: I can't join lines in Illustrator. CMD-J gives an error We're doing a project for our university, where we have to lasercut some gears. We've found a template for our gears online, but somehow

@Vandalay110

This can be cleaned up with shape builder with some effort.


Just clear the clipping mask
Select everything and start clicking each area separately with the shape builder tool (Shift+M).
Once you have each shape separated select them with direct select tool by clicking (do not use a marque).
Then cut the shapes out (Ctrl+x)
Marque select everything hit delete and then paste in front.
(optional) Run path cleanup


Process takes about 4-5 minutes. OTOH it takes me 20 minutes to design the system in my CAD app so not really stellar.



Image 1: Slapped a bevel and emboss on top of the gear system after installing the inner sunring. For those who dont know this picture proves that the shapes were cleaned up or the bevel couldn't have made sense out of it all.

PS: Your circle involute curves are a bit on the coarse side for mechanical work! I sure hope your not cutting metal.

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@Gretchen549

I've never been a fan of the built-in join tool with Illustrator. I've resorted to using a 3rd-party script I found on the internet that works wonderfully. It's called JETJoinNearest. select two (or more) lines (not just the end nodes) and run the script, it will join the two nearest ends together into a single path.

Script: JETPaths

To install and run the script (OSX):


Place the script in the following folder:

/Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS6/Presets.localized/en_US/Scripts/
Restart illustrator and run the script by going File > Scripts > scriptname


Also, going File > Scripts > scriptname is annoying each time you want to run the script. On a mac, use Spark to setup a handy keyboard shortcut for the script (and any other oft-used illustrator menu items.)

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