Fastening and Attaching

The biggest advantage to heat staking is that it's permanent, so if you need to make sure that something absolutely will not move or disconnect, heat staking is the way to go. For example, if I wanted to build a rocket or a house and only had these three options of attaching the walls to the ceiling, I would use heat staking because I don't want my house to collapse on me or my rocket to fall apart or allow air inside (such as it might if you connect the ceiling with loose pegs and slots or piano wire) in space. The drawback of heat staking is also that it's permanent. If you realize you mess up, there's no way to disconnect the pieces and start over. Another drawback that my partner and I realized while working on our well windlass is that it may not work for complex pieces. You may not be able to fit certain pieces into the machine because of its structure.

Piano wire is useful for connecting things because it allows movement. You can use it to make hinges so that a part can swivel back and forth. It would be useful for making things like doors and windows. A possible drawback is drilling too large of a hole or a hole too close to the edge of a part and needing to start over.

Slots and pegs are very useful if you have parts that you want to be able to continually disconnect and reconnect. For example, my phone case snaps together so that I can take it off to clean my screen or remove my battery.  One downside to slots and pegs is that the laser cutter doesn't actually cut the dimensions you enter in SolidWorks, so the fit may be looser than you expected and the pieces disconnect unintentionally. This is something you have to account for when designing your part in SolidWorks.

Tight bushings would be useful if you want the bushing to move very little on its own, but still be able to remove it with a tool. For example, if you put a toilet seat cover on a toilet and attach it with a screw, you might put a tight bushing on the bottom of the screw because you don't want your toilet seat rotating all over the place. Loose bushings are nice if you want the bushing to move up and down the rod easily. If I have something like a piston that needs to move quickly and easily, I'd put it in a loose bushing.

Press bushings measured approximately 6.29 mm +/- .10 mm. Snug bushings measured 6.40 mm +/- .15 mm. Loose slots measured 0.138 in +/- .001 in. Snug slots measured approximately 0.1315 in +/- .0005 in.

Slots that were supposed to measure 0.135 in. measured (on average) 0.138 in. Slots that were supposed to measure 0.125 in. measured 0.1315 in. Slots that were supposed to measure 0.115 in. measured 0.121 in.  The peg measured 0.128 in. and fit best in the "0.125 in." (actually 0.1315 in.) slots. It's important to note that a 0.128 in. peg, for example, would not fit in a 0.128 in. slot. You have to allow a little extra room when deciding the width of the slot. You also must keep in mind that the laser cutter will cut slots somewhere between 0.003 in. and 0.007 in. wider than you specified in SolidWorks.

Using the drill

Using the thermal press