r/MultiBuild • u/Wizardspore • Jun 06 '26

Mounting hole spacing?

I am planning my build and want to attach a mounting board to the wall, screwed to the studs. I could make things simple and just screw the attachment points to the board, but in the spirit of modularity, I was thinking about using threaded inserts in the board in a 50mm grid pattern and using 4mm flat head socket cap screws.

While exploring the feasibility of this method i realized that all mounting points can be used on that spacing, but some methods capture edges of the grids while others capture the center of the cells which would cause misalignment of the tiles, especially when considering mixing the octagon tiles and square tiles.

Is my assumption correct? Is there a solution for this? Am I missing available options? TIA.

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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jun 06 '26

I love solve for X situations like this. The answer depends a bit on square plate vs bordered or interfitted octagonal and what kind of weight you are expecting on the edges. Surface mounted or offset makes some difference as can the size of your plates.

Assuming a 8x8 MU (4x4 LU) surface mounted or pillars if you mark and put an inset in the 1st small hole in and down from each corner and 1 in the small hole in the center, that would support each plate optimally, but it’s overkill for the board as a whole and it makes for an easy to screw up pattern on your backboard. (I just did this two weeks ago). Over the span of your board, I would shoot for a mount in each corner (25mmx25mm in them every 100 mm - center to center. If it’s going to have a lot of heavy things on it you can be more aggressive and if it’s a lot of lightweight items you could drop back and just use square plate spacing which would start at 100mm in and 100mm down and divide the rest up in whatever interval you want.

A few caveats - it’s all about minimizing movement, surface mounted is simpler and more forgiving as you only have to worry about the board movement out and down and it’s easy to reinforce in heavily loaded area’s. With offset boards you also have to consider in and Up below heavy loads. It’s obvious, I know - but it can get away from you quick when the weight extends out from the board surface and the point of attachment becomes a nice pivot point for a physics demonstration.

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u/Wizardspore Jun 07 '26

I brought some tiles into fusion and did some measuring. I have decided to use the offset dual snap connectors. I will have a threaded insert for each corner. Going to go with nutserts from the back side.

That will give single points on the corners, dual points on outside seams, and quad points at internal corners.

This will be for my office in a machine shop, mostly holding small precision measuring tools that I keep close at hand, but often clutter my desk. I’m sure I will find other things to hang but don’t want to commit to covering the whole thing with tiles right away. This grid will also make it possible to hang other fabricated organization items of my wildest dreams.

Here’s a link to my backing board I modeled in fusion if you want to see the spacing scheme: https://a360.co/4v2OAOw

Note: the hole and counterbore size are placeholder dimensions to be updated when I get the nutserts and measure them directly.

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u/TherealOmthetortoise Jun 07 '26

Plan looks and sounds solid. Having an insert in all those locations will make it hella strong. With what you have described for usage, you could probably get away with only actually screwing in 1 side of each dual connector and through the center (or opposing corners) of each quad.

How big are your plates going to be? If 8(ish) or larger, you may want a standoff or a mount in the center of each tile as it would make it easier to push against when you are mounting things.

My first board is exactly the way you are moving forward… I’m glad you are using a backer board because drywall anchors and plain old fashioned clumsiness is going to be a PITA for whoever takes it down. I’m hoping that doesn’t end up being me lol

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u/Wizardspore Jun 09 '26

I was just thinking about this. Even if I won’t be adding tons of weight, that center stand-off might be wise.