DEV Community: Thinger 3D

Gridfinity: How 3D Printer Owners Fixed Their Drawer Problem

Thinger 3D — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 07:16:51 +0000

At some point, every 3D printer owner notices the same thing: you have a machine capable of making precisely shaped objects, and yet your drill bits are loose in a shoebox. Bits and cables have formed alliances. The hex keys have staged a disappearance. The logical response is to print something about it.

Gridfinity is what most people print. It is the free, open-source modular storage system that has quietly colonized workshop drawers for the past three years, and once you understand how it works, the obsession makes complete sense.

Key takeaways

Gridfinity is an open storage standard designed by Zack Freedman in 2022, built around a 42mm grid: baseplates hold the grid, bins clip into it with a snap and stay put.
The baseplate and bins are separate prints, which means you can redesign your drawer without reprinting the base.
Over 50 curated Gridfinity models live in the Gridfinity collection on Thinger, spanning basic bins to specialty inserts for wrenches, calipers, soldering irons, and jumper wire.
The system is an open standard, so hundreds of creators have built compatible modules: if you own a tool, there is probably a Gridfinity insert for it somewhere across the 600,000+ models searchable through Thinger.
Filament cost for a full drawer setup is typically under one spool, making this one of the most cost-effective prints you will ever run.

The system, briefly

Zack Freedman released Gridfinity in 2022 as an open standard under a Creative Commons licence. The grid unit is 42mm. A baseplate sits in a drawer or on a desk and holds a fixed array of sockets. Bins clip into those sockets from above; the magnets-optional design means they stay put under normal use but lift out cleanly when you want to reorganise. Because the spec is public, any creator can build a compatible module and it will fit any Gridfinity baseplate in the world.

The separation of baseplate from bins is the clever bit. You print the baseplate once. Then you swap, add, and replace bins as your needs change, without touching the foundation. It is the most satisfying application of parametric modularity that most people will ever encounter in their kitchen drawer.

Start with the baseplate

KYZ Design's Gridfinity Superlight Baseplates on MakerWorld are the recommended starting point. They are lighter than the reference baseplate, print faster, and are calibrated to accept magnet inserts if you want them. The geometry is clean and the tolerances are tight. Print one that matches your drawer size, drop it in, and you have a Gridfinity setup.

Then fill it with bins

Once the baseplate is in, you need bins. ABDELat's Ultimate Gridfinity Bins Collection on MakerWorld covers the essential sizes: 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, 2x2, and on up, in various heights. The parametric version lets you dial in exactly what you need. If you are not sure where to start, print a few 1x2 bins at 2 units tall and a couple of 2x2 bins at 3 units tall; that combination handles most small parts, cables, and tools before you have even worked out what else you need.

The IKEA connection

If you have an IKEA Alex desk, ABDELat has solved the baseplate problem for you. The Slim Gridfinity Base for IKEA Alex Drawer on MakerWorld is designed to fit exactly inside the Alex shallow drawer, the one that is too thin for most organisers. It prints flat, slots in without modification, and suddenly that mostly-useless drawer holds a full Gridfinity grid. I have printed four of these for different drawers and found a use for each one, which is either a sign of a well-designed system or a sign of too many drawers.

Tools and wrenches

Packet2 has built a set of Gridfinity modules specifically for workshop tools. The Gridfinity Tool Holders on Thingiverse include slots shaped for screwdrivers, chisels, and similar long-handled tools in a format that clips into your baseplate like any other bin. The same creator also made the Gridfinity Wrench Organizers, which keep metric and imperial wrenches sorted in a single drawer without them sliding over each other at 2 a.m. Both are free on Thingiverse.

One for the desk

BiggBadaBoom's Missile Turret Pen Holder on Thingiverse is a Gridfinity-compatible desktop pen holder shaped like a miniature missile turret. It holds pens. It is not practical in any way that a cylindrical bin is not. It is, however, extremely good. Your pens will be ready to deploy at a moment's notice. (This is the correct use of a 3D printer. I stand by that.)

Where to go from here

The Gridfinity collection on Thinger has 50+ more modules including caliper holders, solder station inserts, jumper wire organisers, and Bambu Lab filament holders. For a broader survey of the ecosystem, Andrianopolino's Gridfinity Encyclopedia on MakerWorld is a single model page that collects an enormous range of standard bases and boxes in one place.

The free Thinger app lets you search all of this across Thingiverse, Printables, MakerWorld, and more from one place. Type "gridfinity" and then the name of whatever tool is currently living in the wrong drawer. There is probably already an insert for it.

3D Printed Christmas Gifts and Decorations: 6 Free Models to Start Printing Now

Thinger 3D — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:12:58 +0000

October is when makers who have given 3D printed gifts before start quietly printing. The people who leave it to December are the ones who discover, on December 22nd, that their multipart display has a seven-hour print remaining. Eight weeks sounds like plenty. Then you start counting spools.

Key takeaways

Thinger's winter-holidays-2026 collection gathers 30+ curated free models from Thingiverse, MakerWorld, and Printables in one place.
Kit-card ornaments, flat prints that snap into 3D shapes, print in under two hours and are one of the best gift formats a maker can produce: small, cheap to print, and fun to assemble.
Simple tree ornaments like spiral balls and snowflakes run one to three hours each, making it realistic to print a full matching set in a weekend.
Multi-part display pieces can total ten or more hours of print time across all components, making October the sensible start.
Search over 600,000 free models across every major platform from one place using the Thinger app.

The kit card: the best gift format you can print

Let me make a case for kit cards, because I think they are underrated.

A kit card prints as a flat sheet, roughly the size of a playing card. The pieces are already separated on the card, everything in one flat print. The recipient pops the pieces out, slots them together, and a 3D object appears. It is half gift, half puzzle, and it takes almost no time on the printer because flat is fast.

JustAddFilament's AT-AT Kit Card is the most satisfying example I have found. It is a 2.5-inch AT-AT walker that hangs as a Christmas tree ornament, prints in a single flat session, and snaps together without glue or tools. The result is small, charming, and Star Wars, which covers a lot of people on most gift lists.

Nakozen took the same concept somewhere more festive with the Gingerbread House Kit Card. The card folds up into a small gingerbread house. It fits inside a Christmas card, sits under a small tree, or gets pressed into service as a gift tag on something else. If you want to print a dozen small gifts without dedicating a full spool, this is your answer.

Ornaments that actually look good on the tree

The Spiral Christmas Balls by dazus on Thingiverse are the kind of ornament that guests point at and ask "did you make those?" The answer is yes, and the follow-up is usually "can you make me some too?" I have no solution to that.

