Press-fit Construction Kit

This Instructable is for a press-fit construction kit that is made up of just two simple pieces.  You can cut out the pieces on a laser cutter using any material you'd like (I used plywood) and start construction your own spherical shapes!

I created a CAD model of the kit in SolidWorks.  The CAD files, as well as exported DXF files ("connector" and "slot_2") are included in the attached zip file below.  There is also a Corel Draw file and Illustrator file.  Use whichever file works for your laser cutter.  I was using an Epilog laser cutter at a speed and power setting of 5 and 100.  I cut my pieces out of 1/4"-thick plywood.

If you'd like to adjust the size of the pieces, you can edit the slot_size and slot_depth variables in the text file "slot_variables.txt".  Editing the numbers in this file will automatically update the CAD model.

You can make a lot of different shapes with the construction kit pieces.  The images below outline the steps for making a sphere.  Play around with the pieces to make new shapes!