Hi All,

in Holland it is midnight right now so i really have to go to bed, but i am so happy that you enjoy working on this problem! This is really helping me a lot (and keeping all the wood from going into the fireplace

I will take a look at the new skp you have posted just now, but will insert mine also.
I am not that good in moving yet so the parts do not really touch everywhere, but i think you will understand what i was trying back then.
The first three layers are for making the fundamentals,
In layer 4 i used beam 4 and opposite of that i used beam 9.
In layer 5 i used beam 9 and 4 on one side and opposite of that i did the same.
In layer 6 i turned around what i did in layer 4 (beam 9 and 4)
in layer 7 i turned around what i did in layer 5 (beam 4 and 9)
and then i repeated layer 4, 5, 6, 7 several times.
(in this skp i did not move the parts, i sometimes copied them so the leftovers are not correct).
In this 'solution' i would have to cut some beams (for instance the pile of beams sticking out and the overlap between beam 4 and 9.
(i can't remember what exactly, but there was something wrong about this solution which made me stop back then but i'm too tired right now to see what it was).
Thanks again for your support!

wrong try2.skp

Somewhere there lies the problem,
i am almost certain that the pieces i have drawn are correct and measured correctly (i really have lifted every beam myself and measured it (each of them waying a lot!)),
but indeed, if you try to make a cabin of 4x8 meters, then somewhere along the way it goes wrong. However, if you only make a cabin of 4x4 meters, then you have so many left, that i am thinking that an extra room should be there (or we really do have some mixture of 2 cabins?).

BTW, I have tried to find the picture with the numbers that were still readable, but haven't found it, i might still have one at work, if so, i will post it tomorrow.

I once made an effort in creating a 4x8 cabin and actually thought it was a good one, but when i tried it on a next trip to Bosnia i found out i missed a spot somewhere so that one was not possible also, I will try to make this one in SU and post it, maybe this give someone an idea..

Ein bisschen

(with the help of google translate maybe...

One log itself is 15cm high (round), minus a little gap so it fits exactly on top of the previous one. So actually 13,5 cm.
I think that a normal height would be around 2 meter and a little so about 15-20 logs?

(google translate:
Ein Stam selbst ist 15cm hoch, minus ein wenig, damit sie passt genau auf der vorherigen auf. Also eigentlich 13,5 cm.
Ich denke, dass eine normale Höhe würden sich auf etwa 2 Meter und ein wenig so ca. 15-20 anmeldet?

We do know the people who donated the cabin, but although they are willing to help, they also can not give more information. They have given all they had but do not know from which company it came, that's why i have written some of the complanies that i could find (no luck). I agree that we should only cut if we are sure that the rest can fit but actually cutting is something i hope not to do unless there really is no other way.

Hi DesignerGay,

you are absolutely right, but by the time i first saw the log cabin, almost all of the numbers were already gone. Either they were not readable anymore, of there was only a nail left in the log. I have written down some of these numbers back then, but by now they do not make any sense to me (i should be able to find the picture of the drawing i made back then.
Would you be able to give some hints if i would only have a few numbers? (i am not even sure that i now on which log the number was because the first time i wrote down some of the numbers, all the logs were lying on top of each other and i could not figure out what kind of log it was)
I will try to find the picture i made and will post it anyway (i keep feeling sorry that i did not do that right away because even things that might not help me by now, might be interesting information to one of you...)

Thanks again for your help, appreciate it

Hi JJ,

good questions. I do have some ideas of course, but i did not want to put you in some direction because i have been doing that myself and by doing so, i could not solve the puzzle so maybe you have other ideas which makes it possible to solve it.
However:

1. i also think it would be a raised wooden deck, placed upon the footings (all new English words to me, but i think i know what you mean)

2. i think the floor base material is missing. If you would use all the material for the floor, it would be very hard to walk on (all these half circles), so you would still have to put some board over it to have a flat floor. That's why i also was thinking about a beam every 70 centimeters and then some board of say 1.40 meter on top of that

3. I am not sure. The porch itself is not that important, it would be nice to look at ofcourse but not necessary. I was trying to create the cabin itself and if i would have leftovers, than i would probably use them for a porch.

