Please simplify measurements

[NVNDO]

Gridfinity is a great addition to Fusion, but its a PITA to calculate overall dimensions.

If "Base width" and "Base length" are created in the given dimensions, why does "Bin height" not do the same?

I want the bin to be 50mm in height. If I put 50mm in there, I get 245.20mm of height.

After a lot of (trying to apply logic) I thought its maybe: "Bin height" x "Bin height, Z", so I tried 10mm (10mm x 5 = 50mm) but that also does not give me 50mm, instead 45.20mm.

Maybe its my lack of mathematical thinking, but i find this very frustrating...

If length gives me = lenght,
width = width,
height should do the same IMO.

[jensbodal]

Gridfinity is a great addition to Fusion, but its a PITA to calculate overall dimensions.

If "Base width" and "Base length" are created in the given dimensions, why does "Bin height" not do the same?

I want the bin to be 50mm in height. If I put 50mm in there, I get 245.20mm of height.

After a lot of (trying to apply logic) I thought its maybe: "Bin height" x "Bin height, Z", so I tried 10mm (10mm x 5 = 50mm) but that also does not give me 50mm, instead 45.20mm.

Maybe its my lack of mathematical thinking, but i find this very frustrating...

If length gives me = lenght,

width = width,

height should do the same IMO.

It's based on the Gridfinity spec: https://gridfinity.xyz

Width/Length are in units of 42mm

Height is in units of 7mm

Believe this was done to better normalize the naming of files.

A 252mm wide by 294mm long by 49mm bin would be 6x7x7 using the spec. 42 being the "magic number" has some legitimacy behind the reason but I feel it's mostly arbitrary but it's the status quo.

You should reset your inputs and set height to 7 or give it a unit of 50 and a height of 1 if you want exactly 50.

[NVNDO]

I think I read your answer about enough times to understand it, but I still don't. I mean... I understand what you're saying, but how or what do I calculate to get 50mm?

I eventually worked around that by just creating a plane on the Grid, extrude a cube of 50mm and then slowly increased the height until it matched the cube. It worked, but it would have been much easier if one would get what one sets as a dimension.

Still, thank you very much for commenting and explaining the way this mystery is intended to work.

[martinhoess]

I don't quite get it either. (but I'm still new to the Gridfinity topic).

If I create a bin with height 8 (in FusionGridfinityGenerator therms) then this has 59.8mm height, if I want another bin where 2 stacked are exactly as high as the first bin then I would have expected that I have to enter 4 instead of 8 and the bin will be 29.9mm. But the result for 4 is 31.8mm. Somehow it doesn't quite make sense to me.

Also the Gridfinity "specs" states:

1x1x1 Bin would be 41.5 x 41.5 x 7 mm.

but the generator does 10.8mm for a 1x1x1 bin 🤷‍♂️

2x2x2 Bin would be 83.5 x 83.5 x 14 mm. That is 42 x 2 - 0.5.

Apart from that, it's a great plugin. Thanks for that!

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Edit: I just tried it out when you stack them in the Fusion ... you can see the difference (8 vs 2x4)

[d8abyte]

I don't quite get it either. (but I'm still new to the Gridfinity topic).

If I create a bin with height 8 (in FusionGridfinityGenerator therms) then this has 59.8mm height, if I want another bin where 2 stacked are exactly as high as the first bin then I would have expected that I have to enter 4 instead of 8 and the bin will be 29.9mm. But the result for 4 is 31.8mm. Somehow it doesn't quite make sense to me.

Also the Gridfinity "specs" states:

1x1x1 Bin would be 41.5 x 41.5 x 7 mm.

but the generator does 10.8mm for a 1x1x1 bin 🤷‍♂️

2x2x2 Bin would be 83.5 x 83.5 x 14 mm. That is 42 x 2 - 0.5.

Apart from that, it's a great plugin. Thanks for that!

Edit: I just tried it out when you stack them in the Fusion ... you can see the difference (8 vs 2x4)

Forgive me if I do not understand the system 100% either, but I believe if you account for the lip stackability of 3.8mm the math will work out for you. If I create a bin using the standard units and I make my first bin 21mm (7mm x 3u Height) with a stacking lip I get 24.8mm, but then I create a second one and stack it on top without the lip I get exactly 42mm Height as expected. Then If I create a bin (7mm x 6u) Height without lip stackability I get a bin of 42mm Height.

[Le0Michine]

Hi, I'm sorry for the confusion, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one size fits all option at the moment.
In the "Main dimensions" section you should be able to see the actual bin hight measured from the bottom of the base to the top of the lip (if present). The main reason it shows the full height is to simplify height choice when creating bins for spaces with limited height like drawers, which is quite common. It also follows the original specification so there is higher chance generated bin would match the size of other models available on printables and everywhere else, though it's not guaranteed.
As @d8abyte pointed out 3.8mm is allocated for interfacing between bins so the true height is Hu * H + 3.8mm where Hu is size of high unit (7mm by default), H is amount of height units, 3.8mm is height of the lip.

If I create a bin with height 8 (in FusionGridfinityGenerator therms) then this has 59.8mm height, if I want another bin where 2 stacked are exactly as high as the first bin then I would have expected that I have to enter 4 instead of 8 and the bin will be 29.9mm. But the result for 4 is 31.8mm. Somehow it doesn't quite make sense to me.

Here is how the math works there:

• bin of height 8 with stacking lip would have true heigh 7*8+3.8 = 59.8
• bin of height 4 with stacking lip would have true height 7*4+3.8 = 31.8
• putting two bins of height 4 with stacking lips one on top of another 31.8 + 31.8 - 3.8 = 59.8 (3.8 is subtracted because bins would overlap and only single lip height should be included into the end result).

Edit: I just tried it out when you stack them in the Fusion ... you can see the difference (8 vs 2x4)

on this picture bins are put one on top of another with no clearance so there is some height on top. When bins are printed they don't interface that way and there will be certain shift depending on the print settings. The result may vary depending on printer and filament and might require extra slicing parameters calibration if higher precision is required.

[NVNDO]

@Le0Michine I appreciate your time and effort to explain.

I could follow your explanation after some reads but I'd say that non-maths people will generally see a big hurdle here.

I for myself ended up creating a Gridfinity from scratch that works with parameters in order to be able to make changes whenever I want - something that is not possible with this add-on and drove me crazy.

Other than that, it's a great addition.