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Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

gridfinity.xyz

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Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#21

Post by 127 »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #16

An old colleague of mine went through the process of doing gridfinity. One of his main struggles was getting boxes that fit his power tools perfectly. He was looking for a way to easily get a shape of the tool into CAD. What’s the most straightforward and effective way to get a CAD representation of a solid these days? Of course there are expensive solutions but is there anything reasonably achievable in the DIY spac…

I do the following:

1. Draw the outline of the tool in question on A4 paper

2. Scan it

3. Trace it on Blender, extrude, boolean

4. Print

Of course, only works for small enough tools. Maybe use more A4 sheets?

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#22

Post by junon »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #16

An old colleague of mine went through the process of doing gridfinity. One of his main struggles was getting boxes that fit his power tools perfectly. He was looking for a way to easily get a shape of the tool into CAD. What’s the most straightforward and effective way to get a CAD representation of a solid these days? Of course there are expensive solutions but is there anything reasonably achievable in the DIY spac…

Photogrammetry is one. Generally results in messy geometry though and tolerances get finicky.

The CAD plugin in Blender is my favorite though. Need a caliper to get measurements and then I can build out my hooks/clamps/whatever. FreeCAD for when I just need sketches as I find the solid part workflow utterly confusing, whereas I'm very well versed in Blender.

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#23

Post by Gigachad »

rcarmo wrote: post #14
Gigachad wrote: post #8

I’ve been trying this out. The biggest problem I’m experiencing is that your draws won’t be a perfect multiple of the grid size. Which means you are always going to be left with gaps on the side which are wasted space which could be up to 40mm. There is kind of a solution to this where you can use non standard grid sizes to perfectly fit your draws, and there are generators which will create the baseplates and bins f…

What I do is print custom bins to store long things on the side of the grid. Making it smaller or bigger would not have fixed anything.

Making the grid size smaller makes the wasted space less. In the worst case scenario, your draw is 1mm too short for the last row, so the other 40mm becomes wasted. If the grid was half the size for example, the worst case scenario is 20mm wasted.

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#24

Post by pavelrub »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #16

An old colleague of mine went through the process of doing gridfinity. One of his main struggles was getting boxes that fit his power tools perfectly. He was looking for a way to easily get a shape of the tool into CAD. What’s the most straightforward and effective way to get a CAD representation of a solid these days? Of course there are expensive solutions but is there anything reasonably achievable in the DIY spac…

The common approach is to take a photo of an object from above together with a ruler or something of a known size for scale, then import that directly into the CAD software, scale according to the scaling object, and create a cutout along the object's outline. No need for calipers, 3d scans, or other complex measurement procedures. There are a lot of videos and guides on how to do that.

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#25

Post by rented_mule »

KeplerBoy wrote: post #5
stevenpetryk wrote: post #2

It’s such a nice project. But boy do I think it would benefit from mass production. People spend a lot of time printing generic bins and baseplates that would be better spent just printing custom bins.

I guess selling injection molded parts is forbidden under its licensing terms, which seems unfortunate. Let people make some money while everyone is saving money.

It's been MIT licensed for a couple of years now:

https://x.com/zackfreedman/status/1650629770156326912#m

or for those allergic to X:

https://lightbrd.com/zackfreedman/status/1650629770156326912...

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#26

Post by MarkCole »

Gigachad wrote: post #8

I’ve been trying this out. The biggest problem I’m experiencing is that your draws won’t be a perfect multiple of the grid size. Which means you are always going to be left with gaps on the side which are wasted space which could be up to 40mm. There is kind of a solution to this where you can use non standard grid sizes to perfectly fit your draws, and there are generators which will create the baseplates and bins f…

There is also the option to do half bins / half grid pattern at the edge. So you have the normal 42x42 grid pattern, then on one edge there are 21x42 sized boxes. There are a number of designs that support the half grid pattern. This would reduce your maximum lost space down to 20mm, and you would still have compatibility with the gridfinity system.

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#27

Post by alphalima »

pavelrub wrote: post #24
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #16

An old colleague of mine went through the process of doing gridfinity. One of his main struggles was getting boxes that fit his power tools perfectly. He was looking for a way to easily get a shape of the tool into CAD. What’s the most straightforward and effective way to get a CAD representation of a solid these days? Of course there are expensive solutions but is there anything reasonably achievable in the DIY spac…

The common approach is to take a photo of an object from above together with a ruler or something of a known size for scale, then import that directly into the CAD software, scale according to the scaling object, and create a cutout along the object's outline. No need for calipers, 3d scans, or other complex measurement procedures. There are a lot of videos and guides on how to do that.

This is how to do it.I also round the edges of the cutout.

Also, there is an extension for freecad to make non rectangular (e.g. "p") shaped bins.

Most satisfying, least productive things I've done this year!

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#28

Post by paradox460 »

stevenpetryk wrote: post #2

It’s such a nice project. But boy do I think it would benefit from mass production. People spend a lot of time printing generic bins and baseplates that would be better spent just printing custom bins.

Commercializing doesn't really make sense. So I need to get a small 1x1x3 container to store washers or whatever. With my 3D printer, I'll have that container in under an hour. Even if I bought it with the fastest shipping Amazon has available, assuming it was from a local Warehouse, the earliest I could get it would be half a day away. Having a local store that sells them would be marginally faster, but then I have to go to the store, pick it up and come home. The hour I spend waiting for the printer isn't an hour. I'm I'm completely blocked from doing anything else. It's just an hour in which my printers busy.

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#29

Post by stavros »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #16

An old colleague of mine went through the process of doing gridfinity. One of his main struggles was getting boxes that fit his power tools perfectly. He was looking for a way to easily get a shape of the tool into CAD. What’s the most straightforward and effective way to get a CAD representation of a solid these days? Of course there are expensive solutions but is there anything reasonably achievable in the DIY spac…

https://outline.georgs.lv

Re: Gridfinity: The modular, open-source grid storage system

#30

Post by ffsm8 »

throwaway0665 wrote: post #13
jot wrote: post #6

There’s a filament saving variant where you can use toilet rolls or other waste cardboard for the walls: https://www.printables.com/model/880256-cardboard-gridfinity...

Wow this is amazing.

Why do people want to reuse toilet paper rolls? Paper is not a hygienic material, and these are used in a place that's rife with bacteria...
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