Shopsmith Forums

Thanks! I'll check it out.. I got stuck on the first step and will need to step back to figure out what I messed up -- the push/pull tool bit me -- I've used it before when playing around w/ Sketchup but perhaps I missed something.. No biggie..

Tom -

Just for reference in tutorial #1, the following path is where the tutorials reside in an OSX install of Sketchup 7 :

Anyone using this? Looks way cool.

http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder

mbcabinetmaker wrote:Anyone using this? Look way cool.

http://www.smustard.com/script/ProfileBuilder

Darn it. This is not in my budget at all. What am I to do? How can I sneak this in? Hmmm. Maybe a suggestion for an early birthday present.

I only saw one deficiency. The profile library doesn't include the front and rear rails for the 520. Having said that, I now have to see if I can build and store (for reuse) those profiles. So much to do and so little time! Why oh why did I not start all of this when I was young and vital.

tom_k/mo wrote:Lessons 4 and 5 discuss creating and using components. As far as any future lessons, I'm more than willing to do more... How about some feedback from the community as to what you'd like covered from this point?

Thank you for the tutorials. I am trying to figure out how to dimension the components when I need more than a 2D view, such as the B-Rail in tutorial 5. How do you handle the dimensioning of complex components?

MikeG wrote:Thank you for the tutorials. I am trying to figure out how to dimension the components when I need more than a 2D view, such as the B-Rail in tutorial 5. How do you handle the dimensioning of complex components?

Mike, I don't know that the B) Rail would be that difficult to dimension. Remember, most of the shaping is done by a router bit and that doesn't really need to be dimensioned since it's a single bit that controls most all of it. Mostly all that needs to be dimensioned is the overall height/width/length of the rail. Running that through the router will create all the other shapes.

That being said, for complex items that are NOT created by a router pass, you can dimension things in a 3D view, it doesn't have to be a 2D view, or you can create a set of 3 2D views (Top, Front, Side) for the item with all the dimensions. Each of the views would be a separate scene which would contain it's own view orientation and it's own set of dimension text.

Thank you so much for the lessons. Also thank you everyone for their input on this thread.

I did my first complete drawing today. It was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I have a couple of things to fix. But I am very happy with my progress.

What I like most about sketchup is the ability to make each part and then put them together see how they fit.

My wife wants a dresser (we talked about this on another thread) and a daybed. She likes this design and is ok with me spending money on wood and a few tools. (more clamps, router bits etc.)

Can components developed in one project be saved and then used by a different project. If so would someone try to explain how or give me a pointer to a tutorial that does that.

Stitch wrote:Can components developed in one project be saved and then used by a different project. If so would someone try to explain how or give me a pointer to a tutorial that does that.

Yes you can, that's the whole idea behind components. Check HERE

Tom, I never did thank you for the great tutorials for sketchup that you produced. I went through them all and after that I went to youtube to find more information (youtube is a gold mine!). That all got me up and running with the program, but I felt I needed a book for reference. So off to Barnes and Noble... I spent 40 bucks for a book to call me a dummy.
I really like Sketchup too. It's a lot easier to learn and use than MicroStation Modeler that I used for years.
Thank you again for introducing me to a powerful tool and helping me to learn it.