Protechnordic's Christmas Ornament Snowflake is the more traditional option: a clean geometric snowflake that looks laser-cut but prints in a single pass. It photographs well, hangs flat against the tree, and is the sort of thing you can run overnight and wake up to eight new decorations.

A display piece worth the print time

Davidkelly021's Christmas Snow Ball Town on MakerWorld is a multi-part snow-globe scene: small buildings, trees, and figures inside a clear dome created by the print itself. It earns its place on the mantelpiece rather than in the box of miscellaneous decorations that never gets opened. The trade-off is total print time. This is a multi-session project, which is exactly why October is the right moment to start.

One for the overengineers

The Lockable Present Ornament by jijimath on Thingiverse is a tiny wrapped gift with a hidden latch. You can actually put something inside it: a folded note, a small piece of chocolate, a secret. It hangs on the tree until someone finds the latch, which is either immediately obvious or completely invisible depending on how you finish it. I have printed four of these and hidden useful things in zero of them.

For the nerds on your list

Nojjynb's Nerdy Ornaments collection on Thingiverse is exactly what it says: ornaments shaped like controllers, rockets, and other things that belong in a workshop more often than on a Christmas tree. If the person you are printing for has strong opinions about framerate or orbital mechanics, this is a good starting point.

Where to find more

The full winter-holidays-2026 collection on Thinger has 30 more models from reindeer card kits to gingerbread cookie cutters to a Nightmare Before Christmas diorama for the house that has already committed to that particular bit. You can also search over 600,000 free models across every major platform using the free Thinger app. Type "christmas ornament" in late November and you will find options. Type it now and you will actually have time to print them.

Free 3D Printed Miniatures and Terrain: What Makers Are Building This Week

Thinger 3D — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 06:13:53 +0000

If you looked at Thinger's trend data for the week of October 5 and squinted at the top twelve models, you might think someone had sorted by "tabletop gaming" by mistake. Eight of the twelve most-printed free models that week were miniatures, dungeon terrain or Gloomhaven scatter. I did not expect to see an OpenForge water wheel and a set of goblins in the top five, and yet here we are. The nights are getting longer, the game tables are getting more elaborate, and a lot of printers are clearly working overtime on something that has a dungeon master involved.

Key takeaways

8 of the 12 most-printed free models in Thinger's week of October 5 data were tabletop gaming miniatures or terrain, including five that fit a D&D or fantasy campaign.
DuncanShadow's Goblins (model 13584, Thingiverse) and Curufin's 28mm Dead Female Villagers (model 13586, Thingiverse) both appear in the week's top five trending models.
OpenForge, ecaroth's modular terrain system on Thingiverse, placed two pieces in the top 12: the Overgrown Temple Dais and the Open-air Water Wheel Mill, both designed to slot into a larger modular table.
Rubble for Gloomhaven by RobagoN (model 14477, Thingiverse) is one of three Gloomhaven-specific prints to trend in the past three weeks, reflecting an active community using printed pieces as replacements for the cardboard components.
Thinger's D&D Miniatures collection and Wargame Terrain collection pull these and hundreds of similar models from Thingiverse, Printables and MakerWorld into one place.

The miniatures

Two models of very different character landed in the top five this week, which is a good snapshot of what the community wants from printed miniatures: encounters with texture.

DuncanShadow's Goblins is a classic set of small fantasy figures, the kind that fill out a dungeon room without needing to be the centre of attention. The poses are properly goblin-like: hunched, asymmetrical, looking like they are up to something. Print a dozen and you have a room. The Goblins have been circulating on Thingiverse long enough to be considered community-standard, and they keep trending because people keep needing them.

Curufin's 28mm Dead Female Villagers are the more unusual entry. The name is accurate: a set of 28mm undead or horror figures, carefully modelled, for campaigns that take a darker turn. Once someone posts a clean paint job of a well-made set, it travels quickly in the hobby community. This is that kind of release.

Valandar's Epic Dwarf Miniature also made the top 12. If you need a single dwarf warrior for a campaign rather than a whole unit, this is a detailed standalone figure that prints cleanly on both FDM and resin. The base fits 25mm and 32mm rounds, which covers most tabletop systems.

The terrain

OpenForge is one of the most ambitious open-source terrain projects in the maker community. ecaroth built it on Thingiverse over several years and the system now spans hundreds of modular tiles, structures and props designed to connect. Two pieces appeared in this week's top 12.

The Place of Power: Overgrown Temple Dais is exactly what it sounds like: a raised platform for a climactic encounter, worn stone with vines creeping over the edges. The kind of terrain that makes a player sit up a little straighter when they walk into the room. The Open-air Water Wheel Mill is calmer: a working mill structure for a village scene, a countryside ambush, or anywhere the adventure calls for a moment outside the dungeon. Both slot into the broader OpenForge system if you want to keep building around them.

The Gloomhaven pile

RobagoN's Rubble for Gloomhaven is a set of scatter tokens that replace the cardboard obstacle markers in the base game. Rubble is one of the most-printed Gloomhaven accessories because the cardboard version is fiddly and the printed version is both more satisfying to handle and more obvious on a crowded table. It shows up in the trend data regularly, usually when a new campaign revival or expansion brings a wave of new players to the game.

Where to find more

The trend data is pointing somewhere specific this week, and it is worth following. Thinger's D&D Miniatures collection covers the full range from heroes and monsters to scenery and props, sourced from Thingiverse, Printables and MakerWorld. For terrain more broadly, the Wargame Terrain collection includes OpenForge modules, scatter pieces and full table setups from multiple creators.

If you want to search across all three platforms at once for whatever comes next, the free Thinger app searches over 600,000 free models and lets you save the ones worth printing. Dice tower is in there too. I am not saying it is mandatory, but the table does look better with one.

How to Print Your Own Advent Calendar (You Have Seven Weeks)

Thinger 3D — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 06:56:52 +0000

December 1 is seven weeks away. That sounds like plenty of time, until you remember that a full advent calendar is 24 pockets, each needing to be printed, assembled, and filled. Start now and you can do it comfortably. Start in late November and you will be printing at 2 a.m. with a flashlight and the slowly dawning realization that 24 small boxes is quite a lot of small boxes. This is not hypothetical advice.

The Thinger Advent Calendar collection has 36 free models covering every approach: pre-built countdowns, modular drawer systems, flip mechanisms, theme builds, and companion sets you reveal one piece at a time. Here is a practical route through the best of them, organized by how much print time you want to commit.

