Laser joint but with single pin for sloting parts

christopher_starke

Hello, as part of a laser cutting project, I want to create a number of parts that slot together. Similarly to how the laser joint Featurescript works but with only a single pin that takes up half the overlapping distance. As can be seen in the photo.


Currently, I am doing this by hand but there is an incredible amount of unique joints that need to be made like this. Is it possible to adapt the Laser Joint script to make joints like this or a technique you would recommend? 

lemon1324

This isn't a case I modeled in Laser Joint because it's addressed largely by Lap Joint: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/578ce95de4b0e425c1f00cda/w/cbc0b1ab48f411a4675afae1/e/6dbd408b8dc213a84767ec69

Though if you want automatic joints across multiple parts or automatic corner overcuts you may need to make some modifications.

steve_shubin

@christopher_starke

shaleen_harlalka

lemon1324 said:

This isn't a case I modeled in Laser Joint because it's addressed largely by Lap Joint: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/578ce95de4b0e425c1f00cda/w/cbc0b1ab48f411a4675afae1/e/6dbd408b8dc213a84767ec69

Though if you want automatic joints across multiple parts or automatic corner overcuts you may need to make some modifications.

I'd like to second the request to have the Lap Joint functionality built into Laser Joint. 

Currently, if you have two intersecting planar objects, Laser Joint will generate a set of finger joints, but there is no way to connect/separate those parts. To get to the desired result, you currently need to run first run Lap Joint on each individual slot joint you want (since Lap Joint can only do one join at a time) and then run Laser Joint on each individual subset of objects to be joined.

It would all be much easier if Laser Joint could detect if two planar objects extend through each other, and then create a Lap joint instead of a finger joint in that.

In any case, thanks for such a wonderfully easy to use feature.

lemon1324

I still think it shouldn't be the same feature, on the grounds that features should still maintain some kind of purpose-specificity.

My approach would be to modify the lap joint feature to operate in batch mode, so you can do all of the joints on intersecting parts first, then add a Laser Joint feature to joint the corners.  Even then it will likely require some manual picking to ensure that all of the internal joints face the same direction - otherwise, if you have individual internal joints flipping themselves to be pointing different directions, you may also end up with something you can't make.

I'll see what modifications it takes to get that feature working, and how much automation is actually feasible.

shaleen_harlalka

I see your point about the value of customizing individual joints. However, I don't agree with the Feature Specificity point. Currently, 'Laser-Joint' actually works more as a 'Finger Joint' script. If there are two intersecting planar pieces, if will generate a set of finger joints, and the user has to check if the output is buildable or not. It would be a lot more user-friendly if it could automatically detect a this class of non-buildable situations, and fall back to a slot joint instead of a finger joint in that case, while still keeping staying within the 'Laser Joint' umbrella.

Btw, another issue with the Lap joint script for me is that it doesn't work on planes that are angled to each other. Laser Joint does, but it gives me un-buildable finger joints.