Why are your drawers always a hot mess?
When someone peeks into your drawers, are you embarrassed that it’s not neat and tidy in there? Perhaps you have Gridfinity to organise the small stuff but wish there was something for the bigger items, like clothes, cables, kitchen utensils or tools?
You’re not alone! Here’s what’s wrong with your current systems:
Not adaptable
Your life changes all the time, but your set-up can’t. Buy something new or want to move something around and it fails.
No standards
Most organisers don’t match your drawers’ dimensions – one size fits none.
Don’t work together
Systems differ throughout your home, which means you’re having to use custom approaches everywhere.
Introducing Neogrid
Forget one-night stands with ineffective storage solutions. Neogrid is the long-term relationship you’ve been dreaming of for your drawers. This system plays well with Gridfinity but isn’t afraid to tackle those big, bulky items that other organisers shy away from.
Use all over the home
Dressing Room
Workshop
Kitchen
Craft Room
How-To Guide
The best system for organising small items is Gridfinity. Neogrid is designed to organise larger items, and is compatible with Gridfinity to allow you to mix different sized items in the same drawer (e.g. small accessories next to a larger tool). If you’d like to do this or to ensure future compatibility with Gridfinity bins, print out Gridfinity grids for your drawers. The other advantage of adding the grids is that it helps to correctly position the Neogrid connectors. However you can certainly use Neogrid without Gridfinity.
1. Choose your material
As Neogrid organises larger items it isn’t realistic to 3D-print the dividers. Therefore you need to select a suitable material for your dividers which you then join together using 3D-printed connectors.
Whether you fancy the sturdy charm of MDF or the sleek transparency of acrylic, Neogrid supports all your material desires! I use uPVC window trim (also known as ‘utility board’) as it comes in very long lengths, usually requires very little painting (if any!) and is super easy to cut. It also comes in many different colours and is suitable for indoor or outdoor use. I did end up having to paint some of mine as a second batch was not white on both sides, so do let me know if you have any genius alternative ideas! The ideal solution is cheap, good looking and requires minimal effort.
2. Print a test piece
Download the 3D-print files for free. Measure the thickness of your selected material (after painting!).
By default the connectors cater for 8.5mm thick material, which fits a standard utility board in the UK (but do check!). To get a custom fit, open up the Fusion 360 files and change the material thickness parameter to suit. I’m happy to upload different dimensions if that helps too!
For a snug fit, your material should be around 0.15mm smaller than the divider material thickness. I recommend printing an X junction as a test to ensure it is a snug fit before printing a full batch. A snug fit means you can take the connector on and off, but you want the it to be tight enough to stay on the material if you turn it upside-down.
3. Cut and Print
Cut your divider material into lengths. For me, short lengths of 160mm was the best to make it really flexible and adaptable for future changes and to be used anywhere in the house.
If you do wish to stray from these dimensions, to ensure compatibility with Gridfinity just make sure that your lengths are a multiple of 42mm. Once you have your chosen length, just subtract the thickness of the material (e.g. (42 x 4) – 8.5 = ~160mm. And for greatest flexibility ensure your dividers are the same length everywhere.
4. Print and fit
Print the 3D connectors you need. If in doubt, start with lots of X junctions (top and bottom) as these are the most flexible connectors. The L, T and I pieces tend to be used on edges and to create non-uniform compartments.
Slot these connectors onto your dividers lengths with a bottom piece and a top connector to hold them in place. You can slot these onto a Gridfinity grid if desired.
I recommend approaching the prints iteratively – once you have the core parts done with X pieces, print out the T, L and I pieces and fit at the end if required.
Of course, if you’re not happy with how you’ve slotted it together, just change it!
Download Neogrid Free
Head over to MakerWorld by clicking the download button below to access all the files for free! If you do find them useful and you want to have even more solutions, then you can join my Patreon gang!
Technical Specifications
Neogrid comprises a suite of connectors.
Model dimensions are included below and I’ve shared the Fusion 360 file (works in the free version too) if you want to mod or extend the original models to improve or suit your needs! Be brilliant to hear if you come up with any great ideas!
Download Neogrid Free
Head over to MakerWorld by clicking the download button below to access all the files for free! If you do find them useful and you want to have even more solutions, then you can join my Patreon gang!
Great Idea. Can I use the as is 8.5mm joiners for standard Uk 9mm board, or do I need to change it? Cheers
Do you mean 9mm MDF or something else? I’d recommend just adjusting the files to suit your board thickness – there’s a little bit of discrepancy between printers too, so worth a test. I’d imagine for 9mm board, aiming for a 9.1mm spacing might work well!
