modification. If you have a larger drawer and want to put a good deal of weight on the tray then this is probably the better design as the support rails and cross braces (red/green/blue parts) provide a lot of rigidity. The placement of the baseplates is adjusted when assembled so the baseplates can sit against each other or wherever you want.
As I was finishing this I was thinking about some of the other drawers I might want to put one of these in, and I realized that this design eats a lot of vertical space as the section view below shows. 35mm or about 1-1/2" to be precise. I have some drawers that are more like 4-5" deep where tiered drawers would be nice if they didn't waste space, so I decided to try a second design.
This is the result. This one relies more on the baseplate(s) for the structure, so it is lighter duty but my gut says it will work fine for the kind of load you're most likely putting in something like this. If you used a solid baseplate like what's shown in the first design I bet it would take a couple pounds without complaint.
What this design gives up in structure it gets back in compactness, as you only lose about a half inch of space. This mockup shows how you could conceivably fit two sub-drawers with 4U bins in a drawer that's 5" deep.
This design is also fully parametrized but does not have adjustment built in, so needs to be printed for a specific drawer. I'll probably change that but want to make one or two of these first and see what I think.
I ended up making two different versions. Both are driven by user parameters so they can be quickly adjusted to fit your exact drawer size. The first one is similar to what I posted above, and is mostly refined for easier assembly. It is adjustable so it will fit a variety of drawer widths without modification. If you have a larger drawer and want to put a good deal of weight on the tray then this is probably the better design as the support rails and cross braces (red/green/blue parts) provide a lot of rigidity. The placement of the baseplates is adjusted when assembled so the baseplates can sit against each other or wherever you want.
As I was finishing this I was thinking about some of the other drawers I might want to put one of these in, and I realized that this design eats a lot of vertical space as the section view below shows. 35mm or about 1-1/2" to be precise. I have some drawers that are more like 4-5" deep where tiered drawers would be nice if they didn't waste space, so I decided to try a second design.
This is the result. This one relies more on the baseplate(s) for the structure, so it is lighter duty but my gut says it will work fine for the kind of load you're most likely putting in something like this. If you used a solid baseplate like what's shown in the first design I bet it would take a couple pounds without complaint.
What this design gives up in structure it gets back in compactness, as you only lose about a half inch of space. This mockup shows how you could conceivably fit two sub-drawers with 4U bins in a drawer that's 5" deep.
This design is also fully parametrized but does not have adjustment built in, so needs to be printed for a specific drawer. I'll probably change that but want to make one or two of these first and see what I think.
Attachments
Grant Gunderson
Well-known member
Ok, I'm real close to pulling the trigger on the H2C.
In addition to the hot-ends that come with it, what additional ones to I want to order? I'm guessing some high-flow ones as well. What else should I plan to pick up for it?
In addition to the hot-ends that come with it, what additional ones to I want to order? I'm guessing some high-flow ones as well. What else should I plan to pick up for it?
I have two printers (Prusa i3 mk3.5 and Core One) and they have a 0.6mm and 0.4mm high flow nozzle respectively. If this is a first printer I would just start with whatever is standard or maybe a high flow until you figure out what you actually need.
I have never had reason to print anything besides PLA and PETG for instance, and I won't touch CF filaments with a 10-foot pole, so I've had no need for anything other than standard type nozzles. A 0.6 can be good if you want speed more than fine detail. You can download a slicer like Prusa or Orca and try out different printer/nozzle configurations to see the difference in print speed.
I don't do a lot of really small modeling (like miniatures) but I do see the 0.6mm start to struggle with lettering, e.g. around 8mm letter height and below things start to look smudged where the 0.4HF still looks very sharp at 4-5mm.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I'd start with a 0.4mm and run it until you have a need to change.Ok, I'm real close to pulling the trigger on the H2C.
In addition to the hot-ends that come with it, what additional ones to I want to order? I'm guessing some high-flow ones as well. What else should I plan to pick up for it?
