Gridfinity
Gridfinity is an open, community-driven storage system for 3D printing: bins click onto baseplates, baseplates tile any drawer, and every part is defined by one shared number — a 42 mm grid. This page explains how the gridfinity standard works and links to every gridfinity tool on this site, so you can go from empty drawer to a full printed workshop layout without guessing a single dimension.
The whole system interlocks through three parts: a baseplate with sockets, a bin with a matching foot, and optional magnets that lock the two together. Because every gridfinity part follows the same geometry, a bin you print today will still fit the plates you print next year — that compatibility is the entire point.
What is gridfinity storage?
Gridfinity is a parametric organization standard created by the 3D-printing community and refined in public specification documents. Instead of fixed box sizes, gridfinity divides a baseplate into square cells: each cell is 42 mm wide, and a bin claims one or more cells by its foot. A 1 × 1 gridfinity bin covers a single cell, a 3 × 2 bin covers six, and both drop into the same plate. You reconfigure a drawer simply by swapping bins around, like moving books on a shelf.
The system is deliberately minimal. There is no proprietary hardware, no license fee and no official vendor — anyone with a printer and a gridfinity generator can produce compatible parts, which is why thousands of workshop, kitchen and desk setups published online are built entirely from printable gridfinity components.
The three gridfinity components
The gridfinity 42 mm grid standard
Every gridfinity measurement hangs on the 42 mm pitch: cell centers sit exactly 42 mm apart along both axes. A bin's outer footprint is its cell count times 42 mm, minus 0.5 mm of total clearance so parts slide instead of jamming — a 1 × 1 bin is 41.5 × 41.5 mm, a 2 × 3 bin is 83.5 × 125.5 mm, and a full baseplate is simply cells times 42 mm with no subtraction.
| Quantity | Value | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Grid pitch | 42 mm | Baseplate cells, both axes |
| Bin footprint | n × 42 − 0.5 mm | Whole outline, subtracted once |
| Height unit (1U) | 7 mm | All bin heights, foot included |
| Bin foot | 4.75 mm tall, 37.2 mm square | Per cell, tapers into the socket |
| Stacking lip | +3.8 mm above the rim | Optional, enables nesting |
| Baseplate | 5 mm thick, n × 42 mm | Full pitch, no clearance |
| Magnet pocket | Ø6.5 × 2.4 mm | Fits common 6 × 2 mm magnets |
How gridfinity heights work: 1U = 7 mm
Bin height counts in U units of 7 mm, and the 4.75 mm foot is already inside the count: a 3U gridfinity bin stands 21 mm tall, 4U reaches 28 mm, and 6U tops out at exactly 42 mm — a satisfying coincidence where the height in millimeters matches the grid pitch. Adding the stacking lip raises the highest printed point by another 3.8 mm, which matters when a drawer lid closes over your layout.
How gridfinity parts lock together
- 1
The foot meets the socket
Each bin cell carries a square foot that tapers from 35.6 mm at the bottom to 41.5 mm at the top of its 4.75 mm height; the plate socket is its mirror image, so bins drop in without wriggling.
- 2
Chamfers guide the fit
45° chamfers on both foot and socket self-center the bin as you press it down, which keeps a full gridfinity plate tidy even when it holds thirty different parts.
- 3
Magnets clamp it shut
Four Ø6.5 × 2.4 mm pockets per bin accept 6 × 2 mm disc magnets; they grab steel plates, magnetic knife strips or magnet-equipped baseplates.
- 4
Lips stack vertically
When one gridfinity bin must live above another, the lower bin's lip seats the upper bin's foot — the same geometry reused in the vertical direction.
Planning a gridfinity drawer layout
Start by measuring the drawer's inner width and depth, then divide by 42 mm to find your grid: a 296 × 522 mm ALEX drawer holds a 7 × 12 gridfinity plate with margins to spare. Print or plan the baseplate first — the ALEX planner on this site splits oversized plates into bed-sized pieces automatically — then fill cells with bins sized to their contents: 2U for small parts, 4U for hand tools, taller only where the drawer allows.
A practical habit from the community: leave a few cells empty on purpose. A gridfinity layout you can rearrange beats a perfect one that is full, because tool collections always grow.
You will sometimes see the spelling grid finity — usually from people typing the word phonetically. It refers to the same system; all pages here use the standard single-word spelling, gridfinity.
Every gridfinity tool on this site
The directory below lists all thirteen gridfinity pages. Each one exists because people actually search for that specific job: general generation, baseplates, bins, exact dimensions, socket storage, drawer planning and magnet fitting all get their own dedicated tool.
- Gridfinity Generator — the general-purpose bin and baseplate builder on the home page.
- Gridfinity Baseplate Generator — custom plate sizes with automatic print-bed splitting.
- Gridfinity Bin Generator — deep bin customization: walls, floors, dividers, lips, magnets.
- Gridfinity Dimensions — every number the standard uses, computed live.
- Gridfinity Boxes 42 mm — resolves the two meanings of 42 mm (pitch vs. height).
- Gridfinity Baseplate — ready-to-print standard presets from 1 × 1 to 4 × 4.
- Gridfinity Ruler — a printable ruler whose ridges verify the 42 mm pitch physically.
- Gridfinity Socket Organizer — round pockets sized per socket wrench.
- ALEX Drawer Gridfinity — drawer measurements to a split, printable plate ZIP.
- Gridfinity Gen and Gridfinity Maker — the fast path and the guided path to a first print.
- Gridfinity Magnet Size — magnet hole sizing plus a tolerance fit-test block.
Which gridfinity page should you start with?
If you have never printed gridfinity parts before, start with the home generator, print one 1 × 1 bin and one 1 × 1 baseplate, and confirm the fit on your machine. If the parts click satisfyingly together, move on to planning a whole drawer. If they bind or wobble, the fit-test guidance on each tool page tells you exactly which printer setting to adjust — the gridfinity geometry itself stays constant.
All Gridfinity Tools
Sources & references
“Gridfinity storage is built on a 42 mm square grid with 7 mm height units” — the community-maintained open specification this site implements and cross-checks against.
- Gridfinity community specification— the community-maintained geometry specification our models implement
- Gridfinity reference documentation— profile reference used to verify the foot, lip and socket dimensions
- Gridfinity Rebuilt (OpenSCAD)— open-source reference implementation we cross-check generated geometry against
Frequently Asked Questions
Is gridfinity an official standard?
Gridfinity is a community standard, documented publicly and maintained by volunteers rather than a company. Any gridfinity tool can produce compatible parts as long as it respects the 42 mm pitch, the 7 mm height unit and the published foot and socket profiles.
Why 42 mm and not a round number like 40?
The 42 mm pitch leaves enough wall between neighboring cells while keeping small bins usable, and the whole footprint math stays clean: one cell prints 41.5 mm wide after the standard 0.5 mm clearance. The number stuck because every published gridfinity model already uses it.
Can I mix gridfinity parts from different generators?
Yes — that is the design goal. Parts from this site follow the same foot, socket and lip profiles as other community tools, so bins, plates and accessories interchange freely.
Do gridfinity bins need magnets?
No. Magnets are optional; bins sit firmly in their sockets by geometry alone. Magnets are worth adding when a plate rides on a steel surface or when you want the bins to resist tipping when a drawer slams shut.