alt Hacker NewsI've always viewed these projects with a bit of suspicion - like I have trouble believing that anyone who does this actually does more with their tools than organize them and put them away. Which is fine if that's what you like, but not why I personally own tools. Shop time is limited enough as it is.
Also seems like a great way to add +50% plastic volume to everything you own. Incidentally, I've found the cardboard boxes that 3D printer filament comes in to be an excellent basis for general storage.
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YMMV but when my work area changed from "big pile of junk" to "semi-organized", it removed a lot of the friction I had for just starting projects. I need a tape measure? I know exactly where one is, it has a dedicated 3D printed holder on my pegboard which lets me get to work instead of spending 15 minutes digging through drawers and shelves.
Everything has a place, and when it’s in its place, I can find it quickly and get to work. These systems help me with that.
One video which discusses usage for tools:
to each their own. if you do 1 small project per year, it might make sense to dig for 30 minutes in home depot bucket to find out you don't actually have the part you thought you have. doing that more frequently starts to become major waste of time. my tools don't live in gridfinity boxes, shallow tool drawers are good enough, but metric bolts, nuts and other stuff is neatly organised.
I've printed a ton of little compartments for all manner of things for crafts. I'll print the grid to lay flat in a drawer, and then print various size boxes which socket into that grid. I'll also print a grid to lay on the table, so there is never a need to pull parts from the drawers, just pull the whole box and it sockets onto the table with it's own dedicated space and no slippage.
There is also a plugin for Fusion 360 which allows customizing a lot of items that can go into the grid.
I do work on my shop, but only so far as it furthers my hobbies.
As far as gridfinity goes, it's really nice to have the right size and amount of storage for everything. Imagine those inserts people buy for cutlery for a drawer in the kitchen. There is always a gap on the side for something to fall into. There is only a slot for all knives. No place at all for corn on the cob holders.
Now imagine this same problem for building models where a person may have 200+ different items in different amounts. Previously people used things like tackle boxes from fishing, or one of those plastic cases for holding screws. But they never quite line up.
Also, 3d printing is very much an asynchronous kind of thing. You work on your shop by pushing a button and get results an hour later. It's not woodworking where you spend 80 hours building your bench, then the next 500 hours building all the parts for it.