4. We thought about that one, i think the priority is to create something 'as big as possible'. I mean, if creating an extra wall to create an extra room means that the cabin itself will become smaller, than we rather have one big room. But then again, if we have a lot of leftovers that can be used to create an interior wall and the room itself is big, than maybe we can make that one.
   For the size, we are not sure, if you calculate the (how do you call that: Width X hight) of all the wood and calculate some more, that in theory it would be possible to make a cabin of 4.20X8.40, but i don't know how. Should this be possible, than an extra room would be nice maybe, but if it is going to be a cabin of 4.20x4.20, than an extra room is not really necessary.
   I think you are right, some pieces will have to be cut on the spot. There seems to be no specific beams for the window or the door, so i think that have to be cut afterwards. However, the beams all have holes, so if there is a hole, i expect that one to be there for a reason and hope that we do not have to make new gaps (but if necessary, well, so be it)

Yes, it a anglegrinder, not sure about the inches (we use cm's), but it is the small one.
Thanks for the link, have to go to work now, but will check it out later!

Hi JJ,

I do have some pictures i got from a cabin in Belgium. I looked at those many times because some of the timbers resembles so much the wood that we have. However, at some points they differ (holes at different locations).
Anyway, you are right, they can be helpful so i'll post them anyway.
(btw, i also wrote to some 'cabin-shops' in Holland en Belgium and sent them some foto's of the timbers we are having but they did not recognize them so were not able to tell us what the cabin should look like).
Appreciate all your help!

@earthmover said:

Just to clarify for potentially newer users -
TOS - Tools on Surface
SSB - Soap Skin Bubble
JPP - Joint Push Pull
SDS - Subdivide & Smooth

Newer user...That would be me
I guessed the third one correctly but missed the other ones.
(i will take a look elsewhere on the forum, but do you happen to have links to the thread where i can find the second one?

Awsom drawing! And defenitely my favourite power tool also although i am always working with a lighter version (liking it so much, i happen to choose it as my avatar just before i say your drawing).
Very impressive!

I love the dog in front of it!!!

hahaha,

No really Ross (and everybody else who is thinking about this problem), i am really glad you all give it a try and these really are good ways of building the cabin which i will take a good look at.
I will download the skp and study it a little more. (see what parts are not used and see if i can find a way of using them).
More ideas are welcome ofcourse but i think that we now know that the size of the cabin will be 4x4 instead of 4x8 what we were thinking. I think this is the maximum size that we can achieve. (and this will give us a different view of where the cabin should go also so already i am happy with the solutions!)

Thanks Ross

Wow!

That really is a nice solution!
Actually i thought the roof was not available so i always calculated all the wood for the floor and walls but this would also be a possibility! And you don't even have so many parts left.

Now I see (i'm sorry) that i forgot to mention some things that may help you some more:

• the strange 'half' parts like 'balk-14', they would be used first (we think). So they would lie on the ground and than balk-03 would go on top of that. In that case you would get some holes which could be filled with balk-09.
• we think that the floor will not be made with all the wood, (it wouldn't be nice to walk on it). It could be that the floor was created with the timbers at say every 70 centimeters (every hole you get from balk-03 on top of balk-14) and then you would have to get some board (not available now) to hammer on top of these timbers. (see second picture with the example in black).
  (in that way you also would have a lot of parts extra that you could use somewhere else?)
• the 'snij-balk' are not really there, i only used these to make my drawing (to cut the holes in the timer) ('snij' is Dutch for 'cut').
• the green parts ('deur') is a simplification of the doors we have (correct size used) and the ('raam') is the shape of the window
• the blue ones, i don't know where they really belong, but we believe that every hole has a purpose, so they could be used if (for example) the front wall of the cabin was not there. Then the side walls would have a lot of holes where the blue ones could be used. (the wall would become more rigid?

Anyhow, i am already very happy with this first attempt, it triggers me of thinking a little different, for instance the way you created the roof and i hope that 'attempt-1' implies an attempt-2 also?

(btw, i inserted 2 pictures, in the second one i just moved 1 timber (balk-09) to the place where we thought it should go (but then again, all our thought were wrong up til now

I really appreciate your help!

Granted, the toblorone chocolate bar is free, but now it is enjoying its freedom and just ran away...

I wish I wouldn't have to go to sleep right now

Yes, you could call it that. At this moment we are doing the operations in another storageplace but this one would be great. Especially because we have the timbers and it is just lying there. People are already calling me 'fred the cabin' because i have been working on it for so long (try imagine what it would take to count all the logs which of course are lying on top of each other and determining all of them.
I've been working for this foundation for about 2 years now, my wife contacted someone, went to Bosnia once and was addicted. I joined the next trip and same story. We love it.
She is helping with all the medical stuff and cuddling dogs, i am helping in the team which is building stuff.

