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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

#61
post #43
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why mention multiboard and not honeycomb storage wall (HSW)? It's open source and arguably a better ecosystem.

Also the proprietary license on multiboard is absolutely insane. Not only is it closed source, even the printed objects have strings attached. If you ever use anything you print from the multiboard library in a for-profit setting you are obligated to pay a monthly license fee. HSW 100%

>Also the proprietary license on multiboard is absolutely insane.

Licensing in the 3D printing community tends to be a mess, with licenses that are often absurd, and selectively and sometimes dramatically enforced and unenforced. Multiboard is one of the most absurd I've seen, and is so utterly toxic I feel like touching anything involved with it would be risky: I'd really encourage people to read it [1] (and not the misleading summary they give). I suppose by even writing this I'm making myself ineligible for the license, as the license would not allow me to act in any way contrary to the interests of the company behind Multiboard, or even encourage any third part to act contrary to those interests. If the terms aren't absurd enough, there's a clause for the company to terminate the already limited ability to make and use derivative works if they feel you are taking advantage of the license terms.

Yet at the same time, go to any 3D printing model website, and you'll see numerous obvious copyright and trademark violations of Multiboard, often under completely incompatible licenses. Not only are these not removed (I have reported them before), but the owners of Multiboard will even officially comment on the sites praising the designs.

It's bizarre, but despite things at times going dramatically wrong, like with Benchy's license suddenly being enforced after many years of encouraging violations, people in the community largely seem to ignore the problem.

[1]: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1C0-Iyxydqk_d2I3o_5ua...

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

#62

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 think they're a good intro to 3D printing.

You wouldn't download "Hello world"?

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

#63
post #11

Open-source Honeycomb storage wall by RostaP: https://www.printables.com/model/152592-honeycomb-storage-wa... https://www.reddit.com/r/honeycombwall/ Although they aren't open-source as Gridfinity or HSW: Cargo modular storage system by Play Conveyor: https://thangs.com/designer/Play%20Conveyor/3d-model/Cargo%2... Multiboard, by Multiboard: https://www.multiboard.io/

For anyone looking to get into those storage systems I can also highly recommend "Hands on Katie"'s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@handsonkatie - There are a few videos that go into different storage systems and how to combine them to cover different storage needs and vertical/horizontal surfaces.

Her Discord is also quite active with people interested in the space, and Underware (under the desk cable management system), Neogrid and Deskware are all storage systems that have came out of her community.

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

#64

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 scanned a small tool, a drill is probably more difficult

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

#66

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…

The example you bring up is for a single one-off extension. Yeah, for that case it doesn't make a lot of sense.

However, for initial setup of the system (e.g. filling up multiple drawers with baseplates and basic bins, as you will see in many videos online), it would definitely jump start the process a lot, where you'll otherwise spend weeks printing everything. Additionally, if you also go for the fancier baseplates/bins that include the magnets you'll also spend quite a bit of time on assembly and will require external hardware anyways.

I personally didn't think it was a big deal as for me adopting the system incrementally over time worked quite well, but I think there definitely is a niche of people (and possibly businesses) that would like to adopt Gridfinity for its other benefits and appreciate faster initial setup time.

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

#67
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIUC this is also true of most 3D-print materials. You should not be using Gridfinity to store food! This is also why you usually shouldn't 3D print a dildo. This would be true even if the materials were food safe to be honest, I don't see how you can keep something like this clean. It's for storing stuff like capacitors and screws and electrical tape.

But, importantly, you can 3D print a dildo mold.

The layer lines will show up in the silicone.

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

#68
post #11

Open-source Honeycomb storage wall by RostaP: https://www.printables.com/model/152592-honeycomb-storage-wa... https://www.reddit.com/r/honeycombwall/ Although they aren't open-source as Gridfinity or HSW: Cargo modular storage system by Play Conveyor: https://thangs.com/designer/Play%20Conveyor/3d-model/Cargo%2... Multiboard, by Multiboard: https://www.multiboard.io/

For walls there is also the GOEWS (Greatly Over Engineered Wall System) - https://goews.xyz

However personally, I've also been a fan of IKEA Skadis boards, as it's quite easy to get up and running in terms of a baseplate + there are already a lot of models for it out there.

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

#69
post #61
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the proprietary license on multiboard is absolutely insane. Not only is it closed source, even the printed objects have strings attached. If you ever use anything you print from the multiboard library in a for-profit setting you are obligated to pay a monthly license fee. HSW 100%

>Also the proprietary license on multiboard is absolutely insane. Licensing in the 3D printing community tends to be a mess, with licenses that are often absurd, and selectively and sometimes dramatically enforced and unenforced. Multiboard is one of the most absurd I've seen, and is so utterly toxic I feel like touching anything involved with it would be risky: I'd really encourage people to read it [1] (and not the…

thanks for this one. I've just printed my first two stacks of Multiboard for the office after only reading the license summary.

The way they play with "Designed Works" and "commercial use" is really pretty weird. I kinda understand the aim - it's just one guy who's probably trying to make a startup out of this and is kinda hedging his bases against someone coming up with an injection moulded copy on Aliexpress. But the way "commercial use" is left vague is pretty sketchy. Is e.g. "background of an office in a youtube video" considered "commercial use"?

That being said, I guess I'll still finish at least one wall with it. I've used a few pegboards over the years and in my experience, these things don't die on licensing. They die on the fact that the manufacturer stops making them / switches to a different size / type. Here I can at least save the STLs and reprint the stuff as needed.

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

#70
post #49
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trust me once you start printing this you are going to want it all over your home and want new panels on demand for any otherwise useless wall space. 3D printers are cheap!

They're also relatively big and ideally the thing they're standing on is attached to the wall or has a 40kg damper (i.e. a concrete pavement block or something similar).

Consumer printers work well (or even better) without any dampers, and they come in all (e.g. fishbowl) sizes.
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