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Modular Systems

Three open, grid-based storage ecosystems dominate desktop printing: Gridfinity for drawers and benches, and openGrid and Multiboard for walls and desks. Each one is a published standard, so parts from thousands of designers fit together. This page covers what each system is, the dimensions that matter, how to mount it, and where to find generators.

Match the standard exactly

These systems only work because everyone uses the same numbers. When you design your own part, start from the official library or generator rather than redrawing the profile by hand. A base profile or snap slot that is a fraction of a millimetre off gives bins that rock, won't stack, or won't click home. The dimensions below come from each project's own docs and reference code (see Sources).

At a glance

System Grid Best for Wall vs drawer Ecosystem size Licence
Gridfinity 42 × 42 mm, 7 mm height unit Bins, tool trays, drawer inserts Drawer / bench (wall via adapters) Very large; the de facto bin standard MIT
openGrid 28 × 28 mm Wall and under-desk boards, hooks, holders Wall / desk Large and growing fast Core files CC-BY 4.0
Multiboard 25 mm "global standard" Workshop walls, heavy tools, pegboard-style accessories Wall / desk / free-standing Large, with a commercial back-end MultiBuild License (free personal use, paid commercial tier)

Gridfinity

Gridfinity is a modular storage system created by Zack Freedman (Voidstar Lab) and introduced in his video "Gridfinity: Your Ultimate Modular Workshop is FREE!". It was partly inspired by Alexandre Chappel's Assortment System. Bins sit on a baseplate with a matching socket profile, so they drop in, stay put, and can be rearranged. The designs are released under the MIT licence; the community maintains an unofficial wiki and specification at gridfinity.xyz.

Key dimensions

Quantity Value Notes
Grid pitch 42 × 42 mm One "unit" (1u)
Height unit 7 mm Bin heights are counted in 7 mm units ("3u" = 21 mm)
Bin footprint 41.5 × 41.5 mm per 1u 0.5 mm total clearance so bins drop into the baseplate
Base profile (bottom → top) 0.8 mm 45° chamfer · 1.8 mm vertical · 2.15 mm 45° chamfer 4.75 mm total; the baseplate socket is the mating shape
Stacking lip (top of bin) 0.7 mm chamfer · 1.8 mm vertical · 1.9 mm chamfer Optional; lets bins stack on each other
Magnets 6 mm Ø × 2 mm discs Gridfinity Rebuilt cuts a 6.5 mm × 2.4 mm pocket for them
Screws M3 Same corner positions as the magnets
Hole spacing 26 mm square, one set per cell Four corner holes per 1u; centred 13 mm from the cell centre

Profile and hole values are from Gridfinity Rebuilt's standard.scad, a ground-up OpenSCAD port of the original geometry. Its author notes some fillets differ slightly from Zack's originals; the differences are negligible for printed parts.

Baseplates, bins and mounting

  • Baseplates come plain (lightest, fastest), with magnet pockets (6 × 2 mm magnets so bins can't slide out), or with screw holes — options vary by generator. Most people print baseplates to fill a drawer and add a drawer spacer for the leftover gap.
  • Bins are sized in units (e.g. 2 × 1 × 3u). Options include dividers, a finger scoop, label tabs, and magnet/screw holes in the base.
  • Mounting: baseplates normally just sit in the drawer; screw them down through the corner holes (M3) if the drawer is shallow or the plate is large. Walls are served by adapters — openGrid, for example, publishes Gridfinity shelves and openGrid↔Gridfinity adapters.

Print one first

Print a single 1 × 1 baseplate and a 1 × 1 bin before committing a whole drawer. If the bin is tight, check elephant's foot and flow before blaming the model — see Troubleshooting.