If you want to print with embedded magnets, a stainless nozzle is needed so it doesn't pick them out of the print.
Hot ends are readily available. I wouldn't have a bunch hanging around for the hell of it
I was able to print 0.75mm thread pitch with a standard P1S 0.4MM nozzle. Being able to go a little faster wouldn't be terrible, but I need to get better with the 0.4 before adding another to the mix
Grant Gunderson
Well-known member
Thanks. Not sure I need to add magnets if I fill the drawer with the system? Was thinking the .2 for text but I don’t know. Just don’t want to be in the solution where it all arrives then realize I forgot something
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I have to imagine you will do more than gridfinity if you are buying a $2400 printer...
You can do quite fine stuff with a 0.4
For gridfinity, I can't see why you would need a 0.6 at all
Grant Gunderson
Well-known member
For gridfinity no, but we will be doing other work with engineering filaments where it’s got some advantages. For those projects I see doing some multi material stuff. Plus I hate being limited by machine capabilities and intend to do enough volume I’m concerned about wasted filaments. I fully expect to buy a few more printers once I get the first one set up.
Last time I used 3d printers was 20+ years ago. I have a degree in plastics engineering (that was more focused on composure and injection molding) but spent the last. 25+ years shooting full time for Nat Geo and various ski / bike brands. I now own a high end service shop focused on e-bike motors and suspension. Now that 3D printers gave matured a bit I see a lot of benefits to incorporating it into the shop.
0.6 nozzles are nice for when you care more about speed than detail, which describes a lot of Gridfinity jobs. There's a good argument to be made that 0.4mm is a nerfed standard that dates to when extruders and printers were much less capable, kind of like how the QWERTY keyboard layout was designed 150 years ago to prevent jams.
With that said, I agree that there's no need to load up on nozzles out of the gate just because. But if you're buying a $2400 printer than another $100 of nozzles doesn't make much difference either...
This is what I'm doing as well.
A hardened nozzle wouldn't be a bad idea if you plan to get into those materials. However, I'd wait and just see what you need. Like mike said, nozzles are always in stock and easy to get so you wouldn't be down for a long time waiting for one.
I'm not doing super small text, but for my gridfinity labels the 0.4 nozzle has been good enough. These are 1 grid wide cullenect labels.
Model A Fan
Well-known member
Same here, and two 26" HF Us General Gen 2 boxes. I think this would be a great system for the deeper drawers toward the bottom for different stuff like grinding wheels supplies and air tools/nozzles. Same for pliers and cutters, etc.
Would I need Fusion to be able to use the file? I have to download some software sometime soon so I can try my hand at making some different designs. I'd be interested in the file if you're willing to share, so thank you!Fyi to @zanyad and @Model A Fan and anyone else interested, I've done a couple new iterations on the design while I was stuck away from the shop. I haven't printed either one yet so caveat emptor but if you use Fusion and want the model file I'm happy to send it to you.
I ended up making two different versions. Both are driven by user parameters so they can be quickly adjusted to fit your exact drawer size. The first one is similar to what I posted above, and is mostly refined for easier assembly. It is adjustable so it will fit a variety of drawer widths without modification. If you have a larger drawer and want to put a good deal of weight on the tray then this is probably the better design as the support rails and cross braces (red/green/blue parts) provide a lot of rigidity. The placement of the baseplates is adjusted when assembled so the baseplates can sit against each other or wherever you want.
As I was finishing this I was thinking about some of the other drawers I might want to put one of these in, and I realized that this design eats a lot of vertical space as the section view below shows. 35mm or about 1-1/2" to be precise. I have some drawers that are more like 4-5" deep where tiered drawers would be nice if they didn't waste space, so I decided to try a second design.
This is the result. This one relies more on the baseplate(s) for the structure, so it is lighter duty but my gut says it will work fine for the kind of load you're most likely putting in something like this. If you used a solid baseplate like what's shown in the first design I bet it would take a couple pounds without complaint.
What this design gives up in structure it gets back in compactness, as you only lose about a half inch of space. This mockup shows how you could conceivably fit two sub-drawers with 4U bins in a drawer that's 5" deep.
This design is also fully parametrized but does not have adjustment built in, so needs to be printed for a specific drawer. I'll probably change that but want to make one or two of these first and see what I think.
Why wouldn't you want to use/touch these filaments? Fumes and particles? Just no need? I have little kids at home and am trying to avoid stuff that could be harmful to their health (mine and my wife's too). Thanks.
From what I've seen on forums and Facebook groups, there are ways to slice/edit files to minimize waste. Lots of people seem to print their main object and they'll have the machine purge the filament changes into a separate print on the plate where multi-color prints don't matter if they get a bit sloppy looking (fidget spinners, stuff that isn't for show or will be painted later, or the like).
Are you able to raise the letters on your prints so they come out crisper? I'm slowly learning how to do this, and I think the way you can do it would be to (on Bambu's software at least) edit and add text to the top surface so it stands proud instead of recessed. You'd have only black on the top as the letters instead of a layer of black and then printing the negative in white to get the lettering.This is what I'm doing as well.
A hardened nozzle wouldn't be a bad idea if you plan to get into those materials. However, I'd wait and just see what you need. Like mike said, nozzles are always in stock and easy to get so you wouldn't be down for a long time waiting for one.
I'm not doing super small text, but for my gridfinity labels the 0.4 nozzle has been good enough. These are 1 grid wide cullenect labels.
I'm a big fan of the raised letters/numbers in how crisp and clean it looks, especially in small size.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Fusion is free and worth learning if you have some time and interest
Model A Fan
Well-known member
Fusion and Solidworks are the two I have decided to download and learn. It just seems life gets really busy when you want to learn something new
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I dont know what solid works can do that fusion can't, but I'd recommend dedicating time to one as a starting point. If you are using it for 3d printing, fusion will work greatFusion and Solidworks are the two I have decided to download and learn. It just seems life gets really busy when you want to learn something new
The letters are raised. That pic was really zoomed in. Below is the full image. The lettering does get a bit ugly when I'm doing a longer label such as a "hexhead 1/4 - 1-1/2" but still very usable. This is all with a 0.4 nozzle and 0.2 layer height.
I am using gflabels to generate the labels as I am converting an old toolbox to hardware storage. Using the method you mentioned works good too.
Still a work in progress.
CF, ASA, ABS, and other engineering materials need more dedicated setups due to fumes and particles. I've seen most setups for these materials made to ventilate from the chamber and out a nearby window.
Yes. Eventually I'd like to publish STLs or similar but not ready for that just yet.
All of the above. My research into the subject suggests that typical consumer grade CF filaments are bull$#@! for anything other than aesthetics and the exposure risks to ultrafine carbon emissions are potentially higher than we realize. As such they are an easy "pass" for me. If you must use them I would want outside venting or maybe a HEPA filter in an enclosed printer in a well-ventilated workspace like a garage. PM2.5 emissions are one of those things I think we tend to downplay because they are mostly invisible and the harms (if any) play out over decades.
By comparison, everything I've seen around PLA and especially PETG suggests the risks are fairly low to minimal. I might not want a printer running overnight in a kid's bedroom but other than that I would have no problem with running one in the house. They cover a very wide range of needs. I might add some ASA to my shelf for parts to go in my greenhouses since they hold up better outdoors. ASA is a bit nastier but you are dealing with VOCs which in my humble opinion are a bit easier to mitigate and control than PM2.5.
The simplest and cheapest way to do this (and all I have done thus far) is to manually change filaments during the print. Purge towers and the like become an issue when you do automated multi-material printing like the Bambu AMS or Prusa MMS. On a hobbyist scale waste is generally not something you need to worry much about.
