Gridfinity Baseplate Generator
This gridfinity baseplate generator designs the foundation of your layout from scratch: pick up to 30 cells in X and Y, type your print bed's width, depth and edge margin, and the tool tells you whether the plate prints whole or splits — the full plan is shown before you print anything. Every plate is 5 mm thick with sockets pitched at exactly 42 mm, and the gridfinity baseplate generator computes it all locally in your browser.
The default configuration is a 4 × 3 plate on a 220 × 220 mm bed with 5 mm edges — a single 168 × 126 mm piece. Ask for an 8 × 6 plate instead and the same gridfinity baseplate generator splits it along cell boundaries into bed-sized pieces, numbers every STL, and packs an assembly readme into the download.
Pieces from the gridfinity baseplate generator keep the identical 42 mm grid, so they tile back together edge-to-edge in the drawer and bins never notice the seams. Each piece is watertight-validated before the ZIP unlocks, and the entire exchange — parameters, geometry, files — stays on your device, free and without login.
Why use this gridfinity baseplate generator?
A foundation plate is the one part of a gridfinity layout where sloppiness compounds: every bin printed afterwards lands on whatever the plate gets wrong. The community gridfinity standard is strict here — cells pitch at 42 mm with no clearance subtracted, thickness holds at 5 mm, and each socket opens with a 37.7 mm straight band. The gridfinity baseplate generator computes all of it from the cell count, so a 4 × 3 plate is exactly 168 × 126 mm, never a rounded guess.
The harder problem is print-bed area. A 7 × 12 plate for a 296 × 522 mm ALEX drawer spans 294 × 504 mm — no desktop printer builds that in one piece. Instead of downloading a stranger's fixed cuts, you give the gridfinity baseplate generator your bed width, depth and edge margin, and it derives the split itself — the full plan is shown before you print a single piece.
What the gridfinity baseplate generator controls
How the gridfinity baseplate generator works
- 1
Set the plate in cells
Enter X and Y counts up to 30 — the gridfinity baseplate generator converts to millimeters instantly, so 4 × 3 reads 168 × 126 mm.
- 2
Describe your print bed
Bed width, bed depth and edge margin default to 220 × 220 mm and 5 mm; the gridfinity baseplate generator allows five cells — 210 mm — per piece at those settings.
- 3
Review the split plan
The gridfinity baseplate generator lists every piece in print order with its cell count and footprint; a plate that fits simply stays whole.
- 4
Download STL or ZIP
One-piece plates export a single STL; the gridfinity baseplate generator packs split plates as the numbered ZIP with its readme, re-reading the values on screen so what you see is what prints.
Gridfinity baseplate generator sizes and splits
The numbers below are the gridfinity baseplate generator's own math: footprint equals cells × 42 mm per side with nothing subtracted, thickness holds at 5 mm, and the split column assumes the default 220 × 220 mm bed with 5 mm edges. Five cells — 210 mm — is the largest piece the gridfinity baseplate generator will plan for that bed.
| Plate | Footprint | Result on a 220 × 220 mm bed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 × 1 | 42 × 42 mm | Single piece |
| 4 × 3 (default) | 168 × 126 mm | Single piece |
| 5 × 5 | 210 × 210 mm | Single piece, bed-filling |
| 8 × 6 | 336 × 252 mm | Splits into bed-sized pieces |
| 7 × 12 (ALEX drawer) | 294 × 504 mm | 6 pieces |
| Socket per cell | 37.7 mm band | 5 mm thickness |
Reading a split plan
- Footprint rule: cells × 42 mm with no clearance — the plate carries the full pitch, so the gridfinity baseplate generator's split pieces and neighboring plates share one grid.
- Piece limit: 220 mm minus two 5 mm edges leaves 210 mm, exactly five cells per axis — the gridfinity baseplate generator never plans a wider piece.
- Tiling: every piece keeps the 42 mm grid, so seams close when pieces sit edge-to-edge and bins bridge them without wobbling.
- Assembly: the gridfinity baseplate generator's readme numbers each piece and repeats the alignment rule before the first print starts.
Print settings for gridfinity baseplate generator plates
Plates from the gridfinity baseplate generator print well in PLA or PETG at 0.2 mm layers, two perimeters and 15 % infill, socket side up so the 37.7 mm bands keep straight walls. Print every piece of a split in the same material and orientation — that is what the readme asks for, because mismatched shrinkage would walk the 42 mm pitch out of alignment between pieces.
Before a six-piece run, calibrate: generate a 1 × 1 plate, print it, and drop in a known-good bin. Even friction on all four socket walls means the gridfinity baseplate generator can trust your printer's pitch, and the big plate is safe to start.
From the gridfinity baseplate generator to a full drawer
Grow in the order the system rewards: print the default 4 × 3, confirm bins click in, then design the real plate. Measure the drawer interior, divide by 42, and enter the result — a 296 × 522 mm ALEX interior takes a 7 × 12 plate at 0.5 mm margins, which the gridfinity baseplate generator splits into six pieces on a 220 mm bed.
If you would rather grab a standard size without designing anything, the baseplate presets page offers instant 1 × 1 through 4 × 4 downloads; the gridfinity baseplate generator covers every size between and beyond. Once the plate is down, the bin generator fills the cells.
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
What does the gridfinity baseplate generator do when a plate exceeds the bed?
The gridfinity baseplate generator splits the plate along cell boundaries using your bed width, depth and edge margin, then exports a ZIP of numbered STLs with an assembly readme so the pieces rebuild into one continuous 42 mm grid inside the drawer.
What are the gridfinity baseplate generator's defaults?
The gridfinity baseplate generator opens with a 4 × 3 plate on a 220 × 220 mm bed and 5 mm edge margins — a single 168 × 126 mm piece. Change any cell, bed or margin value and the split recomputes instantly.
How big a plate can the gridfinity baseplate generator design?
Up to 30 cells per axis, which is 1260 mm at the 42 mm pitch. The gridfinity baseplate generator splits anything your bed cannot print whole, so plate size and printable size stay independent decisions.
Do the split pieces realign on the grid?
Yes. The gridfinity baseplate generator keeps whole 42 mm cells and identical socket spacing on every piece, so placed side by side the grid continues across the seams — the readme walks the assembly in numbered order.