The 3-D Puzzle Project
The purpose of this project was to learn how to correctly use tolerances to create parts that can fit together without interference. We had to create a 12-piece model in Autodesk Inventor and then 3-D print it. My project is a sort of customization storage box. It's kind of like Lego bricks, you need a certain minimum amount to build anything, but the more you get, the bigger you can build. The box consists of 5 kinds of parts, but including different variations of the same part, 8. (Yeah, I did say that it had to have a minimum of 12 pieces, but since I'm printing multiples of each piece, it's alright.) Here's a catalog of the different kinds of parts:
Floor/Roof Plates
The floor/roof plate is the most important piece in the box. It makes the floor and roof of the box. the hooks protruding off of each side are there to hook into the "L" shaped cuts in the sides. There are grooves shaped like an "X" through the center of the piece. These are to nest the a different piece, the separator. There are three variations of this piece: the one above, and the two pictured below. The one above can be used in the center of the roof or floor, and the other two have hinges on the edges. They are used on the edges or corners of the floor or roof. They hinge to the wall piece.
The Wall
The wall is a piece hinged to the floor\roof edge plates. it has protrusions and holes on it's sides so it can link together with other walls or with the wall corner piece.
Wall Corner
This piece holds the whole box together. It links onto two wall pieces so that they don't just fall over on their hinges. it has a handle so that you can pull it off and then open the box.
Axle
The axle goes between the wall piece and the floor/roof edge plates. It allows it to move freely on a hinge. This lets the walls flip down to expose whatever's in the box.
Separator
The separator is a small wall that slides into the grooves in the floor/roof piece. This allows you to create sub-boxes within the box to separate or sort the items in the box. There are short separators, (above) which lodge into the floor plates. There are also tall separators, (below) which go into the roof. When the box is closed, it forms a very tall wall, but when you open it, the short walls are on the bottom so that you don't have to reach really far down into the box to grab your items.
dicebox_v7.1.zip | |
File Size: | 7647 kb |
File Type: | zip |