Key takeaways

Advent 2026 begins December 1, which is 7 weeks away from today. A full 24-pocket calendar takes most people 2 to 4 weeks of print time at a comfortable pace of a few pieces per session.
The Christmas Advent Calender by Elproducts on Thingiverse is a Santa Claus countdown structure designed in Tinkercad and printable on any FDM printer. It has been printed by makers every December since 2017.
The Christmas Countdown Cubes v1 by brlittle on Thingiverse is a two-cube flip system: one cube for the tens digit, one for the units. Total print time is a few hours, and it works as a mantel piece for all of December.
The No-Supports Nativity Set by stockto on Thingiverse is 12 figures, all printable without supports. Print them now and reveal one each morning through December.
The full Advent Calendar collection on Thinger has 36 free models, from simple drawer boxes to mechanical perpetual calendars, all free to download from their original creators.

The classic shape: Christmas Advent Calender

The Christmas Advent Calender by Elproducts is a Santa Claus-shaped countdown that has been circulating in the maker community since 2017. Elproducts designed it in Tinkercad and tested it on a Prusa MK2S. The model includes a separate "DaysTilSanta" piece for displaying the countdown count on its own, which is a nice detail if you want a number visible from across the room. The spelling is "Calender" with an e, which has been generating patient corrections in the comments for nine years, and which I think gives it a certain charm at this point.

The drawer approach: Advent Calendar

If you prefer a modular wall-hanging system over a single figure, the Advent Calendar by jbovee is a numbered-drawer structure designed for family use. Jbovee built it for his wife and grandkids, and the proportions reflect that: pockets are generous enough to hold small gifts, and the assembly is straightforward. It is the kind of print that earns its spot on the wall in early December and stays there for years, which is the best kind.

The flip mechanism: Christmas Countdown Cubes v1

The Christmas Countdown Cubes v1 by brlittle takes a different approach to the problem. Instead of 24 pockets to fill, it is two cubes you flip to display the number of days remaining: one for the tens digit, one for units. Brlittle paired it with a Santa face assembly (base, backplate, face, hat pieces, glued together) to give the numbers somewhere to live. A v2 with a "Grinchier font" exists if that is more your household's aesthetic. The cubes themselves print fast. Start with those and decide on the Santa hat situation later.

The gamer version: Magic the Gathering Advent Calendar

The Magic the Gathering Advent Calendar by brimstone326 is for anyone who has outgrown chocolate-filled pockets. It holds one MTG card per slot across all 24 days, with two or three cards crammable per slot if needed. Brimstone326 designed it when their oldest outgrew toy-filled calendars, and is admirably upfront that it was not designed to account for sleeved cards, so check your card situation before committing to the print. The photos show it painted in card-art colors, and the effect is genuinely good. The design is on Cults3D.

The reveal approach: No-Supports Nativity Set

This last one is not a calendar box at all, but it is one of my favorite takes on the advent idea. The No-Supports Nativity Set by stockto on Thingiverse is 12 figures: Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Manger, Stable, Donkey, Shepherd, Wise Man, Angel, Star, and two Sheep. All of them print without supports. Stockto originally designed them to be an advent calendar where you reveal a new figure each morning, but the box design never came together and was never posted. The figures work perfectly for that purpose anyway: print them all now, keep them out of sight, and bring one out each day through December until the full scene is assembled on the mantelpiece by Christmas. No box required.

Where to go from here

All five of these are in the 3D Printed Advent Calendar collection on Thinger, alongside 31 more models I didn't have room to cover. If you want to search across Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld at once for advent fillers, small gifts, and ornaments to add to the mix, the free Thinger app searches over 600,000 free models in one place. December 1 is seven weeks out. The printer does not need much notice, but it does need some.

What to Print First on Your New Bambu Lab Printer

Thinger 3D — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 06:54:16 +0000

Your Bambu Lab printer arrived, you ran the first job from the SD card, you watched it print at slightly alarming speed, and now you are staring at the software wondering what to do next. The good news: the machine almost certainly works. Bambu printers come pre-calibrated more thoroughly than most, so your instinct to immediately print something enormous and complicated is not entirely wrong. But there are five smaller prints worth making first. They will save you time later, teach you something useful about your specific machine, and one of them will genuinely improve the experience if you have the AMS.

Key takeaways

Bambu Lab's own Benchy (model 82122 on MakerWorld) is tuned to Bambu PLA settings specifically, making it a more accurate baseline for your machine than the classic Thingiverse version.
Dezign's Cali Cat on Thingiverse (model 119) has been the community's calibration standard since 2016, testing overhangs, bridging, and surface detail in about 30 minutes of print time.
harrypulvirenti's Filament Poop Bin (model 75951 on MakerWorld) catches AMS purge material outside the printer instead of inside the standard bin, keeping the chamber cleaner across multi-colour prints. It fits the X1C, P1S, and P2S.
Foxart3D's Bambu Filament Swatches (model 76549 on MakerWorld) print as a labelled set for each spool you own, giving you a physical colour library to compare against the screen.
The Bambu P1S collection and Bambu A1 Mini collection on Thinger have the community's best upgrades and first projects curated from MakerWorld, Printables, and Thingiverse.

Start here: Bambu's own Benchy

The classic Benchy from Thingiverse is fine, but Bambu Lab posted their own version to MakerWorld with settings matched to the PLA that ships with most of their printers. The temperature profile, speed, and first-layer settings are dialled for their hardware rather than adjusted after the fact. Print this one before you start changing anything, because it gives you a fair reference point for what your specific machine produces at factory settings. After that, every other print tells you something: if quality drops, you know from where.

The calibration cat

Dezign's Cali Cat on Thingiverse has been making the rounds since 2016 and shows no signs of retirement. It is a cat-shaped test model that exercises overhangs, bridging, fine surface detail, and vertical resolution in a single 30-minute print, in a form that is somehow more informative than a featureless cube. Print it right after your Benchy. The two together take about an hour, and if both look clean you are in good shape to start the project you actually bought the printer for.

The poop bin (AMS owners, this one is for you)

This section does not apply to you if you do not have the AMS. If you do: between colour changes, the AMS purges a small blob of filament to clear the previous colour from the nozzle. By default this lands in a small bin inside the printer. It fills up faster than you expect on multi-colour prints. harrypulvirenti's Filament Poop Bin sits next to the printer instead, connected by a short PTFE tube, and catches all of that purge material in an external container you can empty at your leisure. It takes one print and about five minutes to set up, and then you forget it exists.

Know what colour you actually have

This sounds obvious until you are 30 hours into a project and realize the grey on screen does not match the grey on the shelf. Foxart3D's Bambu Filament Swatches print as a labelled set you snap onto the end of each spool. Print a batch for every colour you own right at the start, keep them together near the printer, and the next time you are reaching for a spool by memory you will be grateful your earlier self took an afternoon.

