Plug34.dat and related parts discussion

[Javier Orquera]

Per Magnus suggestion, I open this thread and hope to clarify what I do:

This is the real life part 4110(?)/4707 and Flash Ligth Unit:

   
   
   

Essentially, the plugs have the same shape; and here is my proposal to the plugs:

"New" shape of plug34
   

m_plug
   

4707s02
   

990b
   

As you can see, I think it's "better" with this "new" shape of plug34.

For the remaining parts (u9018, u9019, u9134 and u9146), I reworked them all (based on BL images) and the result is:"

u9018
   
u9018s01
   
u9018s02
   
u9019
   
u9134
   
u9146
   
u9146s01
   

u9018s01 is used on all the parts; u9018s02 is used in u9018, u9019 and u9134 and u9146s01 in u9146.

Part 4353.dat: according to images from internet, I think it needed to be adapted to some of the above parts.

Finaly: if these goes as I planed, there is no problem on submiting the parts.

[Rene Rechthaler]

Why is the new plug version unrotated again? most plugs are wildly slanted (the slots)...
Also the rotated version was able to keep most parts of the outer shell as prims.
I would suggest to delete the bottom edges and faces of the latest version and make two adapters, one with these bottom edges and faces and one with the outer steps (like u9018s02) but made of prims.

Edit: made suggested versions (plug without bottom, plug bottom and wide bottom)
feel free to use, edit and comment...

[Rene Rechthaler]

Checked my parts: only the pin slots of plugs are aligned, pin slots of the bigger parts (switches and the light unit) are slanted...

So I made a new adapter with aligned slots:
   

at the top of the file are the connections (here coloured blue):
   

normally that ring face from pin to socket is chamfered, but there are no availiable prims for that.

[Magnus Forsberg]

a.)
If you remove the full cylinder, and have the bottom surface at the xy-plane, it will better as a scalable prim.

b.)
   

The edge prim you removed can't be in the edited file. It needs to be included in the metallic pin.
The edge prim will inherrit the colour of the part, and will not look correct for a user using the alternative colour file with coloured edges.
In my image there are red edges on the metallic pin.

[Javier Orquera]

a.)
If you remove the full cylinder, and have the bottom surface at the xy-plane, it will better as a scalable prim.

What about if I inline the cyli with edge (in the respective parts) and left the "plug", so it can achieve what you want?

[Rene Rechthaler]

made two more bottom adapters (based on ada):

with inner edgelines (for long pins) and outer edgelines (for short pins with flange).

made with 1-16 and 3-16 prims to be substitutable...

[Javier Orquera]

Hello: this is my latest "try" to do the files correct; don't know if my files can be submited but I hope it can, specialy plug34.dat

[Steffen]

thanks for posting a link to this thread at
https://library.ldraw.org/tracker/32619

I hope we can resolve the plug issues in a discussion here.

For me it is a no-go to have a plug primitive with slanted slots.
Imagine, we would have a rectangle primitive which would be slightly rotated and not positioned aligned with the grid axes.
That's a no-go.
The same goes for me for the plug primitive.
It needs to have its slots vertically and horizontally aligned with the coordinate grid.
As primitives can use higher precision than normal parts, there should not really be rounding errors,
because the plug just gets positioned in its parent parts 1:1 and is not scaled up or down.
Also, it would be used there again with vertical slots, so there should not be a rounding problem.

For this reason I like the solution posted now by Javier, where the slots are vertical again in plug34.

[Rene Rechthaler]

what about this? only the electric plugs have aligned slots.
   
ring adapter from rotated r3.5 (plug34) to unrotated r4
or just check my other adapters some posts above...

[Steffen]

no, I don't think we need an adapter.

just have plug34 with proper vertical slots and use it in parts.
that's it.

[Javier Orquera]

Per the question made by Steffen here https://library.ldraw.org/tracker/32703, I show a comparison between the real life plugs and my versions:


  electric pin 1_3.png (Size: 104.69 KB / Downloads: 40)       


  electric pin 2.png (Size: 55.14 KB / Downloads: 40)      

In blue is my s/u9018s01.dat, for u9019, u9134 and u9146. The subfile can be converted into a primitive: if converted, it needed to be changed both file name and description (this apply to my plug34.dat).
Also, the s/u9018s01.dat is used in my u9018.dat.

Any comment?

[Steffen]

thank you for this detailed info.
to me, this looks all good, and I think we should update plug34.dat so that it represents these plugs.
I suggest to create 2 variants:
- the existing plug34.dat used for the SHORTER plug
- create a NEW plug34b.dat for the LONGER plug

Note here that the slots are either rotated 0° or 45° but not 11.25°.

[Rene Rechthaler]

but what about the slanted one for the fixed non-plug parts?