Generators and libraries

Tool Type What it does
Gridfinity Rebuilt OpenSCAD (MIT) Parametric bins and baseplates: any size, compartments, scoops, tabs, printable magnet holes, vase mode
Gridfinity Extended OpenSCAD A larger, feature-rich OpenSCAD model set
Gridfinity Generator Web Interactive boxes, baseplates, cut-outs from imported STLs; exports STL
Perplexing Labs Web (OpenSCAD back-end) Form-based bins, baseplates and rugged boxes
cq-gridfinity Python / CadQuery (MIT) Baseplates, boxes, drawer spacers, rugged boxes; STEP/STL/SVG out
gridfinity_build123d Python / build123d (MIT) Baseplates, bins and bases; STL and STEP out
FreeCAD Gridfinity Workbench FreeCAD Gridfinity objects inside FreeCAD

More generators (layout tools, tool-tracing cut-out makers) are listed on the gridfinity.xyz home page. For choosing a CAD tool, see CAD & Tools.

openGrid

openGrid is a wall and desk mounting framework created by DavidD, built in OpenSCAD with all source files published. Its core files are released under CC-BY 4.0. Boards sit on a 28 mm grid (three cells = two Gridfinity units, so the two systems line up), and they mount with ordinary metric screws. openGrid is designed to interoperate: there are snaps for Multiconnect (also by DavidD), Multiboard, HSW (Honeycomb Storage Wall) and GOEWS accessories.

Key dimensions

Quantity Value Notes
Grid pitch 28 × 28 mm Not Multiboard's 25 mm — the two are not interchangeable
Full board 6.8 mm thick The default; strongest; mounts with mounting snaps
Lite board 4.0 mm thick Less filament and print time, carries less; has built-in countersunk screw holes
Lite snaps 3.4 mm thick Lite boards use lite snaps; full boards use full-thickness snaps
Board connectors Small pegs in the edge holes Mainly for alignment, not structural

The docs say the Lite board uses about 70 % less filament and the Full about 30 % less than comparable systems.

Snaps

Snaps push into the board's openings and either fix the board to the wall or give accessories something to attach to.

Snap family Variants Use
Mounting snap — Holds a Full board to the wall with a countersunk screw
Generic Normal, Directional, Lock, Bare General attachment
Multiconnect Standard, Directional, Lock Use Multiconnect accessories on openGrid
Metric screw Normal, Directional Bolt accessories on with standard screws
Multiboard Normal, Directional Use Multiboard accessories
HSW Normal Honeycomb Storage Wall accessories (the 8 mm HSW board leaves a slight offset)
GOEWS Normal, Directional GOEWS accessories

A directional snap has three flexible sides and one rigid side marked with an arrow, so it resists load in one direction; a lock snap is rigid in all directions.

openConnect

openConnect is a connector system designed specifically for openGrid by mitufy, named with DavidD's permission. It was inspired by Multiconnect and is backwards compatible with it, adding more print orientations, a smaller footprint, and vase-mode support. Snaps go into the board; accessories carry matching slots on their back and slide onto them. The connector libraries and snap generators are CC-BY 4.0; most of mitufy's holder, drawer, shelf and hook generators are CC-BY-SA 4.0. Source lives in mitufy/opengrid-projects (OpenSCAD + BOSL2, rendered with the Manifold backend).

Mounting

Push a mounting snap into each corner opening, then drive a countersunk screw through it into the wall. If you fit a connector in every edge hole you can skip most snaps and add more later from the front.

Screw straight through the built-in countersunk holes. Lighter and faster to print, but rated for less load — print one of each and test.

Same as a wall. The Underware cable-management system is built for openGrid boards under desks.

The quickstart recommends the largest board your printer can do (6 × 6 is a good start), with smaller boards to fill edges. The printing guide says PLA is fine for most uses (PETG or ASA/ABS for demanding ones; no flexibles), designed around a 0.4 mm nozzle and 0.2 mm layers, ≥ 15 % infill, and 3 walls for heavy loads.