Give your spools somewhere to live

You ordered the printer and then immediately ordered eight spools of filament, because that is how it goes. Antiphrasis's Sturdy Modular Filament Spool Rack is fully printable, completely adjustable, and expandable as your collection grows. Print the first few segments while you are still learning your machine's quirks. By the end of the weekend you will have a rack sized exactly to the number of spools you currently own, with one extra slot because you are already eyeing a fourth grey.

Where to go from here

The Bambu P1S collection and Bambu A1 collection on Thinger have the community's best upgrades and accessories, pulled from MakerWorld, Printables, and Thingiverse in one place. If you want to search across all the major platforms at once for whatever comes next, the free Thinger app searches over 600,000 free models in one place. Your print queue is about to get very long. That is, I am told, entirely normal.

Build Your Own Dungeon: What Tabletop RPG Players Are Printing Right Now

Thinger 3D — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 15:47:06 +0000

Thinger's trend data for the week of September 28th shows four of the seven most estimated-printed model categories are tabletop RPG terrain or accessories. The top search terms include "d," which in context means exactly what you think it means. The printers are building dungeons.

This is not a random spike. October is when D&D tables start back up after summer schedules scatter, and a tiled dungeon floor that took three months of intermittent printing is suddenly ready. The OpenForge system in particular dominates the list: two of the top seven trending models are OpenForge pieces, plus a sarcophagus from the same extended ecosystem. If you have ever thought about building tabletop terrain, the community is essentially telling you that now is when people do it. Here is where to start.

Key takeaways

Four of the top seven models in Thinger's trending data (week of 2026-09-28) are tabletop RPG terrain, scatter props, or DM accessories, making TTRPG printing the dominant category this week.
OpenForge is a free, modular tile-based dungeon system by devonjones on Thingiverse; two OpenForge models appear in this week's top seven, with floor tiles and pillars trending simultaneously.
Living Bones with Short Spear and Shield by Syllogy on Thingiverse reached approximately 1 million estimated prints this week, making it the most-printed 28mm miniature in Thinger's data.
OpenForge - Dwarven King's Sarcophagus by ecaroth topped the terrain props list at around 980,000 estimated prints worldwide this week.
The DM Screen-Top Initiative Tracker trending alongside all this scenery confirms that people are printing functional table tools, not just display pieces.

The floor plan: OpenForge

OpenForge is a modular 3D-printable dungeon tile system: a free, open-source library of interlocking floor tiles, walls, pillars, doors and props designed to fit together consistently at 28mm scale. devonjones has been releasing pieces since the early days of Thingiverse, and the library now spans several thousand individual files. The two trending pieces this week are a good place to start a build. The curved floor section adds the visual interest that a room of identical rectangular tiles cannot. The cut-stone pillars divide a large open space into something that reads as architecture at the table.

Both pieces use the same 1-inch grid as most dungeon terrain systems and print well in gray or stone-colored PLA without any post-processing. A light dry-brush with a slightly lighter gray is enough to make them look like actual cut stone, and the curved sections in particular photograph beautifully once you have a full room's worth assembled.

The sarcophagus in the corner

The OpenForge - Dwarven King's Sarcophagus by ecaroth is technically a standalone piece, not part of devonjones's main library, but it is clearly from the same extended ecosystem: it fits the same scale and the same aesthetic. It is the kind of terrain prop that makes a room feel like a specific place rather than a generic dungeon. A throne, a fountain, a coffin: these are what separate a tiled floor from a scene. At roughly 980,000 estimated prints, it is the most-printed individual terrain prop in this week's data, and it is easy to see why. Every dungeon needs a room that communicates something. A sarcophagus in the center communicates quite a lot.

The skeleton in the room

Every dungeon needs its guardian. Living Bones with Short Spear and Shield by Syllogy on Thingiverse is a 28mm skeleton warrior: a good pose, equipped with a short spear and round shield, based for a standard round base. This is the top trending 28mm miniature this week at roughly 1 million estimated prints. For a dungeon you are actually running, printing three or four of these costs very little filament and puts a proper encounter on the table. They also paint quickly, which is worth mentioning: bone is a forgiving color to base coat, and a few minutes of dry-brushing produces results that look deliberate.

A chest that bites back

The Mimic - Toothy Treasure Chest by Yasashii on Thingiverse is the most beloved trap in tabletop RPGs rendered in plastic. It is a treasure chest with rows of teeth and a wide, menacing grin, designed for 28mm scale. Yasashii makes a wide range of tabletop miniatures in a consistent style, and this one has been a community staple for years. No session that ends with the mimic reveal is a session anyone forgets. Place one in the center of a loot room, let the players describe their approach, and wait. The resulting story is yours to keep, and the print cost is a few grams of filament.

Scatter terrain: the Viking Goods Pile

Viking Goods Pile by dutchmogul on Thingiverse is scatter terrain: a collection of barrels, crates, sacks, pots and Viking-age clutter, designed to fill out the background of a scene. Scatter terrain is the detail work that makes a tiled floor look inhabited rather than assembled. dutchmogul's Thingiverse library is enormous and deeply consistent, and pieces from it have been showing up in Thinger's trending data throughout the year. The Viking Goods Pile is ranking 4th this week at roughly 960,000 estimated prints. It is not the most dramatic print, but it is the one that makes everything else read as a world.

A practical tool for the person running it all

The DM Screen-Top Initiative Tracker by thelukec on Thingiverse is one of those prints that solves a specific problem so neatly you wonder why you did not find it sooner. It sits on top of a standard DM screen and holds initiative cards or tokens in order, keeping the turn sequence visible without taking up table space. That it is trending alongside all this terrain says something: the people printing dungeon tiles are also the people running sessions at those tables. This is a functional object, not a display piece, and functional objects are the honest argument for having a printer.

Where to look next

The Wargame Terrain collection on Thinger has more than thirty models in this category, from full modular castle buildings to individual dungeon props. For the figure side, the D&D miniatures collection covers player characters, monsters and creature tokens.

Search "openforge" in the free Thinger app and you can search across 600,000 free models on Thingiverse, Printables and MakerWorld at once. The OpenForge library is genuinely large, and having a way to save and organize pieces as you find them makes a project this size feel manageable. The dungeon is already in the printer. The only question is how long you want to spend furnishing it.

5 Halloween Costume Props to Print Before October 31

Thinger 3D — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 06:33:38 +0000

The second most estimated-printed model in Thinger's weekly activity data is a human arm bone. I do not want to be too knowing about this, but it is October third, and the Humerus_Right Human Skeleton Upper Arm Bone has approximately 660,000 estimated prints worldwide. Someone is building something.

