A Cross Joint is the intersection of the ends of four pipes at equal angular spacing.
One template is generated that needs to be used on four pipes to create this joint.
Since the same template is used on all the pipes in the joint, the triangle alignment mark on one pipe needs to be aligned with the diamond alignment mark on the next pipe.
Parameter Constraints:
Joint Name: name of this joint which is unique to this project or currently opened joints
Pipe OD: (Outside Diameter) must be a positive number
Pipe Wall: (Wall Thickness) must be a positive number, less than half Pipe OD
Number of Pipes: Must be a positive number. Previous versions of the software always used 4 pipes for a simple cross.
Slope: Must not be a negative number. The Slope of each pipe away from parallel. Use zero for a all the pipes to be in a single plane.
Creative Uses:
If you want three pipes to form a wye instead of being evenly spaced, use the Wye Joint.
For more complex intersections having various angles, use the Mitered Node Joint.
To make a 90 degree square corner from three identical pipe cuts, set the Number of Pipes to 3 and the Slope to 35.264 deg. See table below.
To make a platonic solid frame, enter Number of Pipes and Slope from this table:
| Shape | Faces | Edges | Corners | Number of Pipes | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tetrahedron | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 54.736 deg |
| Cube | 6 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 35.264 deg |
| Octahedron | 8 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 45 deg |
| Dodecahedron | 12 | 30 | 20 | 3 | 20.964 deg |
| Icosahedron | 20 | 30 | 12 | 5 | 31.717 deg |