Tutorial AD: A laser-cut tray with tabs and slots

Source	The LCInterlocking add-on’s own workflow (its interlocking and export guides). NX has no laser-cut application, and the tray is ours
You learn	Application › Laser Cut, panels as Part solids, Tabs and Slots, the kerf, Export Flat Parts, an SVG for the cutter
Sizes	3 mm sheet; a 120 × 80 base; two 120 × 40 long walls on it; two short walls (74 × 40) between them

Step by step

1. The Laser Cut application

Ctrl+N, then Application › Laser Cut. The Home tab has the add-on’s commands under NX-style names (Laser Cut).

2. Five panels

Click Block five times and type each block’s size and position into its properties:

Panel	Length × Width × Height	Position
Base	120 × 80 × 3	0, 0, 0
Front	120 × 3 × 40	0, 0, 3
Back	120 × 3 × 40	0, 77, 3
Left	3 × 74 × 40	0, 3, 3
Right	3 × 74 × 40	117, 3, 3

Panel

Length × Width × Height

Position

Base

120 × 80 × 3

0, 0, 0

Front

120 × 3 × 40

0, 0, 3

Back

120 × 3 × 40

0, 77, 3

Left

3 × 74 × 40

0, 3, 3

Right

3 × 74 × 40

117, 3, 3

The walls stand on the base, and the short walls sit between the long ones. The add-on works best with Part solids such as these. It ignores a PartDesign Body’s own placement, so a moved Body would be joined in the wrong place.

3. Tabs and Slots

Tabs and Slots. In its task panel, select the five panels and click Add parts. Each panel is found to be 3 mm thick.

Then select the eight faces where a panel meets another: the bottom face of each wall, and both end faces of each short wall. Choose Tab and click Add faces. Each face gets one 10 mm tab (the panel’s default), and the panel it touches gets the slot.

4. OK

MB2. The five joined parts replace the panels, which are kept hidden in a group. The volume grows by 14.4 mm³: eight tabs, each 0.2 mm wider than its slot (the kerf, thickness ÷ 15), so the parts press-fit after cutting.

5. Flat parts for the cutter

Select the five joined parts and click Export Flat Parts. A new document has them lying flat side by side, each 3 mm thick, with a 2D outline of each. File › Export writes the outlines as SVG (or DXF) for the laser cutter.

The replay

#	In the book (NX)	In FreeCAD NX-Style	Result	Notes
AD1	File > New (Ctrl+N)	Ctrl+N	same	new document ['Unnamed']
AD2	Application > Laser Cut	ribbon 'Application > Laser Cut'	differs	application laser_cut; tabs ['Home', 'Analysis', 'View', 'Tools', 'PLM', 'Application']; commands not found none. NX has no laser-cut application: NX-Style adds one on the LCInterlocking add-on (bundled), with Panel Box, Tabs and Slots, Cross Halving, Living Hinge and Export Flat Parts
AD3	Five 3 mm panels: a 120 x 80 base, two 120 x 40 long walls, two short walls between them	ribbon 'Home > Panel > Block' five times; sizes and positions typed into the properties	differs	5 Part solids ['Back', 'Base', 'Front', 'Left', 'Right']. FreeCAD’s Block makes a 10 mm cube to edit, NX’s asks for the sizes first. Part solids: LCInterlocking ignores a moved PartDesign Body’s placement
AD4	Tabs and Slots: select the five panels, Add parts	ribbon 'Home > Joint > Tabs and Slots', the panels picked, the panel’s 'Add parts' button	differs	5 parts, thickness found [3.0] mm. The add-on’s own task panel (its names: Add parts, Add faces); it reads each panel’s thickness from its two largest faces
AD5	The eight faces where panels meet: Add faces, type Tab	the four walls' bottom faces and the short walls' four ends picked, 'Tab', 'Add faces'	differs	8 tab joints; one 10 mm tab per face (the panel’s default). The face picked is the tab’s side; the panel it touches gets the slot
AD6	OK: the panels with their tabs and slots	MB2 = OK	same	5 parts, each one solid: True; volume 75360.0 → 75374.5 mm^3 (tabs add what the slots remove, plus the kerf allowance); parts overlap by 27.85 mm^3 in all, the kerf allowance of the tabs. The originals are kept, hidden, in a group
AD7	Export Flat Parts: the parts laid flat, side by side, with their outlines	the joined parts selected, ribbon 'Home > Output > Export Flat Parts'	differs	new document ['export_shape']: 5 parts, each 3 mm thick and lying flat: True; none overlapping: True; 5 2D outlines (Draft Shape2DView). NX would flatten each body and export its face; the add-on does all of them at once
AD8	Export the outlines for the laser cutter (File > Export)	the outlines exported as SVG (FreeCAD’s importSVG, what File > Export > SVG runs)	differs	Tray_flat.svg: 108 paths for 5 outlines, 28612 bytes. NX writes DXF from File > Export; FreeCAD writes DXF the same way, SVG needs no extra library

In the book (NX)

In FreeCAD NX-Style

Result

Notes

AD1

File > New (Ctrl+N)

Ctrl+N

same

new document ['Unnamed']

AD2

Application > Laser Cut

ribbon 'Application > Laser Cut'

differs

application laser_cut; tabs ['Home', 'Analysis', 'View', 'Tools', 'PLM', 'Application']; commands not found none. NX has no laser-cut application: NX-Style adds one on the LCInterlocking add-on (bundled), with Panel Box, Tabs and Slots, Cross Halving, Living Hinge and Export Flat Parts

AD3

Five 3 mm panels: a 120 x 80 base, two 120 x 40 long walls, two short walls between them

ribbon 'Home > Panel > Block' five times; sizes and positions typed into the properties

differs

5 Part solids ['Back', 'Base', 'Front', 'Left', 'Right']. FreeCAD’s Block makes a 10 mm cube to edit, NX’s asks for the sizes first. Part solids: LCInterlocking ignores a moved PartDesign Body’s placement

AD4

Tabs and Slots: select the five panels, Add parts

ribbon 'Home > Joint > Tabs and Slots', the panels picked, the panel’s 'Add parts' button

differs

5 parts, thickness found [3.0] mm. The add-on’s own task panel (its names: Add parts, Add faces); it reads each panel’s thickness from its two largest faces

AD5

The eight faces where panels meet: Add faces, type Tab

the four walls' bottom faces and the short walls' four ends picked, 'Tab', 'Add faces'

differs

8 tab joints; one 10 mm tab per face (the panel’s default). The face picked is the tab’s side; the panel it touches gets the slot

AD6

OK: the panels with their tabs and slots

MB2 = OK

same

5 parts, each one solid: True; volume 75360.0 → 75374.5 mm^3 (tabs add what the slots remove, plus the kerf allowance); parts overlap by 27.85 mm^3 in all, the kerf allowance of the tabs. The originals are kept, hidden, in a group

AD7

Export Flat Parts: the parts laid flat, side by side, with their outlines

the joined parts selected, ribbon 'Home > Output > Export Flat Parts'

differs

new document ['export_shape']: 5 parts, each 3 mm thick and lying flat: True; none overlapping: True; 5 2D outlines (Draft Shape2DView). NX would flatten each body and export its face; the add-on does all of them at once

AD8

Export the outlines for the laser cutter (File > Export)

the outlines exported as SVG (FreeCAD’s importSVG, what File > Export > SVG runs)

differs

Tray_flat.svg: 108 paths for 5 outlines, 28612 bytes. NX writes DXF from File > Export; FreeCAD writes DXF the same way, SVG needs no extra library

Result	Means
same	The book’s NX steps work as written.
differs	It works, but the FreeCAD way is different; the notes say how.
limit	The book’s way fails in FreeCAD itself; a workaround follows in the next steps.
missing	FreeCAD has no such function; a stand-in follows.
skipped	Not replayed; the notes give the reason.
FAILED	Did not work.

Result

Means

same

The book’s NX steps work as written.

differs

It works, but the FreeCAD way is different; the notes say how.

limit

The book’s way fails in FreeCAD itself; a workaround follows in the next steps.

missing

FreeCAD has no such function; a stand-in follows.

skipped

Not replayed; the notes give the reason.

FAILED

Did not work.

What differs from NX

NX has no laser-cut application. In NX the tabs and slots would be extrudes and subtracts on each body, and the flat parts would come from exporting each body’s face.
The replay types the panels' sizes into their properties. FreeCAD’s Block first makes a 10 mm cube, while NX’s Block asks for the sizes before it makes the block.