Hi Gaieus,

yes, these are all the [edited by Fred] timbers we have (and 2 doors and 1 window) and the cuts are already there.
The project itself involves a dogshelter in Bosnia that we support. Some years ago a family in Belgium donated this log cabin to the shelter but only as a pile of wood without drawing. We still believe it is complete but we can not be sure of that.
So we try to create the cabin with everything we have, without creating cuts of our own, but if the puzzle can not be solved, we probably have to (and then still the question is how to create the best cabin we can).
The cabin itself will primarily be used for storage but during our stays it might also be used for (what is the English word?) recovery of operated dogs (like an intensive care unit).
With some maths it seems like we can make 2 'rooms', each about 4 meters by 4 meters, seperated by a wall? (the door/window will probably have to be cut out of the wall and there is probably not yet anything for the roof. (but maybe i am thinking in the wrong direction and therefor missing the solution, maybe it should be something like an L-shape or something...?

Hi,

sorry to bother you again, but unfortunately on the Dutch forum, there seems to be coming no answer and i hope that the community here is big enough to find someone with the knowledge that i am looking for.

I have already talked about a log cabin in the introduction-thread (and already got some nice links to sites from Gaieus but those were more about drawing and although my drawing is not perfect, my problem lies more in solving a puzzle with which you could use SU so i thought i would give it one more try in this new thread.

The problem:
we have a very big pile of wood which (we think) can be formed into a log cabin. Unfortunately, we do not have a drawing of how this cabin should be but as we speak, the cabin is just lying there (shelter in Bosnia) and again, a year has gone by without us being able to use it).
We already have done some homework and math and we think it should be able to create a cabin of 4x8 meters.
I have drawn all the beams that we have and have put them all in their own layer. The question is how to lay them down so it will be a cabin...? (it really is giving me a headacke and some sleeples nights)

The part that is really anoying/making it difficult, is that the gaps in the beams are not always at 70 centimeters, but sometimes also at 80 centimeters and then the rest just doesn't fit anymore.
(see the picture with some of my tries)

Is there anybody outthere who likes playing in Sketchup and also likes solving puzzles? I really could use some help here.
I will also upload the skp i have made so far, if you need more information, please don't hesitate to ask!

(by the way, best wishes for 2009. I know what i am wishing for

Fred.

a lot of wood.skp

Best wishes for all the sketchers from the Netherlands!

Hi Oscar,

i have recreated the .skp you were asking for.
At this moment i have created a block 2000x2000x2000, inserted an F on the left side, a R on the front, drawn some help lines to the top and inserted the @ on the top and scaled it to fit between the lines (not exactly the right size but OK).
I have pushpulled everything to the other side and normally now i would do a lot of erasing but maybe you know another way of doing this?

Thanks!

Fred.

FR@.skp

Hi Oscar,

sounds like a great way to spent newyear!
I am not quite sure how to upload a skp yet, (and at this moment i am typing on another computer than the one on which i make my .skp's)
but maybe i can write down how i did it? Maybe it is easy for you to replay?

i create a square,
i pushpull it up until i have a solid block.
on the left side of the block i use the 'A' (write text) tool and just type the letter F,
on the front of the block i write the letter R and i make this the same hight as the F.
Then on top of the block i write down the '@' which i resize so it fits exactly (the hight of the '@' is the same as the width of the F and the (how do you call that in english? from left to right) of the '@' is the same as the (left to right) of the R.
Then i pushpull all the object backwards as much as needed or even more.
At this point (hopefully i have got this version on the other computer) i am ready to intersect and delete all the lines that i do not need, but i hope there is a faster way?

I will try to find the skp on the other computer, the few coming days are very busy overhere so maybe a little silence from my part but in the meantime happy days and enjoy your stay in china!

Hahahaha,
ingredible!
I am also working with su for about a month or so and still am struggling with the follow-me tool. (and every other tool, for that matter

Keep up the good work!

Hi oscarlok,

i'm looking at this thread and i am thinking that this might me the solution for what i was looking for, but i am not sure (somehow i think it might also be the functionality that i am nót looking for).
Is it somehow possible to merge 2 object, use your tool and get rid of all the parts that are not available in both objects?
I managed to create something with the letters F, R and @ (which in Holland sounds a bit like my name but it costed me a lot of deleting of the parts that i didn't need, i am wondering if this is possible with your creations without all the timeconsuming deleting?)
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FEiWoAM6E)

Regards from Holland!

Fred.