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.
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