diff --git a/src/SolidGrid.h b/src/SolidGrid.h
index 3aa664cf6..0ce721077 100644
--- a/src/SolidGrid.h
+++ b/src/SolidGrid.h
@@ -166,6 +166,9 @@ class SolidGrid {
     int TryDepth(size_t grid_size);
 public:
     BALLS* balls;
+    inline SolidGrid() {
+        depth = 0;
+    }
     void Build();
     void InitFinder(finder_t&);
     void CleanFinder(finder_t&);
diff --git a/src/SolidGrid.hpp b/src/SolidGrid.hpp
index 10c89f435..301a632c2 100644
--- a/src/SolidGrid.hpp
+++ b/src/SolidGrid.hpp
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ int SolidGrid<BALLS>::TryDepth(size_t grid_size) {
         while (data[data_offset + k] != -1) {
             k++;
             if (k >= depth) {
-                printf("failed at %ld %d\n", data_offset, k);
                 return -1;
             }
         }
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ template <class BALLS>
 void SolidGrid<BALLS>::Build () {
     if (balls->size() > 0) {
         double maxr = 0.5;
-        depth = 4;
+        if (depth < 1) depth = 4;
         for (size_t i=0; i<balls->size(); i++) {
             double val = balls->getRad(i);
             if (maxr < val) maxr = val;
@@ -60,7 +59,14 @@ void SolidGrid<BALLS>::Build () {
         size_t grid_size = 1;
         for (int k=0; k<3; k++) grid_size = grid_size * (maxs[k]-mins[k]+1);
         depth = 4;
-        while (TryDepth(grid_size)) { depth = depth*2; if (depth > 1000) { printf("Too large SolidGrid depth\n"); exit(-1); } }
+        while (TryDepth(grid_size)) {
+            depth = depth*2;
+            output("Too many particles per bin in SolidGrid. Increasing bin size to %d\n", depth);
+            if (depth > 1024) {
+                ERROR("Too large SolidGrid bin size (hardcoded limit)\n");
+                exit(-1);
+            }
+        }
     } else {
         delta = 1.0;
         depth = 0;
diff --git a/tests/solid/main.cpp b/tests/solid/main.cpp
index 901d984e9..f4783d68e 100644
--- a/tests/solid/main.cpp
+++ b/tests/solid/main.cpp
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@
 #define CudaDeviceFunction
 typedef float real_t;
 
+#define ERROR printf
+#define output printf
+
 const int max_cache_size = 1024;
 #include "SolidTree.h"
 #include "SolidTree.hpp"