Automatic pin/hole connections

[colbylippincott]

First of all, I absolutely love the cut feature in ideamaker. It makes it super easy to edit models and cut down big models into small pieces.
However, I think the feature that would really push it over the edge is being able to place pins and corresponding holes in the two halves.
It would be similar to the manual support feature, in that you would place a cut like you do now, and then position where the holes and pins would go manually. The user would have control over how big the pins and holes are, and how deep they go.
You could even provide options like "permanent press fit", "snug slide fit", and "loose slide fit" which would automatically adjust the sizes as needed.
It would also be cool if the holes broke through the other side of the model you could give a warning, but it isn't necessary.
You could also have different options for pin shapes, but that also isn't necessary.
This way you could easily break a big part into small pieces without doing a bunch of difficult CAD work.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Do you mean you want to add pins and holes on to the cut surface? And need ideaMaker add this two options into cut?

Not very clear about this part :You could even provide options like "permanent press fit", "snug slide fit", and "loose slide fit" which would automatically adjust the sizes as needed. 

Would you like to explain more about that?

[Noren]

Even if it was just as alignment marks for gluing the parts together correctly that would be a nice addition. I can see how this request could be useful.

[Jetguy]

What they are referring to is that much like an OpenSCAD script can be used to Boolean add or subtract from an STL, rather than the simple cut you do now, they want additional code to modify that STL and put pins in the plane.

Not very clear about this part :You could even provide options like "permanent press fit", "snug slide fit", and "loose slide fit" which would automatically adjust the sizes as needed.

As such, there could be variables in the pins and holes fit for make them various levels of tolerance. In other words, the same script that generates the mating pins and holes would have a value for the additional tolerance (size difference) between the pin and the mating hole to make everything from a tight hard press in fit, to a looser slide in fit.

Long ago, users like Tony Buser put effort into the open source community to write simple scripts to handle this http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10541
Another example by MakerBlock http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:33426
that example is printable connection pin shapes and that can be Boolean joined or subtracted (mating holes) to an existing STL.
That example is just the bare bones code- but understanding OpenSCAD and Boolean operations is required to then add those pins to a non-generated STL.
https://www.thingiverse.com/jumpstart/openscad
OPENSCAD is actually the "Customizer" code you will see in many objects on Thingiverse. Often timing pulleys, shaft couplers, spacers, brackets, and other models lend themselves to be "parametric". This means that it's a code based script with variables that is used in OpenSCAD to create objects. In the same way, such scripting could be used to make the pin and joint positive and negative objects, and then using a Boolean operation, subtract the holes and add the pins to the cut surfaces of the STL.

Here is some discussion of an alternate method and software https://blog.adafruit.com/2014/07/31/sp ... ble-parts/

[colbylippincott]

@Vicky
Basically just provide options for the difference in diameter between the pins and holes. So instead of typing in that you want 3mm holes and 2.9mm pins, you could just select "tight fit" and "small pins" or something like that. Just to make it a little more intuitive for people that don't want to mess with all the sizes, and just want something that will work. Maybe if you select "advanced" you could specify the exact size of the pins and holes.

There are ways to do this in separate software, but it is pretty complicated for people with little programming experience. I figured that if ideamaker already had the ability to modify the part by cutting it, it wouldn't be too much trouble to add in the pins and holes as well.

[Vicky@Raise3D]

Well noted.
Will add into our wish list.