Gridfinity guide
A baseplate too big for the printer
The cells a bed takes, why turning does not help, where to cut, how pieces join.
How much a bed takes
A baseplate tiles at 42 mm, so a piece of n cells is n × 42 mm. The largest square piece a bed holds follows from its shorter side:
| Printers | Bed (mm) | Largest piece | Size (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bambu Lab A1 mini; Prusa MINI / MINI+ | 180 × 180 | 4 × 4 | 168 × 168 |
| Creality Ender-3 V3; Creality K1 / K1C; Sovol SV06 | 220 × 220 | 5 × 5 | 210 × 210 |
| Elegoo Neptune 4 / 4 Pro | 225 × 225 | 5 × 5 | 210 × 210 |
| Prusa MK4 / MK4S | 250 × 210 | 5 × 5 | 210 × 210 |
| Prusa CORE One | 250 × 220 | 5 × 5 | 210 × 210 |
| Anycubic Kobra 3; Voron 2.4 (250 mm) | 250 × 250 | 5 × 5 | 210 × 210 |
| Bambu Lab A1; Bambu Lab P1S / P1P; Bambu Lab X1 Carbon; Elegoo Centauri Carbon | 256 × 256 | 6 × 6 | 252 × 252 |
| Creality K1 Max; Voron 2.4 (300 mm) | 300 × 300 | 7 × 7 | 294 × 294 |
| Bambu Lab H2D (one nozzle) | 325 × 320 | 7 × 7 | 294 × 294 |
| Creality K2 Plus; Voron 2.4 (350 mm) | 350 × 350 | 8 × 8 | 336 × 336 |
| Prusa XL | 360 × 360 | 8 × 8 | 336 × 336 |
A joint with a tab that sticks out needs a little extra margin on top of these; the baseplate page counts the tabs in when it checks a piece against the bed.
Why turning the piece does not help
A rectangle of W by D turned by an angle needs a box of W·cos θ + D·sin θ by W·sin θ + D·cos θ. Both grow the moment the angle leaves 0° or 90°, so a piece takes the least room square on the bed. A 293.5 × 167.5 mm piece turned by 30° needs 337.9 × 291.8 mm, more in both directions. Only a long, thin piece gains anything from lying across the diagonal, and baseplate pieces are not that. The way to fit a large plate is to split it.
Where the cuts go
- BalancedThe plate divided evenly. Every piece is the same, which suits printing them one after another.
- StaggeredThe cuts of one row offset from the next, like brickwork, so no seam runs the full width. A continuous seam acts as a hinge; a staggered plate is noticeably stiffer.
- Fewest platesA search over split patterns for the fewest bed loads: two narrow pieces can share a bed that an even split would print on two. A 294 × 378 mm plate on a 256 mm bed comes out as three bed loads this way where the obvious split needs four.
- ManualClick any grid line on the cut map to put a cut there or take one away. The page warns when a piece is still larger than the bed; add another cut.
Putting the pieces together
Dovetail and puzzle tabs are printed on the pieces and need no loose parts: lay the tabbed piece down, lower its neighbour onto it from above, and lift the assembly into the drawer. A dovetail cannot be slid in, since its buried end is wider than its mouth. Loose keys (bowtie, puzzle key, snap clip) bridge the seam from underneath, which is stronger but means assembling the plate face down and turning it over, awkward for a large one. Keys inserted from above and H-clips are for a deep drawer or one with a lip: the pieces lie in the drawer and a key drops into each junction. The guide lists every joint with its size.
Questions that come up
- Will the seam show?It lies in the wall between cells, where the bins leave a gap; the bins bridge and hide it.
- Is a split plate weaker?In a drawer, hardly: it rests on a flat floor and is held by the walls. Staggering the seams removes the one weak line.
- Different colours?Every piece is its own file, so print each in what you have; staggered seams make a mix look intended.
- A piece is still too bigAdd another cut on the cut map. The page says which pieces exceed the bed.