Design the shelf, generate the connectors, then build it from real boards.

1. Start with the material, not just the label

Plywood and other sheet goods are sold by nominal thickness, while the actual material can be a little thinner or thicker. A quick measurement with calipers gives HexaNect a better starting point for the connector fit and is usually all that is needed.

Enter the actual board thickness in HexaNect and choose the board depth and lengths that fit the furniture you want to make. Those dimensions can then be changed without manually remodeling every connector.

2. Design the furniture around the way you want to use it

Use the HexaNect Builder to create the cells, shelves and overall structure. The honeycomb-inspired layout can grow one section at a time while the builder tracks the physical boards and connector junctions.

Scene mode lets you place familiar objects such as shoes, books, bottles or a laptop on the model, which makes it much easier to judge scale before cutting material.

HexaNect is aimed at normal household furniture and reasonable everyday loads. It is not intended to replace a heavy-duty garage storage rack, structural framing or other safety-critical construction.

3. Choose a practical filament

PLA, PETG and ABS can all work for HexaNect connectors when printed well. PLA is easy to print and works fine for many indoor furniture projects. PETG is the material I personally use most often because it sits in a useful middle ground: strong, still easy to print on many machines, and with a little more give than PLA. ABS is another good option when your printer is set up to handle it reliably.

There is no requirement to use one specific brand or polymer. Consistent extrusion, good layer bonding and a well-calibrated printer matter more than chasing an exotic material.

4. A 3D print can be much stronger than people expect

A common misconception is that 3D-printed parts are automatically weak. FDM prints are better thought of as directional materials: they can be very strong when the geometry, layer direction and expected load are designed together, but weaker when a force tries to peel the layers apart.

HexaNect connectors are designed around a specific print orientation. The goal is to route the normal furniture loads through stronger, continuous printed paths instead of asking the joint to split across layer interfaces. It is similar in spirit to using wood grain or plywood layers intelligently: the material has a direction, so the part should be designed around it.

This is one of the less obvious reasons the connectors can feel much stronger in a finished structure than someone might expect from looking at a 3D-printed part by itself. The orientation is part of the engineering of the shape, not just a convenient way to place it on the print bed.

At the same time, the connector family is designed to remain straightforward to manufacture, with the goal of printing cleanly without support material and without difficult overhangs. Strength and printability are considered together.

5. A good starting point for print settings

You do not need extreme infill to make a useful connector. For this type of part, perimeters and layer orientation matter a lot; filling the entire middle of the part with plastic is usually less useful than giving the outside of the connector enough solid walls.

The settings that have worked well for my builds are 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2 mm layer height, 4 walls, 4 top layers, 4 bottom layers and 20% infill. Treat these as a starting recipe, not a requirement. If your printer, nozzle size, layer height or material uses a different profile that you already know produces strong parts, adapt the settings accordingly.

6. A test connector is a useful first print

Before starting a large batch, it is usually worth printing one representative connector with the same printer, material and settings you plan to use for the project.

Slide in a board and check the feel. If you want a tighter or easier fit, adjust the friction setting and regenerate the part. This is simply a quick recommendation that can save print time; it is not a sign that every board needs its own calibration.

7. Export the cut list and connector files

When the design is ready, HexaNect creates the manufacturing package for that exact structure. The export can include the unique connector STL files, quantities, a board BOM, cut information and an assembly guide.

Because the connector variants are generated from the junction geometry, you do not have to manually identify which joints belong at every location. The design and manufacturing data stay linked.

8. Cut and assemble progressively

Cut the boards carefully and keep repeated dimensions consistent. Starting with a small portion of the structure is a convenient way to confirm the feel of the assembly before completing the whole piece.

For standard honeycomb structures, friction fit has proven surprisingly strong in hands-on testing. If you want extra retention for a permanent build, adhesive can be added selectively without changing the basic system.

As with any DIY furniture, use reasonable judgment for the intended load, stability and anchoring. HexaNect is a maker furniture system, not structural certification.