Bead Size Guide: Mini 2.6 mm vs Midi 5 mm vs Maxi 10 mm

The craft industry sorts fuse beads into three diameter grades: mini 2.6 mm, midi 5 mm, and maxi 10 mm. They are not three model numbers on one product line but three largely separate ecosystems. The bead diameter changes the peg spacing on the board, the contact area that the iron heats, and the pixel density of the finished piece.

Midi 5 mm is the mainstream. The familiar 29×29 standard board and the regular Perler and Hama lines all belong to it, and most tutorials, patterns, and accessories are written around 5 mm. Choosing it means accessories are easy to find and reference material is abundant when something goes wrong.

Mini 2.6 mm exists for detail. The same board area holds far more beads, giving close to four times the resolution, at the cost of proportionally more beads and more time. Maxi 10 mm targets young children: the beads are large and easy to grip, the finished piece is chunky but sturdy, and the pattern resolution is deliberately low.

There is only one formula: finished edge length in millimetres equals the number of columns multiplied by the bead diameter in millimetres. Beads sit edge to edge with no gaps on the board, so the multiplication is the whole calculation. 29 columns × 5 mm = 145 mm = 14.5 cm, which matches the roughly 14.5×14.5 cm quoted for a standard 29×29 board.

Working backwards is just as simple. To make a 20 cm wide piece in 5 mm beads you need 40 columns; in 2.6 mm beads you need about 77. So decide the physical size you want first and divide by the diameter, rather than picking a grid size and trying to imagine how big it will turn out.

Remember that rows and columns need not be equal. A square pegboard defines how much fits on one board, not the shape of the finished piece, so a rectangular design simply leaves part of each board unused. Rectangular patterns are usually tiled across several boards, and the width and height are then calculated separately from the column and row counts.

Pegboards are square, so columns equal rows, and there are only a few common sizes. The small 14×14 board appears in Perler and Hama starter kits; with 5 mm beads it produces a 7 cm square, ideal for keychains and fridge magnets. The 15×15 board is a maxi 10 mm format: a 15 cm square with few cells, meant for young children.

The 29×29 is the standard board. With midi 5 mm beads it produces a 14.5 cm square and it is the default format used by this generator. That size fits comfortably in an adult hand and suits coasters, small figurines, and single characters. The 56×56 board is the mini 2.6 mm format: a 14.6 cm square whose cell density is close to four times that of the standard board.

The 57×57 is the familiar large board. With midi 5 mm beads it produces a 28.5 cm square for single large artworks. The bigger the board, the greater the risk of knocking beads out of place while you work, and the harder it is to move or store a half-finished piece. That is the main price of a large board.

The palette data reveals the diameter of each brand. Perler, Hama, Nabbi, and Artkal Hard are midi 5 mm. Artkal C (the Mini line) is mini 2.6 mm, and MARD is also mini 2.6 mm. The IKEA Pyssla palette records no diameter, so this tool treats it as midi 5 mm.

A single brand can carry several lines with different diameters, so reading the packaging is more reliable than remembering the brand. Artkal is the classic example: several of its lines sit in different grades, and buying the wrong line leaves you with beads that will not fit the board you own.

When mixing brands on one board, the only hard requirement is identical diameter. A 5 mm Perler bead and a 5 mm Hama bead can sit on the same 5 mm board, fuse in one pass, and be freely mixed by color. A 2.6 mm bead on a 5 mm board will sit loose, and a 5 mm bead will not fit a 2.6 mm board at all.

For keychains, badges, and small charms, use midi 5 mm with a 14×14 or 29×29 board. Accessories are easiest to find, patterns are plentiful, and ironing is forgiving because thicker beads tolerate a wider range of temperature and timing. A fully filled 14×14 board holds only 196 beads, so a first attempt produces a finished object quickly.

For coasters, figurines, and framed pictures, midi is still the right grade, but you need a 29×29 board or larger so the piece has enough visual size. A full 29×29 board holds 841 beads, which is roughly half a day to a day of work for an adult and a reasonable scope for a hobby project.

Mini 2.6 mm only pays off when you need to reproduce real detail: faces, pet photos, or landscapes with gradients. The cost grows with area, not with edge length: at the same finished size, 2.6 mm beads need about 3.7 times as many beads as 5 mm, and each bead is smaller, so placing and correcting them with tweezers takes longer. For young children, choose maxi 10 mm: the beads are wide and tall enough to grip with fingers, and a 15×15 board holds just 225 cells, which suits simple shapes and letters.

Moving a pattern from midi to mini looks like a change of numbers, but it affects three things at once: total bead count, number of pegboards, and ironing time. Bead consumption grows with area rather than with edge length, so scaling both sides by 1.92 multiplies the bead count by nearly four, and the time spent placing beads scales with it.

The pegboard has to change too. A 5 mm board has 5 mm peg spacing, so 2.6 mm beads will not sit on it, which means switching grades means replacing the whole set of boards. If a project spans several boards, the seams leave a fine line across the finished piece, so tile the pattern so that seams fall inside areas of a single color.

Ironing difficulty changes as well. Mini beads are thinner, so the same temperature and time over-iron them faster and flatten the holes sooner. Maxi beads are thicker and need longer before the surface fuses, so a routine that works well for one grade can be wrong in both directions for another. After switching grades, any temperature and timing experience you have needs retesting on a spare piece.

Patterns larger than one board must be tiled. Four 29×29 boards give a working area of 58×58, which in 5 mm beads produces a 29 cm square; the same area needs only one 57×57 board. The more boards involved, the harder it is to keep the seams aligned while placing beads.

One subtlety: the same edge count can exist in more than one diameter. A 29×29 board is sold in both 5 mm and 2.6 mm versions. With 5 mm beads it produces a 14.5 cm square, and with 2.6 mm beads only a 7.5 cm square. Knowing that a board is 29×29 does not tell you the finished size; you also need the bead diameter.

The last common mistake is estimating finished size from the number of boards. What determines the size is columns, rows, and bead diameter. The number of boards is only an organisational detail: the same pattern built on one large board or on four small ones produces exactly the same finished dimensions.