You should read here.

Just bigger in this case isn't enough. You need to also consider the radius of the bend especially on the inside or the corner.

FM1.png

SO this is after running Follow Me on your profile using the path. Notice in the elbow there are some little edges. If you run this and then orbit inside the wall of the pipe you'll see that there are some faces in there. There are edges that only bound one face, not the required two, so the extrusion would fail the requirements for being considered solid. Below the pipe I put an offset edge aligned with the side of the elbow at the inside of the bend. You can see it is very sharp. I expect if this was a piece of PVC pipe that you heated and bent, you would fine that radius too tight.

In any case you can select all of the geometry of the tube, right click and choose Intersect Faces>With Selection to create the required intersection where those tiny faces are and then delete them making sure you don't leave any holes or hidden orphan lines and when you make it a component, it should be solid.

I've attached the elbow. I made the outside diameter of the pipe 1-1/2 in. Is that correct? At least it is a solid.

elbow_is_a_solid_1.skp

Okay, principle taken. However, to obtain and maintain a full fledged ("own") credit card system, it would be burdened with much more extra expenses as it seems to worth.

That is: I guess. I have never been good at maths.

@kallen said:

Now I am having a big problem turning things into components. I select the objects, then Make Componet but it doesn't seem to take. I've done it several times and I see the component in the component list but its empty! This is maddening. Additionally, I can't delete any empty components from the model components (using components in the tools menu) This is maddening right now. Any hints you might care to share?

That's because what you are selecting is attached to unselected geometry. Select what you want in the component, hit G to Create Component and then immediately tick the box for Replace Selection With Component. Then hit Enter.

You're the second guy today that I've worked with who has had the exact same issue which stemmed from not making components/groups as they went along.

Ahhhhhh, I forgot about the make a component thing. Left Sketchup for a month and forget everything!

In terms of making models, the 'solid tools' are the only extra in SU Pro. If you find yourself doing lots of intersecting geometry (and them deleting the 'offcuts'), they can be very useful - but the intersection method can almost always achieve the same things (if you don't mind the extra work required for the 'cleaning up').
There is also a plugin "Bool Tools", available for only $10 that can add pretty much the same features to SU 'Free' - though I have not used it myself, so can't comment on its effectiveness or compatability.

If your models are only for your own reference, then Layout and Style builder are probably of little use to you. They are designed to make the process of producing documents with multiple views and 'artistic impressions' easier - so are really just for making 'pretty' documents for showing to customers, or drawings for sending to the 'shop floor' when someone else is doing the manufacture for you.