A 3D printable system of interlocking square tiles for functional and creative panel design, with finger joint and hinges to turn those panels into various boxes and box-like structures. Supports wall art, 3D printer side panels, boxes and drawers, 3D printer side hats, placemats, etc.
There are two main types of GridLink: "Jigsaw" and "Hidden Fastener". GridLink Jigsaw series are very fast, functional and easy to build. GridLink Hidden Fastener series present a user's design most elegantly, but are a little harder to build. Ironically, the hidden fastener series are more like puzzles to design and put together, whereas the Jigsaw series just work and are easy to revise.
Each of these two main types has 3 variants, being the lightest duty, a medium duty and the most robust and insulating parts for steel reinforced weight-bearing roles. And there will be occasional special purpose additions, such as for Chess, which requires custom parts for a tournament approved board. The series are:
With 40 x 4mm base tiles with visible jigsaw connectors and rounded edges and corners, tolerance is relatively loose. These are just structural enough to generally hold together when a panel is picked up. These are created as a children's toy, for making colorful designs with tactile real pieces. And of course for being torn apart and reimagined into something else.
Having 40 x 6mm base tiles with hidden (covered) jigsaw connectors, these create sharply defined patterns of squares. These are still fairly easy to disassemble and reuse. But they hold well and are intended for both play and creation of up to permanent functional pieces, color patterns and art. This is the only "hidden fastener" series that is thin enough to bend slightly, making it usually possible to proceed even if you build yourself into a jam.
GridLink Art is especially well suited to large-pixel art, as is used in Minecraft. Pieces are planned to allow combining multiple flat panels into boxes and other cuboid shapes. For now, flat art is supported.
With 50 x 12mm base tiles and mallet-tight tolerances, this is the workhorse of GridLink utility. It sits at the sweet spot of structure vs. cost, being thick enough for real work yet thin enough to get a lot out of a roll of filament.
While there will be simplified variations, these are initially created with channels for 4mm steel rod reinforcements and M3 mounting holes for connections, attachments or hanging. If you want to build custom functional panels, sliding-lid boxes, small chests of drawers, etc, and the jigsaw aestetic works for you, this is probably the right choice.
As a 50 x 12mm base tile companion to GridLink Build, GridLink Form has hidden fasteners with the added strength, clean aestetic and increased build challenge that they bring. It is useful for all of the same purposes, but trades simplicity for that clean no-fastener appearance.
With 60 x 20mm base squares, M5 mounting holes and channels for 4mm steel rod reinforcements, there is not much in the way of panel, boxes and the like that this can't support. This is the most structural and most insulating GridLink series, originally conceived as a printable insulating panel to fill the insulation space in the walls of a Doom Cube.
The hidden connector companion to GridLink Forge, for those times when you need everything, and sharply defined squares too. This is the series from which my best chessboard to date has been developed. And it is capable of some truly impressive large and thick wall art.