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1A: Onshape Fundamentals

Exercise #2: Box Tube and Gusset Joint

For this exercise, you will design two box tubes attached together with a gusset. This gusset will be created in the same part studio as the tubes that it is connecting!

Gussets

Aluminum box tubes are commonly connected together with 'gussets'. A gusset is a flat plate that, when attached to both tubes, helps create rigidity in the structure.

Gusset Example

A gusset connecting two tubes on a robot.


Featurescripts

Warning

If you haven't already, please add MKCAD and the required featurescripts for the learning course.

You will utilize the Extrude Individual and Tube Converter Featurescripts for this exercise. Do not use the Gusset Featurescript for this exercise.

  • The Extrude individual Featurescript enables you to extrude sketch regions without merging them. In this exercise, if you were to extrude the sketch of the tubes with the standard Extrude tool, only a single part would generate.

  • The Tube Converter Featurescript condenses the steps of shelling, sketching and dimensioning holes, and extruding holes into a single, customizable feature to easily model tubes.

Instructions

Creating New Parts

When extruding a sketch in a part studio, you can decide whether to Add to existing geometry, or to create New geometry. New creates a new body, whereas Add will merge the feature with existing parts. Make sure that when you extrude your gusset, you tell Onshape to create a new part.

The different options for extruding

Navigate to the "Exercise #2 Gusset" tab in your copied document and follow the instructions in the slides to complete the exercise.

0. The finished parts.
1. Start by sketching the tubes on the right plane. Positioning the origin horizontally in the center of the part studio enables mirroring the vertical tube from the left to the right using the front plane.
2. Use the Extrude Individual Featurescript to extrude the blocks.
3. Use Tube Converter Featurescript to turn the blocks into 1/16" wall tubes with a 0.5" spacing pattern of 0.196" holes.
4. Draw a triangle with construction geometry for the gusset.
5. Dimension the triangle to be 0.5" away from the edges of the tube.
6. Use the Offset tool to offset the construction geometry 0.25". This will be the outline of the gusset.
7. Use the Sketch Fillet tool to add a 0.25" fillet to the three corners of the gusset.
8. Delete the three points left over from the fillet.
9. Use the Use (Project/Convert) tool to project the tube holes onto the gusset sketch.
10. Extrude the gusset to be 1/8" thick. Select New as the extrude type to make the extrude a new part.
11. Name the key sketches and parts. Set the material to be 6061 Aluminum.

Verification

Make sure to have you and/or a more experienced member/mentor of your team review your CAD! Your parts should weigh a combined 0.27 lbs.

In this exercise, you can begin to see the power of Featurescripts. What would have been a number of sketches, extrudes, and shells to create the tubes is packaged into a single, easy to use custom feature.