Best way? Duplicating holes...

Nick W

Anybody have suggestions on the best way to go about duplicating holes in an object? Here's what I'm running into. The pic shows my original hole. If I select all of the lines involved in the square hole and copy them down the line, the squares show up, but the holes are still covered. I know that I could intersect and delete the insides to make holes, but if I'm duplicating this hole often or a large number of times is there a better way?

I've also tried making it into a group or component before copying but to no avail.

thanks in advance

Gaieus

Though that's the idea - converting it into a component - with guilg plane and the ability to cut hole. Then you can even just copy move the component by as many times as you want.

Nick W

Thanks, I just tried that out and I can get it to cut a hole in one surface, but not two.

Gaieus

Haha! If it were able to cut two holes on the opposite surfaces, all those whinings about wall thickness and components cutting holes in both faces would be solved by now!

Here1s a "Tut" or "contemplation" (or whatever you call it) that I made about it:
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=744

not registered yet

Nick,

If you copy the hole geometry, all you have to do is delete the faces that cover the openings at the two ends, a matter of a few seconds labor.

-Gully

alan wood

Hi Nick
Is this of any use.
http://www.hand-cut-dovetails.com/sketchup/repeatableholes002.skp

hope this link works
cheers
Alan
yep it does

Nick. I'm here for another 10 minutes if you have any questions.
Alan

alan wood

Nick
I think I have missed out one of the final steps. Once you have pushed the flat squares to the inner thickness, you then need to select each face,
1 The outer surface, delete that from the square
2 select the inner face, delete that. Because it is a component all the faces disappear.

If that does not work, I will do a better tutorial tomorrow morning.
cheers
Alan.
PS Still here for another 10 mins to see if that helps.

alan wood

Hi Nick,
I've had a bit more time this morning to work on this. This is the method that I have found that works. I am working on the computer for most of the morning. Any questions fire away, it just means my teach was not up to it.

a Work in x ray mode so you have a better idea of what you will
eventually be picking and removing from the model.

b if you intend to be pushing holes other than simple squares through anything, I found that I needed to scale up my dimentions x100. this is essential with if you have to 'intersect with model' type of commands.

And the improved version can be found here
http://www.hand-cut-dovetails.com/sketchup/repeatableholes005.skp
cheers
Alan

Edson

great tut, alan. very clear explanation. added to my list to pass it over to my students.

alan wood

Hi Edson,
Thanks for the comments, and glad that it is some use.
cheers
Alan

Sawduster

Don't know if anyone has already described this but this is how I do similar holes etc.

Open the component into which you want to make the holes for editing. Draw the surface shape, i.e. your rectangle, onto the surface where you need the first hole. Double click and make the rectangle a component. If you holes need to be evenly spaced along the length (with me that is generally the case) use the "Move" tool, tapping {CRTL} to make a copy and move the rectangle to the position of the furthest hole and click to put it in position. Now type {/} and the total number of holes in the piece minus 1; for 15 holes you would type "/14" and hit enter. Voila, 15 evenly spaced rectangles.

Now double click one of the rectangles to edit it, and use the push/pull tool to push it as deep as it needs to be. All the holes in the the piece will appear as you work on the one.

Edit in> A little more needs to be added. When you do the push/pull it will create the void you want under the top surface, but that surface remains intact. So, watch the depth on the VRB or PUSH/PULL then enter your desired depth into the VRB. After you click or hit return, click on the surface of the rectangle you're editing to hilite it, and hit delete. Then hilite the surfaces inside the hole, right click and choose "Reverse Faces"

Here's a Tut:
http://www.sawdustersplace.com/Sketchup%20files/MultipleHoles.skp

alan wood

Hi Nick
Glad it was of some use.
cheers
Alan

Edson

hey, nick. great summing up job. you may have a future in teaching, who knows.

regards.

Jean Lemire

Hi folks.

Here is an idea:

1 - Draw a rectangle to act as the hole size.

2 - Copy it along the length as many time as required.

3 - Push one rectangle through the thickness of the tube to create one hole.

4 - Double click on each of the other rectangles to repeat the push action.

Nick W

Thanks everyone. Here are the options I see at hand from this exchange:

Just delete all the little faces manually.
Utilize a pair of components in tandem to cut holes in more than one plane (viewtopic.php?f=20&t=744).
Do your duplication of holes in a single plane, then push-pull your thickness like it's your job (per James - emphasis added). To expound on this option, picking up where James left off I could then extrude the rest of my piece and graft it onto the "holy" face (see attached pic:)

I expect that any of these methods could be best in various situations. Thanks everyone for sharing.

Nick W

Gully, this was my first method, but I need to duplicate these holes sometimes up to 25 times on one part. That's why I was seeking an easier method that would incorporate the hole into the duplication process.

Gaieus, thanks for the thread reference - I've read that before, but it obviously didn't stick before.

I just made a square hole component and will duplicate both components to achieve the desired effect.

Alan, I tried it out, but I still have the original face without holes (see pic). Am I missing something?

Thanks all