Totally Unique Gridfinity Bins!

Use up your printer poop and other scrap PLA in this compression mold to make the coolest Gridfinity bins in the drawer. 

Video Instructions & Examples

Print The Mold

The mold is 4 parts: Two inner compression mold parts and two outer shell parts. 

• Mold_Top and Mold_Bottom must be printed at 100% infill in at least PETG. The higher heat resistance the better - if you can print in PA or PC you totally should. 

• Shell_Top and Shell_Bottom material doesn't matter, I'm using PLA. 

  • Shell_Bottom must be 100% infil

  • Shell_Top must be solid until you reach the big square pocket

    • I achieve this by changing the bottom shell to 30 layers, but double check!

Assemble The Mold

Hardware is required:

I encourage you to buy all of this at a local hardware store

• 8X Stainless Steel 1/4-20 X 3.000 Bolt

• 8X 1/4 washer, any material

• 8X Non-Stainless Steel 1/4-20 Nuts

  • Stainless-on-stainless is nearly guaranteed to sieze

• 12X M3 X 10MM SHCS 

• 2X M3 X 12MM SHCS

• 12X M3 Washer

• 14X M3 Nuts

Assembly Instructions:

Use washers at the head of each bolt unless otherwise stated

• Trap two M3 Bolts in between Mold_Bottom and Shell_Bottom

• Fasten Mold_Bottom to Shell_Bottom using 8X M3 Nut/Bolt

• Put two M3 X 12MM in the outer-middle holes on the bottom

  • The bolt tip should be flush with the inside of the mold, no washer needed

• Fasten Mold_Top to Shell_Top using 4X M3

• Screw two 1/4-20 bolts directly into the plastic of the outer-two holes in Mold_Top

  • Screw until the bolt is flush with the surface on the inside of the mold

  • No washer needed

• Fasten a nut on a bolt and spin it all the way to the head, twice

  • Put these bolts in the outside-middle holes (not the corner holes)

  • Fasten a second nut on each bolt slightly

    • Trap this second nut in the hex pocket

    • Make bolt flush with cut-away surface of Shell_Top

    • Lock it into place by unscrewing the first nut by the head, pinching the plastic and locking it in place. 

• Press-fit four 1/4-20 nuts into Stell_Bottom slightly (not a tight press fit, its okay)

• Put four 1/4-20 bolts into the corners, screwing into the press-fit nuts

  • Undo this last part when you use it!

Use The Mold

Tools Used:

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• Firm Silicone Bowl https://amzn.to/4wA6AAS

• Firm Silicone Spatula https://amzn.to/4wy9DcH

• Heat-proof Gloves

• Silicone Spray

• A toaster oven which will never be used for food again

• Tools to fasten hardware above

  • (I used hex head bolts, so I used a socket bit, but to use this with a power drill I needed a Socket Adapter Set)

  • I've also used socket wrenches, works but definitely recommend power drill

Method:

• Melt 65-70 grams of PLA in a firm silicone bowl at ~400F until melted

  • Use more than 1 color for unique results

    • Forming it into a ball may help transfer to mold in next step easier, but don't mix it up too much

• Spray mold with silicone spray release agent for best results

• Transfer PLA to mold

• Compress by hand slightly

• Finish compression by tightening corner screws evenly with a power drill (recommended)

  • Take your time ensuring you are tightening evenly

  • Can be done by hand but not recommended

• Wait an hour to cool

• Unscrew 4 corner bolts

• Move outside-middle top-nuts back to top of bolt

• Tighten these jack screws evenly so it pushes against the bottom half, separating the two halves. 

• Tighten the inner-middle bolts evenly to eject the part

Modify the Mold

The OnShape files can be found here!

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4b0a44577e8d9a575e788e8d/w/4b83fb24ed32e1600ca2e29a/e/81c4e83dda937a75dd290b72?renderMode=0&uiState=6a09171180c6824b475c47cc

Beware

• These Gridfinity bins do not stack like they should because they have the "live edge"

• They rock slightly in a grid & the more you use a mold the more it rocks

  • The bottom half bows-outward if you overheat PLA (easy to do) which is the mail culprit of the rocking. Maybe make the bottom thicker, add 2 more compression screws, or don't use PETG. 

  • This didn't bother me, most of my bins are free-reign and grass-fed anyway

• May not save more plastic than it uses

• The reason for the unused center hole in the shell is to make it modular-ready with a 1x1 bin, but unlikely I get around to that

• Theres a small chance the part gets stick to the bottom half instead of the top half, hence the M3 x 12's. If this happens you'll need much longer M3 bolts to get it out. But most M3 assortment kits has everything you need. 

• Make sure you melt PLA in a properly vented environment 

• If you try to melt PETG and use it in a PETG mold it will never come out

  • Any PETG poop mixed in at all runs a risk of permanent-sticking to the mold

  • You can probably melt PETG if you print the mold in PA or PC