This is the part of the year where the printer earns its place in the household. Decorations work. But the real argument for having a printer in October is the costume. A skeleton arm bone you can actually hold: that is a prop. A wand that prints in one piece and takes an afternoon: that is also a prop. Here are five prints that get you from "I have a printer" to "I have a costume" before the end of the month.

Key takeaways

The Humerus_Right Human Skeleton Upper Arm Bone by profguy on Thingiverse is the second-most estimated-printed model in Thinger's activity data this week, with approximately 660,000 estimated prints worldwide.
The Skeleton (Snaps together and moveable) by Davision3d on Thingiverse assembles without glue, and every joint is poseable: arms, legs, spine and individual fingers all move with realistic constraints.
The Supportless Skull Mask by aaskedall on Thingiverse is a wearable skull mask that prints flat without any supports.
The Wizard's Wand by ShearLab on MakerWorld is a Harry Potter-inspired wand that prints as a single 20cm piece with no post-print assembly.
The Golden Snitch from Harry Potter by Encrust3d on MakerWorld includes a display stand and has wings modified to lay flat for clean FDM printing.

The skeleton costume

The humerus is the upper arm bone, running from shoulder to elbow, and this model prints at true 1:1 scale. On a larger bed (12 by 12 inches or bigger) it prints as one piece. On a smaller bed, the files include two halves sized for a 6 by 6 inch platform. Either way you end up with an anatomically correct arm bone at the right dimensions. The natural application is to print several, then start asking what else is available in the catalog. (There is quite a lot.)

If you would rather print a full skeleton than assemble it one bone at a time, Skeleton (Snaps together and moveable) by Davision3d on Thingiverse takes a different approach. This is a stylized skeleton that assembles without any glue, twine or bolts: the joints snap into place and move freely with the same basic constraints as a real skeleton. Arms, legs, the spine and individual fingers all articulate. It works as a toy, a prop, or something to hang in a doorway. The designer specifically mentions hanging it with a rope in a car. I respect the commitment to October.

A mask that actually prints

The Supportless Skull Mask by aaskedall on Thingiverse does exactly what it says: no supports required, prints flat, and assembles into something wearable. The creator is admirably honest in the description: "Might be a little small for an adult but it prints without supports and looks rad." This is exactly the kind of information I want before I start a print. Rad is confirmed; fit will vary. If you scale it up slightly for a larger face, the print time goes up and so does the coverage.

The wizard's toolkit

A wand is one of those prints that looks like it should be complicated and turns out to be straightforward. Wizard's Wand by ShearLab on MakerWorld is inspired by Harry Potter's wand, prints as a single piece at about 20cm, and uses an angled orientation during printing for structural strength so the tip does not snap off. There is no assembly and no post-processing unless you want to paint it. The designer recommends drying your filament before printing, which is worth doing for anything with a fine tip regardless of the model.

The obvious companion is the Golden Snitch from Harry Potter by Encrust3d, also on MakerWorld. This is a remixed version with the wings redesigned to lay flat for FDM printing, plus a display stand so it sits on a shelf between uses rather than rolling away. Painted gold, it is an immediately recognizable prop for a Harry Potter costume, and it holds up as a desk piece for the rest of the year. The stand is a small detail that makes the print a lot more practical.

Where to look next

These five sit inside the Halloween 2026 collection on Thinger, which has more than thirty models: an articulated skeleton dragon, a full-sized anatomically correct articulating spine by DaveMakesStuff for the ambitious skeleton build, a transformable zombie figure, and several designs that have been on Thingiverse for years and remain popular because they are genuinely good. Halloween is four weeks away. A wand takes an afternoon. The full skeleton build takes several sessions, but it is a prop you can reuse every October without reprinting anything.

The free Thinger app lets you search over 600,000 free models across Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld. Search "skeleton", "mask" or "wand" and the results run considerably deeper than what fits in one article. The clock is ticking, but it is a generous clock.

Four Free 3D Printed Toys Worth Making Right Now

Thinger 3D — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:14:23 +0000

The most-printed model in Thinger's activity data this week is a marble run. Not a cable clip, not an organiser, not a calibration cube. A marble run, with an estimated 820,000 prints worldwide. I have been watching the weekly trends data for a while, and when something jumps to the top of the list it is worth asking why.

The answer here, I think, is this: the four trending models at the top of the list this week all share the quality that makes the marble run compelling. They do something. A gear turns. A jaw opens. A shuttle carries a thread across a warp. These are the prints you pick up and hand to someone who does not own a printer, and that person immediately understands why you own a printer. They are worth making for that reason alone, and with the holidays eight weeks out, they are also worth making soon.

Key takeaways

The Duplo compatible marble run system by joachim67 (Thingiverse) is the most-estimated-printed model in Thinger's data this week at around 820,000 prints, and connects directly to standard Duplo bricks already in your household.
The badBrick Worm and Tree Gear Set by badBrick (Thingiverse) is Lego Technic compatible, printing a working worm gear and 24-tooth driven gear as a mechanical demonstration you can hand to someone.
The Mini Inkle Loom by Zydac (Thingiverse) prints a portable weaving loom that clamps to any table or straps to your leg, producing a tool for a completely different craft rather than an object.
The Alligator Skull by MarkPalmer (Thingiverse) has a snap-together jaw hinge, prints in three size variants, and articulates realistically.
All four are in this week's Thinger trending models list, where the weekly activity data updates every Monday.

The marble run

Duplo compatible marble run system by joachim67 on Thingiverse is the week's most-printed model for a reason I find entirely persuasive: it meets children where their toys already are. The track sections connect directly to Duplo bricks, so the marble run lives in the same world as the Duplo construction on the floor rather than beside it. You build the starting structure from Duplo, drop the printed track onto it, and a marble rolls through the printed section and back into the Duplo base.

The system includes straight sections, ramps, crossing pieces, and corner ramps, with an OpenSCAD source file available for remixing. That parametric file means you can adjust the track proportions or add new piece types if the set does not include the specific section you need. One print session gets you a functional run. Four print sessions get you something that changes direction twice, crosses over itself once, and drops across three levels of Duplo architecture. The weekend tends to disappear.

The gear set

badBrick Worm, and Tree Gear Set by badBrick on Thingiverse is Lego Technic compatible, and that compatibility is what makes it interesting rather than just educational. A worm gear reduces speed and multiplies torque: one full rotation of the worm moves the driven gear by exactly one tooth. The gear ratio is steep, which means very little input force moves a meaningful output load. This is the mechanism inside most power screwdrivers and self-locking winches, and it is significantly easier to understand by holding one in your hand than by reading about it.