Generators and libraries

Tool Type What it does
openGrid tile generator (Perplexing Labs) Web Custom-size boards
openGrid tile generator (MakerWorld) MakerWorld customizer Custom-size boards, Full or Lite
mitufy/opengrid-projects OpenSCAD openConnect slot plates, snaps, hook/shelf/holder/drawer/label generators
openGrid on MakerRepo Python / build123d openGrid library and generators
openGrid links page Index Official list of boards, snaps, Gridfinity adapters, Underware, hook generators

Multiboard

Multiboard is part of MultiBuild, a modular system by Jonathan Kobylanski (the Keep Making YouTube channel), officially released in December 2023. It grew out of attempts to improve the Honeycomb Storage Wall and Gridfinity. MultiBuild also includes MultiBin (bins that mount vertically on a board or horizontally in drawers) and MultiPoint. The old multiboard.io domain now redirects to multibuild.io.

It is not open source: designs are under the MultiBuild License from MULTIBOARD LTD. Personal use, modification and printing are free; redistributing the original files is not allowed; remixes may be shared under the same terms; selling prints requires a paid commercial subscription with an annual sales cap.

Key dimensions and parts

Item Detail
Grid 25 mm "global standard" (MU) shared by every MultiBuild part
Large holes ("multiholes") Threaded; take Snaps and Large Thread bolts
Small holes Threaded; take Small Thread bolts, Peg Click hooks, and ordinary (non-printed) pegboard accessories
Mid holes In most Snaps; take Mid Threads, bolt-locked or friction-fit inserts
Tiles Core and corner tiles, commonly printed 8 × 8; an 8 × 8 tile is ~80 g of PLA
Load Up to 46 kg, per MultiBuild

The knowledge hub does not publish thread diameters or pitches; bolts and threads are best generated or downloaded from the official parts rather than modelled from scratch.

Snaps

Snap Behaviour
Regular Clicks in; fully symmetrical
Moderate weight-bearing Most commonly used; holds a lot in one direction; inserted at an angle
Heavy weight-bearing Holds more again, one direction; needs tiles offset from the wall
Double-sided (DS) Two halves clip together through the tile; part A includes offset snap mounts (6.25 mm off the surface) with a screw hole

Mounting

  • Screws: mount tiles directly, or on a backer — the tile mounting guide suggests 12 mm MDF (18 mm for heavy loads) fixed with 40–60 mm screws every 30–40 cm.
  • Offset pillars: four per tile, in the corner holes, to stand tiles off the wall (needed for heavy weight-bearing snaps).
  • Adhesive mounts: the renter-friendly, no-holes option.
  • Free-standing, cleat or pole installs, and 3D structures (baskets, trays).
  • Pegboard: the small holes accept standard pegboard hooks.

Tools

Tool Access What it does
Plate Mounting Planner Free Plans a board and generates the parts list
Octagon / Square Plate Generators Free, Pro features for members Custom tile sizes
Label Generator Free, Pro icons for members Labels for MultiBuild parts
Bolt Generator Membership Custom thread bolts

All are listed on the MultiBuild tools page; printing settings are in the Knowledge Hub.

Which one?

Pick Gridfinity if…

  • You're organising drawers, toolboxes or a bench top
  • You want the largest catalogue and the most generators
  • You want a truly open (MIT) standard

Pick openGrid if…

  • You're starting a wall or under-desk system from scratch
  • You want open licensing (CC-BY) and OpenSCAD sources
  • You want one board that can host Multiconnect, Multiboard, HSW and GOEWS parts

Pick Multiboard if…

  • You want a polished, heavy-duty workshop wall with a planner and part library
  • You'll reuse standard pegboard hooks alongside printed parts
  • You're fine with a non-open licence for anything commercial

Mixing systems

  • Gridfinity in drawers + openGrid on the wall is a common pairing: the 28 mm and 42 mm grids align every 84 mm, and openGrid publishes Gridfinity shelves.
  • openGrid's Multiboard snaps let you hang Multiboard accessories, but the boards themselves don't share a grid (28 vs 25 mm).

For filament choice (PLA vs PETG for wall loads), see Material Selection; for slicer profiles and calibration before printing a wall of tiles, see Slicers & Firmware. More generators are collected in Resources.

Sources & further reading