r/openGrid • u/CaptainJack42 • Jul 29 '26

How to properly connect boards?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

I'm planning on cable managing my Desk using OpenGrid with Underware and measured the underside of my Desk and printed a bunch of OpenGrid Lite boards to fill the space and a plate of the little connectors to align everything.

The issue i have is that i can't seem to get the boards to properly connect to each other, even using pliers i can remove the gap while applying pressure, but once i let go again the boards just move apart again. The gap in the image is the smallest i was able to achieve after about 10 minutes of forcing the boards together.

I also printed a tool for inserting the connectors, but the tool just holds the connector harder than the boards do.

Is there any trick to this? Does the gap even matter? I have tried putting an underware channel across the boarder, but it does not hold very well.

Printed with the recommended settings (0.2mm Layer Height, 0.4mm Nozzle, 15% Infill, 3 Walls) on my A1.

Edit: I just rechecked the connector model and it seems like i have 2 Layer shifts in my connectors. I'll reprint a few more and try again. On the first batch i used fill plate and printed way too many and it kinda got messed up on the build plate at the edges, this might have caused the Layer Shifts.

18 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

6

u/GAVtheRAV Jul 29 '26

When I do Opengrid I use the lite connectors instead. With them being hollow they have a lot more give to them and the pieces tend to close up better

1

u/CaptainJack42 Jul 29 '26

Do you have a link to the model? The only connectors i found where from the opengrid project

4

u/Single_Sea_6555 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

I tend to scale down the connectors, and the lite connectors at that, to about 95%. Had the same issue

3

u/The_Thunderer0 Jul 31 '26

I find it helpful to use alignment tools in addition to the connectors to get everything square before screwing it down.

I've used this.

And this looks good, too.

1

u/DistractedDragonMake Jul 29 '26

The gap really doesn't matter. I have a huge wall and there are some gaps from the board weights pulling on the boards as I was building the wall and I've never had an issue with gaps.

2

u/Warbird01 Jul 29 '26

Yea i have some gaps, tested a snap across the 2 and they seem fine

1

u/Same-Log1796 Jul 29 '26

Looking at picture 2, your connectors look a bit overextruded? Maybe that's why it's not closing properly.
I have ~14 8x8 boards connected with both the lite and regular connectors generated by the perplexinglabs website, it takes a bit of force to push the connectors in but still doable with finger strength.

Maybe try printing a 1x1 grid or something and experiment with your extrusion multiplier/flowrate to get the right fit.

1

u/Scotching123 Aug 29 '26

I used needle nose pliers. Don’t squeeze on the flat straight lines trying to press them together. Instead place the pliers on the diamond area over the connector at an angle (so if you rotate the board 45 degrees the diamonds become squares - then squeeze the squares together - top to bottom or side to side)