Modeling Strategies

The Main Body

Two strategies were developed for the creation of the main part of the connector. This doesn't include the keying flat, or the flats on the mounting flange, which will be added separately. These two strategies use cylinders and boolean operations, or a circular sweep.

Cylinders and Booleans

The main body of the connector could be created using seven cylinders. These cylinders would be unioned and subtracted as necessary to create the proper shape. The countersink could not be included using this method without additional steps.

Circular Sweep

The body could also be created by creating one-half of the cross section, and using a circular sweep. This wouldn't require any additional operations for the countersink, since it would be included in the cross-section.

Flats

A box would have to be subtracted from the main body in order to create the keying flat.

Mounting Flange

A tool for removing creating the flats on the mounting flange would be created with two squares and a linear sweep. The larger square would have edges the same length as the diameter of the circle. The smaller square would be the same size as the square formed by the flats, and would create a hole in the solid created by extruding the larger box. This solid would then be subtracted from the main body.

Hex Nut

A hexagon and circle of the proper size will be created. A linear sweep would then be used to create a solid hexagon with a round hole in the middle from these curves.

Last Modified: Wed Aug 28 14:41:29 EDT 1996