Fun with 3D Printing and Gridfinity

Last month, I purchased my first 3D printer. A Bambu X1C.

Lately I’ve been having a BLAST printing Gridfinity, a modular system of organizing basically any flat space. Drawers, cabinets, desktops, you name it. They are a series of 42mm 3D printed squares that can support a wide variety “bins”.

I recently made some of my own custom bins for the process of getting my tools under control, a herculean task for someone with ADHD.

Here’s some custom bins I’ve printed so far:

Harbor Freight Hose Pliers

I wanted a nice way to store my Harbor Freight Pittsburgh Coolant Hoses. They’re a bit awkward for traditional pliers holder slots, and I wanted to bring some sanity to my toolbox and not just toss them wherever.

Step 1: Photo

This step, I took a picture of the tool with a caliper in the shot (you can use a regular ruler or anything with measurement on it).

Step 2: Fusion

1. Install the Gridfinity bin generator here.

2. In Autodesk Fusion, I imported the canvas, and selected “Calibrate.” (Full instructions on how to calibrate here).

3. Traced the outline of one of the pliers and extruded.

4. Used the Combine tool, with it set to cut

Step 3: Cut in Bambu Studio

Now that I had a model, I had to cut it in Bambu Studio to fit my 256mm print bed. I chose the square dowel connector and place about 4 along the ridge. Then, printed in Bambu black PLA.

Other methods

There’s a few non-Fusion ways to create these, using stuff like tracetool.ai and others, but I am trying to learn Fusion and wanted to do it by hand. I’ve since done another, and will continue to make a few more: