Assembling a TrussLab frame

What export gives you#

After export, you have printed joints and attachments, stock tubes to cut to the listed lengths, and catalogue hardware listed in the assembly BOM. Catalogue hardware can include fasteners as well as mated motors, cameras, electronics, and other Foreign parts. This page explains how those pieces go together.

Free attachments are manufactured like other attachment bodies: they enter the printable-part package and can be joined through explicit Attachment Connections. An assembly mate only records alignment and dependency, so a mated catalogue part stays separate from printed geometry and must be installed during assembly.

Sleeves and clamps are common fastening systems, but the catalogue also contains motor mounts, idler housings, captive-nut blocks, and other fittings. Read each attachment's description and inspect its separate manufactured bodies and hardware before assembly.

Choose the construction method#

For ordinary round-tube sleeve and clamp builds, the stock normally has square ends. Printed parts supply the junction geometry. Bonded sleeves need adhesive preparation; bolted designs need their specified bolts, inserts, and installation tools.

Optional Fitted link ends instead describe mitered or coped stock for fitted and welded joints. These require the modeled end contours and a fabrication process suitable for the stock and joint. A tube cutter makes square cuts; it does not produce a cope or an angled miter. Rectangular and open-section stock also need appropriate cutting and workholding tools.

Cut the stock#

Use the stock information in the export manifest. For ordinary sleeve builds, its lengths account for how far stock seats inside joints. For shaped ends, inspect the exported complete member as well as its blank length: the uniform central span shown by the editor is not the whole finished piece. Export combines the centre and both shaped ends into one manufactured member.

For square-ended tube in sleeves, cut square and deburr the ends so they seat without shaving material off the printed socket. A tube cutter or saw suited to that stock can prepare the cut. Check dimensions, section orientation, and access before cutting a batch.

For suitable round metal tube, a tube cutter offers a quiet square-cut workflow without saw chips. A 3D printer, suitable cutter, and the chosen adhesive can support a bonded sleeve build. Hardware installation, other stock profiles, and fitted or welded joints have their own tool and process requirements.

Bonded sleeve joints#

Slip-on sleeves, including the plain tube sleeve, flanged sleeves, and the joints generated from them, slide over the tube end and are bonded in place with a structural adhesive. Two-part epoxy and MMA (methyl methacrylate) adhesives both work well; this is the same class of adhesive used to bond metal and composite tube assemblies.

The sliding fit is designed, not a printing error. The clearance between tube and sleeve is where the adhesive lives, so a sleeve that slips on without force is correct. Degrease the tube end, abrade it lightly, apply adhesive to both surfaces, seat the tube fully, and leave the joint unloaded for the adhesive's stated cure time.

Bonded joints suit permanent assemblies that do not need to come apart. Verify the joint with your actual printing, stock, and bonding process.

End-bolted sleeves#

The current End-Bolted Sleeve is for hollow round tube. It exports two separate printed bodies: the outer Sleeve Body and an inner Plug. Only the outer sleeve participates in Attachment Connections; the plug must also be printed and installed.

Install one matching long heat-set insert in the plug's axial bore, following the insert's installation requirements. The current preset uses the catalogue's SPIROL Series 29 Long dimensions and has lead-ins at both bore entrances. The insert can be installed through either entrance; it is one purchased item, rather than one insert per entrance.

Secure the plug inside the tube at the recess shown by the model, then dry-fit the sleeve against the tube cut face. Insert the matching socket-cap bolt from the outward-facing seat so its thread points inward toward the plug. Confirm bolt length, engagement, and tool access against the modeled hardware before tightening. The plug, sleeve, insert, and bolt are distinct assembly items.

Bolted and snap-on clamps#

Clamps are the no-preparation system: nothing is done to the tube at all. The two-piece bolted clamp and the single-bolt clamp close around the tube and are tightened with bolts; their bolt bosses are sized for heat-set threaded inserts, which you install into the printed part with a soldering iron before first use. The snap-on clamp needs no hardware; it snaps over the tube through its wedge opening.

Because the tube stays untouched, clamps can be added, removed, and repositioned on an assembled frame: any position along the tube, at any rotation angle. They are the system to reach for when a mount needs to move, or when you are attaching things to a frame that is already bonded together.

Dry-fit first#

Assemble the whole frame dry before any adhesive comes out. Check that every tube seats fully in its socket, that the frame closes without forcing members, and that you have an assembly order where every joint stays reachable. On a closed, fully triangulated frame the order matters, since the last members must still have room to slide into their sleeves.

Bonding and welding are permanent assembly steps. Check fit and assembly order before either; use the process required by your chosen construction method.

The strength a finished frame actually achieves depends on your printing and bonding process. The load testing guide describes a canonical fixture for measuring it with your own parts.

Design your own fastening#

The catalogue also includes a Heat-Set Insert Pad, Square Nut Channel Block, motor mounts, and GT2 idler housings. A captive-nut block receives a purchased square nut; an insert pocket receives a separate heat-set insert. Use On-guide placement for captive nuts and fixed installation mates for insert pockets. Hardware is always placed explicitly. The linear-guide exercise introduces purchased-part placement and travel.

Attachments are ordinary authorable parts. In the Attachment Editor you define their geometry and reusable contract, including parent inputs, connection ports, and clearances. A custom fastening idea such as a different insert standard, a printed thread, a pinned joint, or a bayonet fitting can become a reusable attachment like any other.

If you develop a fastening approach that works well, that is exactly the kind of thing the catalogue is meant to grow around. Tell us about it by writing to info@trusslab.ai or joining the Discord, and we will gladly help promote good community fastening systems into catalogue presets so other builders can use them too.