Polypanel Face-Snap System (#PPFSS)

myminifactory

Say you have an idea for a specialty polypanel, but can't decide whether to implement it on the face of a square, triangle, rhombus or another shape. You could create a version for every shape you want to use, which means a lot of extra time designing and printing each one. Alternatively, you could save all that time by designing your specialty panel with just one connector that can snap into any polypanel. With this in mind, I've developed a system that fits a disc-shaped connector into a standard receiving ring that can be built into the face of any polypanel you like. I've remixed most basic polypanel shapes to give them receiving rings and added rings to some additional shapes I created. To make your polypanel compatible with this system, simply incorporate the receiving ring template into your own shape. There are two sizes of connector: a standard one that fits most polypanels and a mini version needed for triangle polypanels due to their small faces. An adapter allows you to step down from the larger ring to the smaller one if necessary. The mini connector is used with the equilateral triangle, right-angled isosceles triangle, and two additional shapes I created: a different rhombus called the "Root-Two Rhombus" and a rectangle with side lengths equal to the hypotenuse of the isosceles triangle. The standard connector is used with the square, pentagon, original rhombus, and my Root-Two Rhombus. To create a snap-in specialty panel compatible with this system, simply incorporate the disc connector template into your design's bottom. This will give you a specialty panel that snaps into any compatible polypanel. The connector disc is symmetrical and can be inserted from either side of the adapter ring. It can also rotate to adjust the specialty panel's orientation. The Face Coupler is one of my most powerful snap-ins, allowing two polypanel faces to be joined together. They could be faces of the same shape or different shapes like a square and rhombus. The Face Coupler provides rotating joints for your designs to move and allows more than two planes to connect at the same edge. I've added Fusion 360 files for the connector templates to make it easier to incorporate them into your designs. Look through my other designs for compatible snap-ins, and I'll be adding more under #PPFSS in the future.