Because the gears mate with Lego Technic axles and connectors, the output shaft can drive other components in a kit. You can build a vehicle, attach this gear reduction at the wheels, and end up with a slow powerful drivetrain from what was otherwise a standard Lego assembly. The designer notes that this is a sample from a fuller gear catalog under the badBrick Thingiverse account, if you find the worm gear leads somewhere more interesting than you expected.

The loom

This one sits apart from the others. The Mini Inkle Loom by Zydac on Thingiverse does not produce a 3D printed object you display or play with. It produces a tool. The tool, once printed, lets you weave. Inkle weaving is a tablet-weaving technique for making bands and belts: warp threads go over the pegs, a shuttle carries the weft, and the result is woven fabric.

The loom clamps to any table using two printed C-clamps, and there are slots in the clamp holders to thread a strap so it attaches to your leg for portable weaving. The designer mentions weaving on a subway. The loom is small enough for a bag. I find this a genuinely interesting use of a printer: the print is the beginning of something that has nothing to do with 3D printing, and the skill you end up with is an old one. The loom is the new part.

The skull with a jaw

Alligator Skull by MarkPalmer on Thingiverse is a remix of an earlier anatomy scan, and the thing that distinguishes it from the original is the addition of a snap-together jaw hinge. The upper and lower jaw are separate prints that click together and articulate, so the skull opens and closes. Three size variants are included: standard scale for a Replicator 2, 50 percent scale for a smaller bed, and 170 percent scale for a larger one.

The snap jaw is the detail that makes this print worth picking up off a shelf repeatedly rather than once. The skull is anatomically accurate enough to show the tooth arrangement and the orbit geometry at a glance, but the jaw hinge is what makes it a demonstration rather than a static object. Children who ask questions about crocodilians will get at least half of their questions answered before they stop opening and closing the jaw. Adults are not significantly better.

Before you print

All four of these are standard FDM prints. None need resin or special materials, and none require supports for the main body (the alligator skull assembly involves two separate pieces rather than support removal). The marble run adds up in filament faster than it looks, because a useful run needs ten to fifteen pieces. The print cost calculator will tell you what each section costs in filament before you commit to printing the whole set.

The full list of this week's trending models, including the eight not featured here, is at api.thinger.rocks/trends. The free Thinger app lets you search over 600,000 free models from Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld. Search "marble run", "gear", "inkle loom", or "alligator skull" and each of these categories runs deeper than what one article can cover. The app is the faster way to build a print queue than scrolling Thingiverse one model at a time, and the queue is there for whenever you get back to the printer.

Free 3D Printed Fidget Toys: Five Prints That Are Actually Satisfying

Thinger 3D — Sun, 27 Sep 2026 08:19:19 +0000

I had a plan. The plan was to print cable clips, a spare bracket for the shelf, and one small organizer for the junk drawer. This was a good plan. A rational plan. The print farm of useful household items would hum along tidily, and the printer would justify its own shelf space through pure utility.

Then I printed a Flexi Rex. The plan was immediately over.

If you are reading this before you print your first articulated animal, I want you to know that you are about to enter a phase. All printers go through it. Some printers never leave. What follows is a guide to doing it well.

Key takeaways

The DUMMY 13 Printable Jointed Figure by soozafone (Printables) has 27 poseable joints and a growing community of fan-made add-ons and accessories.
The Flexi Rex with stronger links by DrLex (Thingiverse) is one of the most-printed articulated figures in the Thinger catalog, with print-in-place hinges that survive actual handling.
Fidget toys designed for print-in-place require no assembly and no hardware: they come off the bed ready to use, typically in one to three hours on a standard FDM printer.
The Kobayashi Fidget Cube by markinthebox (Thingiverse) has been downloaded and remixed thousands of times since 2017 and still prints better than most desk-cube alternatives.
Thinger's fidget toys collection has 40 free designs ranked by save count, covering jointed figures, spinners, cubes, and flexi animals.

DUMMY 13

Let me start with the one that takes the most shelf space.

DUMMY 13 Printable Jointed Figure by soozafone on Printables is a fully poseable jointed figure with 27 articulated parts. Every joint prints separately and clicks into place. Once assembled, it holds poses, has expressive hands, and responds well to being given tiny props from other prints. It is, in short, the kind of model that turns a 3D printer into a very slow toy factory.

The figure ships with files that are well enough tested to print without drama. A standard-size run takes most of a day. You can do something useful with those hours, or you can check on it every forty minutes. In my experience, most people check on it every forty minutes.

The Flexi Rex

Flexi Rex with stronger links by DrLex on Thingiverse is one of the oldest and most-saved articulated models in the catalog. The "stronger links" in the title are genuinely earned: this is a remix of the original Flexi Rex that replaced the joints with a design that survives being picked up and flexed repeatedly, rather than one print session. It coils, it flops, it sits on a desk with the unmistakable presence of a small plastic dinosaur.

Print it in one go: no supports, no hardware, no assembly. The hinges release from the bed in one piece. If you have time for one print-in-place model before trying anything more complicated, start here.

Something mechanical

Watch Escapement Desk Toy by LarkysPrints on Thingiverse is a different kind of satisfying. It is a scaled mechanical escapement, the click-and-release mechanism at the heart of a mechanical watch, printed in plastic and sized up to desk scale. You push the balance wheel, the pawl engages the escape wheel, and it ticks and releases.

There is no practical purpose here, which is entirely the point. If you have ever wondered why mechanical watches tick rather than sweep, this will explain it in about two minutes of hands-on fiddling, which is faster than a Wikipedia article and considerably more satisfying than reading either. Time well spent, I would say.

The fidget cube

Kobayashi Fidget Cube - Fat Hinge - Flat by markinthebox on Thingiverse is the definitive 3D printed fidget cube. The original Kobayashi design is a set of hinged panels that fold around a central cube, collapsing and opening continuously. The "fat hinge" version is more tolerant of print variance: the hinges are thicker, so they close cleanly and do not snap from stress after a week of daily use.

It has been remixed more times than almost any other fidget model in the catalog. The core design is a decade old and still the best version of this mechanism in free plastic. Print it in two contrasting colors if your printer handles filament changes: the visual makes the folding motion much easier to follow.

The small one

Cute Mini Octopus by McGybeer on Printables is for the person who wants something desk-sized without committing to a full afternoon of printing. It is small, it is print-in-place, and each tentacle flexes independently. The default size prints in under an hour on most FDM machines. At 150 percent scale it takes up exactly the right amount of space on a windowsill. At 200 percent it becomes a statement.

Print it in whatever is on the spool. The color does a lot of the work. So does having eight independently poseable tentacles.

