sketchup lets draw something together

[dusty]

Ed, when you were placing the reference lines, used to locate the ends of the ribs on the table top drawing, were you using a Sketchup function or did you simply draw lines that you later erased.

[reible]

Hi Dusty,

Well it looks like maybe I should have gone into that a bit more. I used guide lines, while it is hard to tell that from what I presented. I don't know if an option exists that would allow me to change the color so it would be clear in the screen captures...


Other packages I've used had a function of snapping to the guide line or not, sketchup from what I can tell has the function always on. So when I moved the part to the other end it snapped to the guide line...

If you haven't been using them you really need to start.

Ed

Ed, when you were placing the reference lines, used to locate the ends of the ribs on the table top drawing, were you using a Sketchup function or did you simply draw lines that you later erased.

[reible]

I'm glad that a few of you found this useful. I was hoping to jump start you so you can all start enjoying the program.

It was fun but time consuming to do this sort of lesson and my next project is the miter gauge... maybe a bit much for me to tackle much less try to write about... we will have to see just how hard this is. I'm again thinking of cheating a bit because it is just a model and no one is going to build one of these from a model.

Thta Boy! to who ever managed to learn something from the post... so Chuck I hope you don't mind me stealing your idea... I did change a couple of letters so it was not so noticeable.

Ed

[curiousgeorge]

Ed, when you were placing the reference lines, used to locate the ends of the ribs on the table top drawing, were you using a Sketchup function or did you simply draw lines that you later erased.

Dusty,
I hope Ed doesn't mind me jumping in here, but if so I do apologize.

The guide (reference) lines are placed using the "Tape Measure" tool. After they are no longer needed they can all be erased at once by going to the Edit menu and selecting "Delete Guides".
My thanks to Ed for taking the time to prepare and present this tutorial. You done goooood!

[reible]

Yes by all means add anything you want or add some more details... I just didn't want to get off on a tangent while trying to finish the initial posts.

Well be glad I didn't try to do the miter as a lesson... major video glitch and I lost the screen, the PC was up and working but but no video. I did a reboot then went back into sketchup but when it came up the center of the screen had a large rectangle hidden box covering over everything... at first I thought I was doomed as doomed could be but then decide to do a power down and fresh start to clear the memory. That worked but it happened twice more so I trashed that copy and went to one I had saved earlier. Did the same things I had done to get it up to day but this one seems to still work???? Some strange error??

Even with all that I was able to get something done and this is what the miter head looks like.

[ATTACH]2511[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]2512[/ATTACH]

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I spent time trying to get the numbers to be indented like on the real thing but I guess I don't know how to do that without it taking a very long time... So the numbers are up instead of down.... I also couldn't find a good way to make the tick marks so I went back and found a type style that had the right "I" look and used that.

I'm going to take the rest of the day off of sketchup and do some other things that need doing. I'll do the miter bar next and if there is interest I can have you work along like last time... I don't think that is going to be a big deal to do... If I do post the set by step it will be a new thread.

Ed

[dusty]

What does it tell an experienced user when a surface is "blue" when you expect it to be white?

[tom_k/mo]

I was playing a while ago and drew an Accessory Mounting Base. The only thing I didn't spend the time to do was build the casting flanges on the underside, it's built as if it's solid. Other than that, it is accurate, and could help you if you were laying out a storage area in your shop. I shared it with the 3D warehouse if anyone wants to use it. You can find it here...

[reible]

I like the base! I think I had better learn the method of doing those flowing shapes... what is that called? Any videos or instructions I should look for?

As far as those bases, I have only one. Most of the stuff works well with a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 screwed down. I don't have the planer, which I'm guessing is the heaviest of the add-on's or the band saw, but the belt sander, jig saw, scroll saw and strip sander are all happy with this simple holder.

I even just now modeled it:

[ATTACH]2522[/ATTACH]

Ed

[tom_k/mo]

I like the base! I think I had better learn the method of doing those flowing shapes... what is that called? Any videos or instructions I should look for? ...
Ed

Ed, there's 2 methods of "flowing shapes" in SketchUp that I know of, the first is called the Sandbox mode, and is used for "organic" shapes like meshes and terrains. Here's an example of what you can do with Sandbox tools.



The mesh on the left is "raw" and the one on the right is a direct copy of the one on the left that has been smoothed. There are tools that let you project onto the mesh surface, drop to the surface and push/pull into the surface. An interesting tool, but not what I'd use for something like the base.

To make the base, I used the Intersection tool. I first drew two shapes, the size and shape of the side view and top view of the base. I pushed these two shapes as shown here.



I then moved the two shapes so that they were on top of each other, selected all entities and did an Intersect Selected... (make sure the two objects are NOT grouped or combined first). It's then a simple matter of deleting the pieces you don't need. I then created a shape to match the front view profile, pushed that and did another intersect operation to finish the rough shape. Then drew a square, pulled it up and inset that into the front legs and did another intersect to get the recess for the front bolt heads. It really didn't take that long.