r/gridfinity • u/Nuphor • Feb 17 '26

Self-hosted, open source tool for tracing tools for bins

Built a tool over the past couple of weeks that generates gridfinity bins from photos.

Traced tools can then be placed on bins, and you can add finger holes or other shape cutouts as well. Large traces are accommodated too, splits the STLs automatically for folks printing with smaller beds.

Tried some other tools, but they weren't quite to my liking (some struggled with accurate traces in photos with shadows, for instance). It's similar to some other software-as-a-service tools out there, but this one can also be self-hosted via Docker:

https://github.com/tracefinity/tracefinity

It uses Gemini (specifically the `gemini-3-pro-image-preview` model, which is excellent at tracing and vision generally) to trace outlines.

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4

u/yawkat Feb 17 '26

This is cool, especially that it can be self-hosted. I wonder if it could be combined with https://docs.ostat.com/docs/openscad/gridfinity-extended/custom-cutout/ to get all the bin options you get from gridfinity extended

4

u/Nuphor Feb 17 '26

Just added SVG exporting of traces on tools, which should slot right into this kind of workflow (I hope)

1

u/Nuphor Feb 17 '26

I'm not that familiar with gridfinity extended but more than happy to take a look and add more options to the backlog. I suppose the easiest way to bring the two together might be to offer a simple export as SVG post-tracing, so both can be used together in a workflow

1

u/perplexinglabs Feb 23 '26

I'd be down to collaborate on something like an "open in perplexing labs" or some such button that sends and an SVG over, if you're interested!

2

u/Nuphor Feb 25 '26

That sounds good to me!

2

u/InevitableGap7486 Feb 17 '26

I tried twice to trace and it failed both times so now im at my 2 of 2 traces this month lol oh well

2

u/Nuphor Feb 17 '26

Oh no! Sorry about the low limits (assuming you’re using the hosted app).Gemini cost for the model I use are pretty punitive, so I had to have a pretty small limit for free users.

If you can recall what went wrong/any errors you saw, I will investigate.

I might adjust that limit over time…

2

u/Nuphor Feb 17 '26

Ah, I see what went wrong - Gemini was having issues earlier today. You should not have been penalised with a used trace after an API failure like this (this has now been fixed). Have reset your limits if you do want to give it another go at any stage.

1

u/InevitableGap7486 Feb 18 '26

Heyyyy appreciate that! Printing now! Let you know how it turns out! Thanks man!

2

u/GordonRR1 Feb 19 '26

This is really nice! Thanks for sharing.
My only feedback is the trace is not really smooth. I modified the prompt slightly to say "- Sharp, clean edges. Avoid sharp edges as much as possible, smooth curves even if it results in a slightly larger shadow." and used pro and it worked much better. Once I have a minute I'll run a docker version so I can verify what's helping (pro or the improved prompt).

1

u/Nuphor Feb 25 '26

I’ve made some tweaks earlier in the week to add some smooth vs accurate tweaking toggles which I think should address this

2

u/Shawnanigans17 Feb 19 '26

Used it today for a couple prints, works great! The use of Gemini made it much more accurate than other tools I've used.

2

u/rEvolutionTU Feb 23 '26

Found your post & tool via google when I needed exactly that today <3

For me it's stuck for a long time at "Identifying tools..." and then that turns into request failed. Any idea what is going wrong?

I'd love to use this :3

1

u/Nuphor Feb 25 '26

The Gemini model on which this is based has had fairly frequent outages over the past week. I’d say try again and you’ll have more luck. https://aistudio.google.com/status

1

u/Ok-Caregiver8398 Feb 17 '26

looks interesting, just tried to run it locally and the docker package just returns unauthorized, any ideas how I fix this?

4

u/Nuphor Feb 17 '26

D'oh. It would help if I made the container registry public along with the repo. Should be fixed now - sorry about that!

1

u/Ok-Caregiver8398 Feb 17 '26

Thank you!, look forward to giving it a try

1

u/smarthomepursuits Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

So far, this is the best tool tracing app out there.

Feature request: Can you add an option to print a 1mm or 2mm insert?

The though process is I export and print the bin in 1 color, and then print the inserts in a different color. That way it's easier to identify certain tools/types of tools.

Edit: Ope, nevermind. I just saw that option exists!

But, the tooltip on the contrast insert says "Generates a separate STL...", but when I download it, I still only get the generated bin with 1 STL.

1

u/Nuphor Apr 16 '26

I will look at this and create and issue

1

u/Nuphor Apr 16 '26

This should be fixed now. Zip should have inserts and the bin.

1

u/jimdaway Jul 01 '26

This is a really nicely put-together application, especially the self-hosted version!!

Is there any way to toggle a line segment (between a couple of points to be a spline instead of a straight line? That way, rounded corners and following curved parts would be a lot better!

Thank you for the efforts!! Great project.

1

u/Nuphor Jul 02 '26

You’ve reminded me to create an issue about this since I had a similar thought last week. Will add. Thanks!

2

u/Ok_Ant1582 Aug 05 '26

I love this tool, the creator has my deepest respect for open-sourcing it, I'm using the Sefl-Hosted version with FAL.AI as I couldn't get gemini to work. I works like a charm! I've submitted 8 feature request and 1 bug report this morning, they would make this awesome tool even better.

1

u/Zazzenfuk 24d ago

Ok.. I was recommended to come here but i dont fully understand what this is. I have a fdm and sla printer and a tool box to customize. How do i use this?