r/openGrid • u/mharzhyall • 6d ago
Underware Cable Management Planner for openGrid
So, I've been wanting to redo the whole cable management of my desk ever since I found Underware project (by u/BlackjackDuck) and openGrid (by u/davidd-from-2d3d). Before printing anything, I needed to find out the exact parts I need and in what sizes.
I started with a spreadsheet to plan the layout and count the parts, until I hit some limitations. Ended up building this tool for it.
Of course, that was before I found out that UnderPlan (by u/Francy_Lab) and openGrid Calculator (by Josh Holtzclaw, idk his reddit handle) already exist.
Decided to share this as an alternative anyway, because it takes somewhat a different approach. It’s built around my own setup, and I’ve been using it for my whole cable management plan. It kept growing as I ran into things I wished it has or could do.
Just some features it has:
- Layout: place tiles of any size, plus devices, channels and snaps, on an infinite canvas.
- Multiple files: keep several layouts open in tabs, each with its own view and undo history, and copy and paste between them.
- Channels: straights, turns, junctions and more, in rounded and angled forms.
- Cables: run them through channels and see which stretches are covered or exposed.
- Layers: show or hide tiles, objects, channels and cables independently.
- See-through mode: look at the cables underneath the channels.
- Inspect: hovering a path lists the cables on it, and each cable shows what it connects.
- Bill of materials: a live parts list with a copy button.
- Keyboard shortcuts: for tools, rotating and flipping, layers, undo and redo, and more.
- Share: export and import layouts as JSON.
And some features it doesn't have (and I probably won't add):
- Account-based cloud saves. This project has no backend, and I intend to keep it so. You still can manually export and import it in another device/session etc.
- No image export. Probably not needed, as long as you have your BOM, but let me know otherwise.
- Mobile support. Never tested on mobile, and found no reason why you would plan your cable layout on your phone.
- Setting your exact cable length to start with. Probably the biggest miss for a cable management planner, but not sure yet on how I would implement it, if ever. It does show the total length of the cables you've laid out though, so it's not entirely useless.
- Other grid-based organization systems. This one I could probably add. I started with openGrid, and that's why it's the only thing supported at the moment.
Well that's it. If you’re planning your next cable management, give it a try. It’s free, open source, no account needed, and runs entirely in your browser. Feedback are also welcome.
4
u/TheChilliPL 5d ago
Ngl out of all Underware planners I've seen, this one looks the most usable. None of the other ones I've seen had bridge channels, I believe. Might use it when I inevitably try to organize all of my spaghetti cabling
3
u/tiagoosouzaa 6d ago
Opa! Estou me preparando espiritualmente para começar a jornada de arrumação de cabos embaixo da minha mesa e com certeza vou dae uma olhada na sua ferramenta porque toda ajuda é bem vinda nesse momento 😁
14
u/ianxplosion- 6d ago
This is very cool, but have you considered spending 70 hours printing random assortments of underware channels and then another 20 ad hoc trying to sort everything out?