A practical note

All five of these print on any standard FDM printer. None requires supports; all but the DUMMY 13 are print-in-place or single-piece builds. Before you load the file, the print cost calculator will tell you how much filament each takes: the mini octopus at default size uses almost nothing, and the DUMMY 13 across its 27 parts adds up fast if you are not careful about scale.

Thinger's fidget toys collection has 40 models in this category, ranked by how often people save them. If none of these is exactly right, there are another 35 in the list.

The free Thinger app searches across 600,000 free models from Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld. Search "fidget", "flexi", or "articulated" and you will find something worth printing. Probably more than one thing. The plan was cable clips. It always starts with cable clips.

Free 3D Printed Halloween Decorations: What to Print for the House

Thinger 3D — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:17:09 +0000

Five weeks until Halloween, and the house has nothing to show for it. The costume is a separate problem. The house is an immediate one: windowsills, the mantle, the front porch, possibly one wall that has been entirely too normal for too long.

Everything below is for the home rather than the wearer. The last Halloween roundup on this blog covered wearable props and costume pieces; this one is for whatever you set down when you walk in.

Key takeaways

The Twist Lock Pumpkin by 3d-printy (Thingiverse) has 5 interchangeable face options that quarter-turn onto the base: print the pumpkin once, rotate expressions through the whole month.
Glow-in-the-dark PLA charges under standard household lighting and is the single best filament choice for Halloween decorations that need to work in a darkened room.
The Halloween Tree Stump LED Candle by Anders644PI (Thingiverse) accepts a standard push-button LED tea light and prints without any supports.
The Skull Windchime by DaveMakesStuff (Thingiverse) hangs 6 or 8 printed skulls on fully printed chain links: no hardware, no separate fasteners.
Thinger's Halloween 2026 collection has 40 free models sorted by save count, covering the full range from quick 30-minute desk pieces to multi-part displays.

The pumpkin

A jack-o-lantern that does not go soft is a genuine improvement on the original. The Twist Lock Pumpkin by 3d-printy on Thingiverse is a two-part print: a ribbed pumpkin body and a lid, with 5 different face rings included in the same file. Each ring quarter-turns onto the base and locks in place, so you can run a friendly pumpkin for the first two weeks and swap to something more unsettling by October 28. The same designer also published a Twist Lock Coffin using the same mechanism, if one pumpkin leads naturally to another project.

Print it in orange PLA for the classic look. In glow-in-the-dark orange it reads as a normal pumpkin in daylight and glows on the windowsill at night, which earns its filament twice.

The ghost

The Cute Hug Me Ghost by gCreate on Thingiverse is a small ghost with its arms open, printed in one piece, no supports required. It sits on a shelf or a windowsill and reads clearly from across a room. In plain white PLA it looks like a ghost. In glow-in-the-dark PLA it looks like a ghost that is making a point about it.

This is a 30-minute print at the default size. For something that will sit on a mantle and be visible from the sofa, scale it up by 150 to 200 percent: still a short print, noticeably more presence.

The centerpiece

The Halloween Tree Stump LED Candle by Anders644PI on Thingiverse is designed to hold a standard push-button LED tea light. The stump has a carved face, and the light shows through the mouth and eyes. It prints without supports, which matters on a model this hollow. In a dim room it does more atmospheric work than a lot of more complicated prints.

Print the body in black or dark brown PLA. Push-button LED tea lights come in warm white or amber; amber is the better choice and makes the whole thing look like something left on a forest floor in an old film.

The wall piece

The Reaching Wall Hands by F0R63 on Thingiverse mount on a single thumbtack per hand. Left and right are included in the file; both print flat with no supports, and the mount point is built into the back of the model. The hands reach out from the wall. This is one of those prints that is quietly unsettling in a way that takes about 40 minutes to produce. Place them at a height that catches the peripheral vision when you walk past. You will know when the placement is right.

The porch piece

The Skull Windchime by DaveMakesStuff on Thingiverse is a front-porch decoration with 6 or 8 skulls connected by fully printed chain links. The file includes everything: skulls, individual chain links, and the top bar. No hardware, no drilling. It assembles by clipping the printed links together. If you have not printed a chain link before, this is a reasonable first one: the tolerances are generous and the links separate easily if something binds during assembly.

Print in black PLA. It reads from the street, which is the point.

A practical note on timing

Today is September 24. October 31 is five weeks out. These prints range from 30 minutes to a few hours each, and none need more than a day. The timing pressure is not the printing itself; it is having something on the windowsill before it starts looking like you forgot entirely. Print now, and you still have two or three rounds if anything goes wrong.

For more options, Thinger's Halloween 2026 collection has 40 free models ranked by save count and updated through October as new designs trend. If you want to know how much filament any of these will use before you start, the print cost calculator will give you a number.

The free Thinger app lets you search across 600,000 free models from Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld. Searching "pumpkin", "ghost", or "skeleton" in the app right now returns a lot of recently published models as the Halloween season ramps up.

Free Articulated Dragon 3D Prints: The Ones Worth Printing

Thinger 3D — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:08:00 +0000

"Dragon" tops Thinger's search charts most weeks, and it's not random. There's something about a dragon that doesn't get fully resolved by one print. You finish one, it's good, and then you want a different one. The articulated variants specifically have this effect because they reward you beyond the visual: the joints print assembled in a single piece, and the dragon moves in your hands the moment it comes off the bed. No glue, no hardware, one satisfying flex to break the layer adhesion between segments, and you're done.

Here are the ones that have held up and keep earning their place on the print queue.

Key takeaways

Articulated (print-in-place) dragons print fully assembled in one piece, no hardware or glue needed, just a gentle flex to loosen the joints after the print.
Seven the Articulated Dragon by 7Fish (Thingiverse) is the model that established the genre and still benchmarks well against newer designs almost a decade later.
Articulated Crystal Dragon by Saber3D (MakerWorld) is optimized for silk, galaxy, and color-shift filaments with its faceted geometric body, and is one of MakerWorld's most downloaded models.
Lung Oriental Articulated Dragon by 7Fish (Thingiverse) takes the same print-in-place mechanism into a long serpentine Eastern dragon body, a completely different feel from the European style.
All six models below print without supports; 0.2mm layer height and 15-20% gyroid infill is the standard starting point for a good balance of detail and flexibility.

The original

Seven the Articulated Dragon by 7Fish (Thingiverse) is the one most designers point to as the model that started the articulated dragon trend. It's been remixed dozens of times and still appears in tutorials as the canonical example. The proportions are classic: European dragon silhouette, stocky body, wings, a tail that moves in a satisfying sweep. The segment joints are sized generously, which means most FDM printers handle them without the first layer fussing that sometimes trips up tight articulated joints.

