This does not look like the strongest joint ever but oh the concept. decorative AND strong finger joints for picture frames and a hundred other places.
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These are the sort of things that I want most from my GlowForge. I can wait, but only… Just.
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This is a great idea for a joint. I do have a suggestion, though. As you’re already joining two parts, I would flip one over and cut it backwards (from the back). This would allow you to close those kerf gaps right up, as the slope of each part would be reversed. This should make a much tighter joint than cutting both from the front.
While the kerf on laser-cut projects is fairly small, it does exist, so using the same cut lines for each part does cause a small gap. Additionally, the edges aren’t perfectly straight. They slope away from the beam at the top of the cut, creating a very steep V-shaped cut. While there’s not much difference in the kerf at the top of the cut and the kerf at the bottom, it’s enough that it’s beneficial to adjust for it.
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Those aren’t the same cutlines; they’re kerf-adjusted. You’ll notice the double-clear ones fit perfectly, since that’s where I profiled the kerf. The clear/red one doesn’t fit perfectly, because the kerf is slightly different in red acrylic than clear and I didn’t set it up to compensate.
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I think what @PlatypusPapers is saying is there is normally a “kerf angle” that needs to be adjusted for and by flipping one piece over, you’re kind of make a “matching kerf set joint” kind of thingy.
If I remember correctly ( and me mind is getting old, so take that into account…) you already talked about the cool thing about the GF and how one can adjust where the focus is in the material to help remove the "kerf angle.
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I’m getting to this topic several weeks late to the party, but in case anyone was interested you can download the entire “50 Digital Joints” in STL (and other) data formats from this page:
http://www.flexiblestream.org/project/50-digital-wood-joints
It includes a helpful hyperlinked PDF document that will narrow your browsing within it.
I’ve been taking a shine to Sketchup again, so I’m trying to recreate programmable versions of the joint styles that allow for material and tongue sizes, etc. so I don’t have to redraw them all from scratch.
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