Why Use Trapezoids as Keys When Cutting a Model?
In my model cutting for 3d printing post, I mentioned that I like to use trapezoids for alignment keys. Why is that? 6 axial alignment, bro. Ok, that phrase is a bit ridiculous, but when I took notes on my concept for this post, that's all I wrote down... and it's kindof true. An isosceles trapezoid gives you keying on all 6 axes, whereas most other simple shapes (like squares, rectangles or circles) generally only provide absolute positions on 5 of them. What am I talking about, when I mention 5 vs. 6 axes? Do you remember when the PS3 came out with its new Sixaxis controller? At the time, I scoffed, thinking that we live in a 3 dimensional world and so there are only 3 axes, commonly called X, Y, and Z. Therefore, this whole "six axis" thing was obviously just a marketing gimmick meant to make it sound more high tech. Well, younger me was certainly wrong about that! I was right that there are only 3 axes, but what I didn't think a...