Pegboard types and compatibility

A pegboard type is the system your board follows. Each type brings three things with it: its hole pattern (the shape, size and grid of the holes), its standard board thickness, and the way accessories attach — capsule clips and hooks, or wire hooks and printed pegs. Together they decide which hooks, clips and accessories fit your board, so pick the type before anything else: every board that shares accessories must use the same type.

In the editor, the type is the first setting of the Board tab (Pegboard type & panel).

Standards at a glance

Picking a pegboard type sets its hole pattern and two standards for you:

• Board thickness. Each built-in type uses the thickness of the boards its hooks are made for, so store-bought hooks seat exactly as they would on the original board. The capsule system and both US types have one thickness; EU 5/25 has two, a standard board and a light-duty one. The Custom type takes any thickness.
• Wall distance — the space between the wall and the back of the board, where hooks and clips hang. It starts at the recommended value for the type; you can change it within the type’s range under Wall separators → Wall distance.

Both change in one step, which you can undo. How accessories attach is on each type’s card above and in its section below.

Capsule system

The default type: 5 × 15 mm capsule slots (rounded ends, 2.5 mm radius), standing upright. Columns are 20 mm apart and slots in a column 40 mm apart; every second column is shifted by 20 mm. Seen another way, it is a checkerboard on a 20 mm grid, and the nearest slots are about 28.3 mm apart on the diagonal.

• Accessories: capsule clips and hooks — printed hooks and clips made for the capsule system (tab-and-drop hooks, snap clips and twist locks), plus the Pegboard Maker accessory library.
• Board thickness: 5 mm, the only option. Commercial capsule boards measure about 4.8–5.2 mm and clips are designed for that.
• Orientation: slots must stay vertical. Clips hook downwards under gravity; a capsule board rotated 90° no longer works.
• Wall distance: 10 mm, the default. Printed clips need only a few millimetres behind the board, so you can go as low as 6 mm for a slim board. Twist-lock nuts with screws and some metal accessories reach deeper — use 15–20 mm for those.

US 1/4″

The classic American garage pegboard. The name is the board thickness, 1/4″ = 6.35 mm; the holes are punched at 9/32″ = 7.14 mm on a 1″ = 25.4 mm square grid.

• Accessories: 1/4″ pegboard hooks — standard retail wire hooks (0.148″ / 3.76 mm wire), 3/16″ hooks and heavy-duty 0.218″ (5.54 mm) hooks — and printed pegs from the accessory library.
• Board thickness: 6.35 mm (1/4″), the thickness of the original board, which hooks for 1/4″ pegboard are made to wrap around.
• Wall distance: wire hooks curl down behind the board and need at least ½″, so the default is 12.7 mm (½″). You can set 10–20 mm.

US 1/8″

The thinner, light-duty US pegboard: 3/16″ = 4.76 mm holes on the same 25.4 mm grid, on a 1/8″ = 3.18 mm board.

• Accessories: 1/8″ pegboard hooks — light 0.148″ wire hooks, including hooks sold only for 1/8″ pegboard, since the printed panel has the thickness they are made for — and printed pegs from the accessory library.
• Board thickness: 3.18 mm (1/8″). A thin board is for light loads: for anything heavier, choose US 1/4″, and keep the separator spacing low so the panel is supported often.
• Wall distance: 12.7 mm (½″), as for all US wire hooks (10–20 mm).

EU 5/25

The common European retail pegboard, often sold as 25 mm metric pegboard: Ø 5 mm holes on a 25 mm square grid, with two standard board thicknesses.

• Accessories: 4 mm wire hooks with prongs 25 mm apart, and printed pegs from the accessory library.
• Board thickness: 6 mm by default, or 3 mm under Panel → Board thickness — see below.
• Wall distance: 12.7 mm (½″) by default, 10–20 mm.

6 mm or 3 mm?

How much a board holds depends on the board itself, not only on the hooks: for heavy tools, stay with 6 mm and the solid panel profile.

Custom

For anything else — a shop-fitting wall, a 32 mm grid, your own system. The Custom type has no standard: you define its hole pattern yourself in the Holes group that appears when you pick it, and you choose the board thickness.

Hole shapeDefault Round

Round, capsule (a slot with rounded ends) or square.

DiameterDefault 6 mmRange 1–50 mm

Round holes only. Nominal size, before clearance.

Hole widthRange 1–50 mm

Capsule and square holes, in place of Diameter. Nominal size, before clearance; it starts at the diameter you had.

Hole heightRange 1–100 mm

Capsule and square holes only. Nominal size, before clearance.

Column spacingDefault 25 mmRange 4–200 mm

Horizontal distance between columns.

Row spacingDefault 25 mmRange 4–200 mm

Vertical distance between holes in the same column.

Column offsetDefault 0 mm

Vertical offset of every second column. 0 gives a square grid; half the row spacing gives a staggered grid like the capsule system.

• Accessories: printed pegs sized to your holes. In the accessory library, pick Custom and enter the same holes and board thickness; every accessory then gets pegs made for them. Pegs are made for holes from about 3 to 18 mm across; outside that range the configurator tells you the size your holes need (see Made for your pegboard type).
• Board thickness: free, set under Panel → Board thickness. Match the hooks you’ll hang on it.
• Wall distance: follows the hole shape. Capsule holes get the capsule system’s range (from 6 mm, 10 mm recommended), round and square holes the round-hole range (10–20 mm, 12.7 mm recommended). Switching the hole shape between capsule and round or square also resets the wall distance to the new recommended value.

Which type should I choose?

• You print your own accessories, or you already use capsule clips: the capsule system, on 5 mm boards.
• You have US wire hooks: US 1/4″ for regular and heavy-duty hooks in a garage or workshop; US 1/8″ only for light hooks and light loads.
• You have European 4 mm hooks on a 25 mm grid: EU 5/25 — 6 mm for a tool wall, 3 mm for light organisation, displays and cabinet backs.
• Your hooks fit none of these: measure the holes and the grid of a board they fit, and give a Custom type the same hole pattern.

Never mix 25 and 25.4 mm grids

The EU 5/25 and US grids look almost the same — they differ by only 0.4 mm per hole. A hook with two prongs one pitch apart tolerates that. But the error adds up: across four pitches it is already 1.6 mm (100 mm against 101.6 mm), and a shelf or holder with pegs spread over several holes will not go in.

• Choose one grid per wall and design every board and accessory for it.
• Don’t put a metric board next to a US board and expect accessories to span both.
• When you buy hooks, check which pegboard type they are made for.

Tuning clearance

Printed holes come out a little smaller than modelled — typically 0.1–0.3 mm on a well-tuned FDM printer. Pegboard Maker adds a hole clearance to every hole (+0.2 mm by default, on width and height) to compensate.

• Hooks or clips too tight? Raise the clearance by 0.1 mm.
• Accessories wobble or clips fall out? Lower it by 0.1 mm, down to 0.
• Change in 0.1 mm steps and check with a small test print — see Calibration and test prints.

What doesn’t fit (yet)

Square-hole steel tool walls, openGrid and Multiboard use different geometry and aren’t supported today. Ready-made pegboard types for square-hole tool walls and more metric grids are part of the Templates stretch goal of the campaign. In the meantime, the Custom type (round, capsule or square holes at any spacing) covers most other grids.