Metric hardware drawer...lot more containers need made, 5 more on the H2S right now. I'm stacking them, think they're setup at 6 or 7u tall and just clears the drawer above when opening or closing and stacked 2 high in this configuration
And the current configuration of the kids bathroom drawer
Obviously have a few more bins to make her as well to fill in the gaps and get rid of the boring gray for more aesthetically pleasing purple
And the current configuration of the kids bathroom drawer
Obviously have a few more bins to make her as well to fill in the gaps and get rid of the boring gray for more aesthetically pleasing purple
rmack898
Well-known member
Great thread — been following along and it's wild how deep the custom bin rabbit hole goes. I went through the same Fusion 360 cycle for socket trays and screwdriver holders and eventually got tired of measuring every single tool and tweaking sketches for hours.
I ended up building a web tool called GridPilot (gridpilot.us) that speeds up the process. You lay out your tools, snap a photo, and it detects the shapes automatically, then arranges them into a gridfinity-compatible tray layout. It adds engraved labels into the model too so you know what goes where at a glance. Exports directly to 3MF with proper gridfinity stacking feet.
It won't replace Fusion for guys doing really intricate custom stuff, but for "I have a drawer full of sockets and wrenches and I want organized trays for all of them" it cuts the process from hours to minutes. The design and preview are free — you only pay if you export. Figured some of you might find it useful given how many drawers you're all filling up.
Edit: 3/17/26 7:30AM ET, working through an issue with the photo upload pipeline
I ended up building a web tool called GridPilot (gridpilot.us) that speeds up the process. You lay out your tools, snap a photo, and it detects the shapes automatically, then arranges them into a gridfinity-compatible tray layout. It adds engraved labels into the model too so you know what goes where at a glance. Exports directly to 3MF with proper gridfinity stacking feet.
It won't replace Fusion for guys doing really intricate custom stuff, but for "I have a drawer full of sockets and wrenches and I want organized trays for all of them" it cuts the process from hours to minutes. The design and preview are free — you only pay if you export. Figured some of you might find it useful given how many drawers you're all filling up.
Edit: 3/17/26 7:30AM ET, working through an issue with the photo upload pipeline
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draco_1967
Well-known member
Cool idea! I need to check it out later.
Does it allow for things like magnets in the bases or half-grid bases? In my tool box, almost every drawer has a half-grid around the edges, which limits the bins I can use. I haven't spent enough time getting good at F360 to model my own yet...
Does it allow for things like magnets in the bases or half-grid bases? In my tool box, almost every drawer has a half-grid around the edges, which limits the bins I can use. I haven't spent enough time getting good at F360 to model my own yet...
Not yet, but great input, I will see if I can add those features. There is a custom tray size feature, where you can make it whatever size you want, it just wont have the gridfinity feet.
Half units and magnets added. I also added magnets to the actual tool pockets as a feature you can add or remove. Its a little bit buggy, working on cleaning it up. Would love to hear any more suggestions!
Tray is glued upGreat thread — been following along and it's wild how deep the custom bin rabbit hole goes. I went through the same Fusion 360 cycle for socket trays and screwdriver holders and eventually got tired of measuring every single tool and tweaking sketches for hours.
I ended up building a web tool called GridPilot (gridpilot.us) that speeds up the process. You lay out your tools, snap a photo, and it detects the shapes automatically, then arranges them into a gridfinity-compatible tray layout. It adds engraved labels into the model too so you know what goes where at a glance. Exports directly to 3MF with proper gridfinity stacking feet.
It won't replace Fusion for guys doing really intricate custom stuff, but for "I have a drawer full of sockets and wrenches and I want organized trays for all of them" it cuts the process from hours to minutes. The design and preview are free — you only pay if you export. Figured some of you might find it useful given how many drawers you're all filling up.
Edit: 3/17/26 7:30AM ET, working through an issue with the photo upload pipeline
