Booleans

mcescher · 12 Sept 2012, 19:22

Hi all,
I was wondering if there is a shorter way to subtract several groups/components from a different group/component. I am dealing with a woodworking project and need to create bunch of countersunk holes + pilot holes. I created a void for that purpose and used subtract command, but it takes long time to create all of those holes...
Thanks in advance...

Dave R · 12 Sept 2012, 20:07

I have need to do this fairly regularly--countersunk screw holes in wood. I dislike the Solid tools for many operations because they convert my components to groups and break relationships. I create a countersunk hole component with its axes set so I can drop the holes in exactly where I want them. I place them on the "board" where I need them to be with the board component open for editing. Then I explode the hole components and delete the skins over the holes as needed. It sounds like a lot of work but it goes quite rapidly and the result is still a component so all the other identical pieces have those same holes in them.

There are other strategies I use that involve creating only part of a board with the holes and copying that part to make the rest but that might just be confusing if you aren't proficient at SketchUp.

mcescher · 13 Sept 2012, 12:38

Thank you very much, Dave.
I was wondering if you (or anybody) knows a plugin for that task.

Dave R · 13 Sept 2012, 12:43

There's one I know of for drilling holes but it doesn't draw them with countersinks and I found it somewhat difficult to use. It was faster to draw circles and punch the holes with Push/Pull.

An alternative would be to make a component of the screw hole with hole-cutting capability. That would would make it look like there are holes but they wouldn't really be there.

You're Superman, you should be able to do anything without a plugin.

mcescher · 13 Sept 2012, 12:47

Yeeah, shooting gamma rays and being super strong do not help in SU, though.
Thank you very much again.
Now, I need to go back to work (as super-boring Clark, of course...)

pilou · 13 Sept 2012, 13:47

just a concept

There are not booleans in V8 Pro ?

So make a tool like this : it's only one solid !
Cylinders can be anything !

So you can make somme Boolean differences

Handle can be anything following tastes