Help Making a trestle base for table

TIG

Use some temporary groups - OR probably better - components for use as the final parts that are assembled to make the table...
Use the Tapemeasure tool to add some guide lines - on the mid-point of an unbroken side and the raking legs etc, they intersect centrally.
I then grouped the verticals face and move it by the center of the short end onto the intersection so it lines up as desired 'centrally'.

and overlap [+].

You can explode the group and add in edges to re=face and erase unwanted, but it' probably be quicker to erase the 'wrong' vertical edges and the offset two guides to the sides of the vertical center-guide and draw new lines over these to delineate the vertical element.
Using Guide lines can be a quick and easy way to set out center-lines, parallel offsets and element widths, thicknesses, lengths, rakes etc.
Using offset guides would ensure that all parts are the same dimension, because tou can type that in exactly for each one...
I recommend you get used to using 'guides' are part of your tools' arsenal...

Dave R

What is the plan for your model? Is it just to have a table or are you after the parts so you can use it as a plan to build one?

I drew this one not long ago. It will probably get turned into a plan for building at some point. So in this model every part is a component.
[xxl-img:17fj0ymx]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7056/6804148540_65c414cd8f_b.jpg[/xxl-img:17fj0ymx]

I started by laying out a few guidelines for one leg and drew the one leg. I copied and flipped it to make the counterpart and these were copied to the opposite end of the table. The stretcher was put in after the legs were put into place.

cmartin

No, I'm not building a table in real life. I wish I was that talented. I'm having my students build a table. Flickr is blocked here, so I'll have to wait till I get home to take a look at the photo.

Thanks guys. I figured out the guide lines thing. Awesome! I'll definitely be using them more often...super handy!

Dave R

Sorry about the photo.

So at least the model you are building is for something that will become real?

cmartin

@dave r said:

Sorry about the photo.

So at least the model you are building is for something that will become real?

No. I'm teaching my students sketchup. I knew how to kind of make a trestle base, that was not perfect...but the guide lines thing is much better and will come in handy when we do our other projects.

Dave R

Ah. I see. So what's the situation on using plugins? Fredo's FredoScale plugin has a very helpful tool for making the diagonal legs. if the exact width of the legs is important.

pilou

Yes this one is terrific! FredoScale

or a variation

cmartin

@dave r said:

Ah. I see. So what's the situation on using plugins? Fredo's FredoScale plugin has a very helpful tool for making the diagonal legs. if the exact width of the legs is important.

I can install some, but I have to have our tech install them. I'm not allowed to do it. And then, if a computer needs to be reimaged, usually they need to be reinstalled. So, anything that I can do with the regular tools easily, i would rather do it that way if possible. That said, I do use some tools. We use the lines to cylinder tools when we do our park project. If it really can't be done easily without tools, I will use them.

Gaieus

@cmartin said:

...Flickr is blocked here, so I'll have to wait till I get home to take a look at the photo...

@dave r said:

Sorry about the photo...

Dave, for God's sake, why are you not attaching your images straight to the posts? We have so many "dead topics" (even yours) because of people "cleaning up ~unused~ or ~unnecessary~ photos" on their external storage space.

Dave R

One reason is because there's a limit to the number of images I can upload for a single post. The tutorial I did the other night would be spread over three or four posts. I do sometimes upload them directly.

Gaieus

Dave, please, let me know how many images you want to attach and i will be glad to fix the allowed number (actually, it is quite high now as this issue turned up when attaching the needed number images to the speed modelling contest was problematic). The current number of allowed attachments is 20. This should be enough for most of the tutorials IMO but if you need more, we can talk about it in BC.

But you know what? On the new site, you will be able to easily create tutorials in seconds and you will only link back to them on the forums. (That is when we also introduce this feature).

(And on the new forums, you can keep adding attachments with that + sign which is broken here so there is no excuse)

Rich O Brien

Flickr

Slow to load....very slow

Sorry Dave, but when I see Flickr embeds I go make coffee

Dave R

Funny. They are slow for me and this is the first time I've ever had anyone tell me that. I've been using Flickr for many years but only now does it seem to be a problem. I'll refrain from posting images until the new site is active, then. It should all be fast then.

Gaieus

@dave r said:

I'll refrain from posting images until the new site is active, then. It should all be fast then.

That is two days from now. Please, save them and keep them at hand.

DanYHKim

@cmartin said:

@dave r said:

Ah. I see. So what's the situation on using plugins? Fredo's FredoScale plugin has a very helpful tool for making the diagonal legs. if the exact width of the legs is important.

I can install some, but I have to have our tech install them. I'm not allowed to do it. And then, if a computer needs to be reimaged, usually they need to be reinstalled. So, anything that I can do with the regular tools easily, i would rather do it that way if possible. That said, I do use some tools. We use the lines to cylinder tools when we do our park project. If it really can't be done easily without tools, I will use them.

I have a similar problem. I do not have admin rights on the lab computers, and so cannot install plugins. It turns out, if the lab computers have SketchUp installed, you can run a different instance of SketchUp from a USB drive.

On my home computer, I install SketchUp, plugins, components and materials bonus packs and other stuff that I want. After installation, I copy the "Google SketchUp 8" folder onto my flash drive. I also copy the Preferences.dat file that I generated when I created custom keyboard shortcuts, since I like having my shortcuts with me, but they do not get transferred automatically.

On the lab computer, I can run Sketchup.exe from the flash drive, and I have my plugins and components libraries available to me. I think this only works if my USB Flash version of SketchUp is a good match for the version already installed on the lab computer. Still, it works pretty well. It can be a little slow for some functions, because the computer is accessing the USB drive for the program, instead of the hard drive, but I can live with it. I think, if you do not have Admin rights, you can still copy your customized SketchUp program folder onto the computer desktop or some other location where you have access, then run the Sketchup.exe file from there, or even create a shortcut to the alternate location.

I made a video showing how I do this. It is a boring video, and I don't really get to the meat of the matter until 5:40. I seem to be the only one who does this. If it works for you, please report it on this thread. Thanks

[flash=425,344:3feltu5m]https://www.youtube.com/v/0VQmkz-MraA[/flash:3feltu5m]

DanYHKim

Getting back to the initial question: You're trying to make a trestle table base using rectangles that are of the same width?

If I am not misunderstanding things, I would figure that I would:

Make a single rectangle to represent one leg. Make it extra long.
Make this rectangle into a group
Use my Rotate tool to rotate this rectangle group about its center
1. Press the CTRL key to make this a Rotate-Copy action
2. Rotate the copy of the rectangle to the desired angle
3. Do this again for the opposite leg
Edit the rectangle groups
1. Adjust their lengths
2. Trim the angled ones so they are flat and horizontal on top and bottom
3. Push/Pull them to make them 3D

This would be a useful classroom exercise that demonstrates:

Isolation of geometries using groups
Use of Rotate tool and use of CTRL to modify a Rotate into a Copy/Rotate action
Editing within a Group
External Guidelines to guide editing in a group

(sorry, I'm too lazy to learn how to do list formatting)

Jean Lemire

Hi Dave, hi folks.

To avoid the problem of multiple images I choose the multi scenes skptutorial files.

This means that I have to upload only one file.

Just ideas.