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by moron4hire 1709 days ago
It's surprisingly hard to find information about grid-beam online. I got this book years ago. Never really did anything with it, but it has a lot more examples: https://www.amazon.com/How-Build-Grid-Beam-Constructing/dp/0...

The problem with grid-beam is that it really only seems to make sense if you A) have lots of grid-beams in various sizes already, and B) are making, taking apart, and repurposing things frequently. Without A, making grid beams is a lot more work than just purpose-cutting your pieces, and without B, you don't really have a reason to drill all those extra holes.
2 comments
hugs 1709 days ago
I've built a ton of stuff with grid beam. I never drilled my own holes. For big stuff, like making office furniture [1], I buy "pre-drilled" aluminum beams from McMaster-Carr [2]. I would buy lots of long lengths, then cut down to the required size as needed. And years ago, I also "miniaturized" grid beam down to Lego-compatible, 3D printable components that I use for prototyping [3].

The grid beam book talks a lot about what you need to make beams from scratch. You don't have to do that. You can buy (or print!) beams and get to work right away.

[1]: https://twitter.com/hugs/status/707381021646323712

[2]: https://www.mcmaster.com/8809T7-8809T21/

[3]: https://bitbeam.org/

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timschmidt 1709 days ago
Hi hugs!

I've been working to document everything I've done with Gridbeam, and related tech here: https://wiki.replimat.org/wiki/Main_Page

I lived with Phil and RJ Jergenson for a couple years around 2012, tried to learn from their experience and mistakes. They weren't happy with 1ft lengths in every project, even though they were an improvement in reusability over all lengths free-for-all. I've since moved all the replimat designs to use lengths 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 only. Which allows for center pivots and divisible-by-two lengths whereas the Jergensons could only divide by two. We also hit countertop height a little better. Little tweaks.

I try to communicate with everyone listed in the "Friends" section on the right hand side of https://www.replimat.org/ regularly. I'm excited that things seem to be gathering steam for all of us.

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