7Fish also made Lung Oriental Articulated Dragon (Thingiverse), which covers the other great dragon tradition: the long serpentine body of a Chinese dragon, no wings, sinuous movement that feels entirely different in the hand. A flight of these along a shelf looks genuinely impressive. If you're going to print two dragons, these two together cover the stylistic range.

The elemental variants

Once the basic print-in-place format was established, designers started pushing the textures and themes. These take the articulated mechanism somewhere new.

Articulated Crystal Dragon by Saber3D (MakerWorld) is the modern update to the genre. The body is faceted and geometric rather than smooth-scaled, designed specifically to catch light in silk, galaxy, and color-shift filaments. In semi-transparent PETG it looks carved from gemstone. This is the one where filament choice does most of the creative work for you.

ARTICULATED flame dragon by kimseungwoo11 (Thingiverse) has scales that flow into flame-like ridge points, which suit orange, red, or gradient filament particularly well. The same designer made ARTICULATED DRAGON OF NATURE, which applies organic leaf and vine textures across the same structure. Two different moods from the same design sensibility.

ARTICULATED ice dragon (fixed) by P1lotz (Thingiverse) rounds out the set. White or light blue silk PLA is the obvious material choice; the jagged crest and angular proportions read as a different visual vocabulary from Seven entirely. The "fixed" in the name refers to a joint correction from the original that makes the segments more reliably separable off the bed.

The one to print first

If you've never done an articulated print before, Glorious Baby Dragon by EndK7 (Thingiverse) is a gentler entry point. It's smaller than the others, so the print time is shorter and there are fewer segments to coax into movement. The proportions lean toward cute rather than fierce, which turns out to be a different kind of appeal. I have printed four of these and given three of them away.

A note on settings

All six models above print without supports. The standard starting point across the articulated dragon genre is 0.2mm layer height and 15-20% gyroid infill: enough detail on the scales, enough flexibility in the segments. If the joints don't flex immediately off the bed, bend them gently side to side rather than forcing them. The slight layer adhesion between segments breaks with patience.

Thinger's articulated dragons collection has the full catalog, including seasonal variants and remixes I've not listed here. If you want to know the filament cost and print time before committing to a large model, the print cost calculator will give you an estimate before the spool gets involved.

The free Thinger app lets you search over 600,000 free models from Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld and save the ones you want to a print queue. Useful when you find yourself fifteen tabs deep into dragon variants at midnight and need somewhere to put them all.

Free Gridfinity 3D Prints: Baseplates, Tool Bins, and Where the System Goes From There

Thinger 3D — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:07:42 +0000

Gridfinity is one of those systems that sneaks up on you. You print one baseplate and one bin. The bin fits. You print another bin. That one fits too. Three months later your slicer history is full of rectangular thumbnails, your hex keys are sorted by size for the first time in recorded history, and you're explaining to someone at work why you need a 3D printer "for organisation purposes."

The system was designed by Zack Freedman and released as an open spec in 2022. The core idea is simple and good: baseplates built on a 42mm grid, bins that snap onto that grid, and a spec that anyone can design for. Because the standard is public, bins and baseplates from thousands of different designers are cross-compatible. A bin from Printables drops straight into a baseplate someone designed on MakerWorld. The ecosystem is enormous, it is entirely free, and the defaults are genuinely well thought out.

Key takeaways

Gridfinity uses a 42mm grid standard designed by Zack Freedman, released as a public open spec in 2022: any bin from any designer is compatible with any Gridfinity baseplate.
The Gridfinity Base Plates Pack 1x1 to 10x10 by gege (Printables, free) covers every grid size in one download, the correct first print for any new setup.
Most Gridfinity bins print without supports in PLA at 0.2mm layer height; optional 3x6mm rare earth magnets embedded during the print add a positive snap but are not required to get started.
The system has expanded well beyond workshops: compatible designs exist for soup can dispensers, card game storage, desk accessories, and cable management, all on the same 42mm grid.
Thinger's Gridfinity collection lists 40 free models ranked by save count, from multimeter holders to stackable funnels.

Start with the baseplates

The first print in any Gridfinity setup is a baseplate. The Gridfinity Base Plates Pack 1x1 to 10x10 by gege (Printables) covers every grid size in one download. Print the one that fits your drawer or shelf, and everything else you print from this point will land on it correctly. A 3x3 or 4x4 is a good starting size; the footprint is close to a standard desk organiser and holds enough bins to be useful.

For the workshop drawer

The canonical Gridfinity print is the Gridfinity Allen Key Tray by taqTokToe (Thingiverse). It fits a 3x3 grid, holds metric keys from 1 to 10mm, and slots are labeled by size. No supports, no magnets required. It is the print that converts most people from "I could try that" to "I should probably print more of these."

Once the hex keys are handled, the Gridfinity Tool Holders by Packet2 (Thingiverse) covers socket sets in 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 inch, metric and imperial, with the brand and size labeled on every module. The same designer also made the Gridfinity Wrench Organizers for larger drawers. At some point you stop buying storage products and just print them instead, which is the correct outcome.

For the desk

Gridfinity works on a desktop as well as it does in a drawer. The Missile Turret Pen Holder by BiggBadaBoom (Thingiverse) is a Gridfinity-compatible pencil holder shaped like a missile turret. It holds 12 pens, fits a 2x2 grid, and prints in three pieces. If anyone asks, it is an organisational tool.

Where it goes from there

The Soup Can Dispenser, Gridfinity Edition by voinivich (Printables) is an FIFO-style can dispenser with a 5-deep Gridfinity base on top so you can stack bins above your soup storage. The system has reached the kitchen. Your pantry can now be modular. There is no obvious end point to any of this.

The Gridfinity MTG/TCG Storage System by zuidec (Printables) takes the same 42mm grid to the card gaming table, with deck boxes, token trays, and sleeve holders that all live on the same baseplate as the workshop. At this point the grid is a lifestyle.

A few practical notes before you start

Most Gridfinity bins print in PLA without supports at 0.2mm layer height. If you want the magnetic snap, you need 3x6mm or 6x2mm rare earth magnets pressed in before the top layer closes; pause the print at the right height and drop them in. Without magnets, bins still sit and stack securely enough for drawers. The magnets matter more for surfaces you'll pick up and carry, or for vertical mounting.

Thinger's Gridfinity collection has 40 models sorted by how often they get saved, updated as new designs trend. If you want to work out the filament cost before committing to printing 30 identical bins, the print cost calculator will tell you the number before the spool gets involved.

The free Thinger app lets you search over 600,000 free models from Thingiverse, Printables, and MakerWorld. For Gridfinity specifically, it is worth searching by your tool brand name: the ecosystem is large enough that a holder designed for your exact multimeter or screwdriver set often actually exists.