Shout if you need any help – I think one of my Patreons on the discord channel might have already adapted for 9mm, so I could check too!
This project looks so awesome. You single-handedly got me to get (back) into 3D printing. Got the Bambu P1S, started with Gridfinity and Multiboard. Now I really want to start Neogrid for all drawers in the house.
However, I live in Germany and we don’t seem to have anything similar to the British standard. Your default is 8.5mm, the only MDF I was able to find is 3mm. Not sure if that is sturdy enough for this.
Maybe it’s a silly question, but where are the Fusion360 files? When I follow your printables link, I only get a zip archive with *.stl files, no other file format in there.
Thanks for inventing this project and your inspiration =)
Thanks Ben!! New video showing this in my Kitchen coming this week, so you’ll see more of it in action! 😉
I’ve asked some of the German gang in my Discord channel and they’ve said you can get lots of MDF in different sizes from places like Obi, Hornbach, Bauhaus and Toom in Germany, so it shouldn’t be too hard to fin (9mm is likely the closest proxy), but 6mm should be more than enough for most use cases too!
On the Fusion files – check in the zip file and there’s one called: Neogrid 0.3 – Master File.f3d ?
I can email you it if you’re really struggling, but it’s definitely there, I just checked! 😉
Thank you 🙂 Great resources that I totally forgot exist (don’t need to amazon everything, I guess!!).
Sorry, I was looking at Underware (the project ^^) when writing this, thinking I was in the Neogrid folder. The file was there as it should be. My bad.
Excited about the new video =) I’ll give it a look when I get home.
I’m stuck at “cut your material”? Material of what? The word material wasn’t mentioned before I was asked to cut it. 😉 I guess I didn’t click yet what the actual idea is?
Edit: ah I guess the is not to print all containing elements like in gridfinity, but to cleanly connect shelf/board material of our own choice?
Exactly right! You can use whatever you wish!! Some use MDF, some use plywood, acrylic and more. I used some uPVC Soffit Board which is used for framing windows, doors and more in the home!
Hey Katie. I am in Austria and I got hold of a 8mm Plywood that I want to us. I just got my printer last week and CAD is totally new for me. I started with FreeCAD. but this cannot read the f3d Master file. Any chance you could provide a .step version of the master file or adjust to 8mm.
Really like your videos, helped me to get the printer purchase wife approved 😉
Hey Roland! Yes, f3d is for Fusion 360 (which has a free version), probably quickest is if I create an 8mm version for you? Could you drop me an email on my site and we can generate (I’ll probably generate a few test pieces for you as 8mm would likely not fit well, rather 8.05mm, 8.10mm or 8.15mm depending on your material and printer tolerances!
I have a Bambulab A1, pretty precise (i guess). I did some measurements on the plywood: 7,85 – 7,95 mm. So I guess a straight 8mm should be fine. Would be awesome if you could run the set and provide the files. I do not yet a have a feel for the appropriate required clearance required for a snug fit for the 3d prints.
I might try to get fusion 360 installed. but I was a bit put off by the stuff I read about their licencing – maybe I’ll do some commercial stuff, so I do not want to waste my time of having to relearn later. plus I discovered freeCAD allows for macros and uses python. So I can programm some stuff for it once I figure things out.
Thanx a lot.
Interesting design. I would like to use less massive material, especially for a clothing drawer, I’m thinking 5mm foam board. You say that you can adjust the material thickness parameter in Fusion but I can’t find it (my knowledge and experience with Fusion is very limited). By the way are you using these connectors also for the Acrylic shelfs under the sink?
That would be great – lots of people have used this! You just need to print the cap pieces to cover the rough top edges
parameters are modified with the fx icon. google using parmeters in fusion.
Would be possible just to print the sides? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.
Of course that’s possible – although there’s so many different materials people are using, you might need to just look more broadly? MDF, plywood, mounting board, oak and more not work?
Have you ever thought about constructing the end junctions, i junctions, t-junctions etc. so that the MDF is closer to the drawer wall? With the current solution, a lot of space is lost. I would try to plan this, but maybe I’m overlooking a problem?
Interesting thought – it is designed to align to the gridfinity grid (which causes the slight gap), but there’s a version 2.0 about to enter Beta that would allow you to achieve this, so maybe this would be a sensible option! Watch this space.