customizable, solid (filled-in/blank) Gridfinity boxes/bins for custom organizers (Fusion360/STEP)

overview

this is a completely from-scratch model of Zack Freedman's Gridfinity bins for creating custom organizers to tidy up your desk drawers/tool cabinets, etc.

it's intended to be:

• efficient (minimum number of operations on the timeline, so it won't slow down your computer), 
• fully parametric (just edit the numbers to get the size you want), 
• create only one body at the end (so that it's easier to handle, both in Fusion and in your slicer),
• and to carefully follow the Gridfinity spec (so it'll be compatible with any other Gridfinity-compliant things you download or create).

creating your own boxes with this model requires some knowledge of Fusion 360 (including changing parameters and basic modeling).

I am not a Fusion expert, so if you find any errors, please let me know.

how to use this file

you can use this file in one of two ways:

1. create your own model file, and use the “import component” tool to bring the box into your model
2. do your mockups in this file, and use “paste new” to make copies of the edited box.

I strongly prefer the first option.  it does require you to right click on the imported component and select “break link” in order to make the box editable, but doing it this way frees you to use the same model for different projects in different Fusion files.

creating a custom box

1. making mockups

I measured and took pictures of the things I wanted to store, and used that to create mockups of the things I wanted to store.  this video by Phil Vandelay shows the process in some detail: 

 I used more clearance than he did, and I'm making boxes for a much deeper drawer, so I kept the lips.

one important thing is to do test prints to make sure that the fit is good.  for this, I made a 1mm offset from the perimeter of the sketch profile of the mockup, extruded the body by 0.2mm, and the offset section by 2mm.  these test pieces require only 1–3g of filament, as opposed to (in my case, so far) as much as 250g to print the whole box.

this one gave me some trouble because the faces of the letter opener are curved, so I initially didn't see that it wasn't going to fit.

2. using the mockups to create your box

once you're happy that the mockups are large enough, you can use the “insert component” tool to get a box into your model.  then right click it, and select “break link” to make the body editable.

next move the mockups into place in the box, and use the “combine” tool to cut the shapes of the mockups out of the box.  for simple shapes, you can select the surfaces of the mockups, or the hollows, and extrude them through the top of the box.  some features may require a sketch on the top surface of the box to cut them out properly.  

if you angle the bodies, extrude won't be pointed towards the top of the box anymore.  the best way I've found so far to cut out those is by projecting the outermost lines of the mockup in a sketch on the top, and extruding down to the bottom of the hollow left by the combine operation.

finally, you can extrude the top surface down, and cut fingerholes as desired to make it easier to grab things, and add fillets as desired.

N.B.: extruding the top surface down may make boxes you stack on top less stable.  if I reprint this, later, I'll probably add a feature matching the lip at a couple of places in the box.

printing your box

this box printed well with 5% infill and 3 perimeters, although I did get a speed-change line around the outside because of the lowered top surface.  changing from 15% infill to 5% cut the amount of filament used, and the time significantly.

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I'm planning to continue adding more STEP files for common sizes, so if you have a request, please let me know.