How to rotate object axis, leaving the object intact? I need to adjust/rotate the axis of the object, not affecting the object rotation. Only rotate the axis. Is it possible, and how?

Explanation: As you can see on the image. I have a network of balls and connectors. I duplicated these elements using Shift+D and then rotated and adjusted so it all creates this network shape. Now I want to continue duplicating and adding more to the network, but now the axis are all messed up already. As drawn on the image, I can't rotate the one connector down anymore (marked in red). The axis are messed up. So I need to adjust the axis, so I can rotate around one of the axis, doesn't matter which one. I know about the Transform Orientation tools in the N panel. But I can't find any element which would produce the correct axis rotation.

Side note: The build up of the network is animated. In fact the connector has to build up along a correct axis. I do it using shape keys.
I propose another approach, trying to simplify your issue.

It uses curves and hook:



How to set it up:


Create a segment (starting from a plane)
Place each extremity to the center of spheres
Turn it to curve AltC
Hook CtrlH each to the corresponding sphere


The hook works like this:


Select the object to hook to
Shift select the object to hook
Enter edit mode
Select the vertex to hook
Hook CtrlH
And choose "to selected object"




After that, depending on your needs, you can turn the curves back to meshes or keep them and animate using "start" or "end" bevel options in the curve properties panel (that can replace the shape key animation you talked about).