Is there some software that would assist me with creating finger jointed boxes that all mate with a single “baseplate”? I’m working up an electronic system that needs to fit in a Pelican 1490 case. There are a number of different modules which all need to be kept in their own separate spaces. So the usual “box generator” stuff would work for five out of six sides, and I may well go that way, but is there a way to capture the finger information and paste that onto my single large plate?
The large plate is also too big for my laser to cut, but I believe I can deal with that by making plate sections that finger together to form the base plate.
A friend builds electronics into Pelican cases by 3D printing the whole structure in one go, but he’s using a five-head Prusa XL and that is an acquired taste.
Ok, another day, another thing learned! I’ve long said, “When I stop learning, get a shovel!”
For finger boxes, the bottom would have the zig-zag fingers (unless there’s a way to make the bottom larger and use holes that I’m not aware of yet), but I guess I could put that on one layer, and then copy paste a hole into each position. I’ll give that a try!
If you scroll way down in a Boxes.py page, you should see “JointPanel” down there. You can take the output from that and use it to cut up your too-large plate into multiple pieces that interlock, jigsaw-puzzle style. I made a 48"-wide addressable LED scoreboard housing that way.
You basically just design your box as if your laser will fit the pieces, and then for any pieces that don’t fit, use the jigsaw line from a larger-than-your-design “JointPanel” to cut the big pieces into smaller ones that will interlock back together.
