A parametric Gridfinity baseplate
One 42 mm cell with the standard Gridfinity socket profile, repeated W × H by a pattern whose counts are parameters you declare as you type them. Six steps: a stepped cut, inline parameters, and the window where you change them afterwards.
6 steps
What it builds
- Sketch
- Extrude
- Cut
- Rectangular pattern
Step 1
Sketch one 42 mm cell
Create a sketch on the base plane, open the rectangle menu and pick Rectangle from centre. Click the origin, then a corner, and make it 42 × 42 mm — type the sizes in the fields while you draw, or dimension it afterwards. 42 mm is the Gridfinity pitch, and everything else in the system counts on it.
Step 2
Extrude the cell 5 mm
Leave the sketch and Extrude the square 5 mm. That is one plate cell: 4.65 mm of socket profile plus a 0.35 mm floor, which the next cut goes straight through.
Step 3
Sketch the socket outline on the top face
Click the top face and start a sketch on it. From the rectangle menu pick Rounded rectangle: click two opposite corners of the face (they snap), then a third point to set the corner radius — 4 mm. This rounded outline is the top of the socket a bin drops into.
Step 4
Cut the Gridfinity profile in one stepped cut
Leave the sketch, select the rounded region and pick Cut. Turn on Stepped profile and build the ladder downwards — every rise is negative because the material is below the face. Four bands: rise −2.15, offset −2.15 (the 45° lead-in), rise −1.8, offset 0 (the straight wall), rise −0.7, offset −0.7 (the lower chamfer) and rise −0.35, offset 0 through the floor. That is the socket every Gridfinity bin is shaped to sit in.
Step 5
Repeat the cell W × H — and mint the parameters as you type
Double-click the cell to select the whole body — the pattern tools only appear for a body, not a face — and pick Rectangular pattern. Set both spacings to 42, turn on Symmetric for both directions and One body. Then, instead of numbers, type W(2) in the first count and H(2) in the second:
NAME(value)declares a parameter right there in the field, with that value, and binds the field to it. The plate is now a formula, and you never opened a panel to write it.Step 6
Open the Parameters window and set W to 4
Every parameter you declared inline lives in the Parameters window — hover its icon in the right-hand column. Change W from 2 to 4: the pattern re-reads its count and the plate becomes four cells wide, socket profile and all. Every size of baseplate you will ever print is now two numbers away.