Hello and circle help
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Hi all! I just downloaded and installed SU8. It is nice to be able to model the stuff I've been doing in 2D for awhile now without shelling out a fortune. And so far it seems pretty simple to use and understand.
I've encountered a bit of a problem in using it, though. I did a few hours of searching here and elsewhere on the web and found a lot of almost-related topics, but not quite what I am looking for. I have created a cylinder, in this case a bearing. I made it a component, so that I can copy it and use it in several locations in this model. But I haven't figured out how to place it next to a flat surface. I need it to roll (in real life) across a surface, but I end up with it not touching the surface, even taking into account the facetation, or one of the edges extends through the surface. I tried to put a reference line out at a distance equal to the radius from the surface and then trying to place the center point on the reference line, but I haven't figured out how to get the center point to show up whenever I need it.
Thanks in advance for any assistance that somebody can provide.
Dave
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Hi, Dave:
Regarding the center point of the cylinder: Even without opening the group or component, select Move, mouse over the edge of the cylinder in a couple of points, and then in the central region of the circle, you should see a prompt for center, or point at center. If you right click on the group or component and select Edit either one, then select the circular edge, if I am not mistaken, when you right click you should see the context menu item point at center. Clicking this will place a Cpoint at center. Similarly, in case you meant the midpoint of one of the hidden edges on the cylinder, mouse over and explore along this edge until you see a tool tip for midpoint. I would draw a line from that midpoint on the adjacent face to mark it for positioning as you wish.
Hope this helps, and if you have further questions, please do respond.
Incidentally, the edge on the surface of the cylinder represents the radius of the circle, even though Sketchup "facetizes" curved surfaces. -
Thanks! That helps. I was finding that as I moved the cursor around the circumference, the midpoint of each facet was displayed. I don't think I've ever seen the midpoint that corresponds to the axis orientation, but I'll play with it some more.
Dave
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