So aligning with the axis is like rotating on the axis. Sweet, thanks.

Ya went through 21 zip cuts when it was all said and done haha. Had them laying around from previous jobs I have done or worked at. Now I have a new oxygen bottle, Im hoping it will be cheaper.

I think the biggest issue I face now is drawing in the direction of axes. I get turned around easily and draw shapes on the wrong planes. Is there a way to take a shape and change it to say "Front" plane?

I like the small house(s) idea for view angles.

I have built one of these and mounted it on a truck. Turned out really well. The 1/4 plate is for the front part that has the winch going through it. It also has to be able to take the brunt of a impact. The rest, top and sides are all 3/16 with a total over-all weight of 120lbs. They are build for dodge trucks.

The plate thickness is set to zero I believe. Everything worked out quite well. As Ken said, it fit together with out any thickness issues and was corner to corner. I cut the plates with zip cuts but now I am going to use a torch. (was out of oxygen on the torch at the time) Once I get some money together, I'm going to get a plasma.

Chris

@dave r said:

I'd like to see the SKP file but it looks like that model could use some help.

So if I was going to draw this thing in SketchUp as individual plates, I would definitely draw the plates in place rather than drawing them and then moving and rotating them. It would be a lot less work that way and less prone to errors. Since it is symmetrical, I would also only draw half of it.

Apparently he did only draw half of it and then mirrored it for the other half. And the plates where drawn in place and rotated from what I was told. That's the way I would do it anyways.

I think construction lines would be the way to go.

I am doing shop drawings for myself. I already have what I am trying to draw finished in autocad and also sketchup. A friend of mine did the sketchup part, now I need to learn it so I can make more drawings.

Here is what we designed.

Hey Slimdog, is see your also a vancouver-ite and welder. Im from Langley... I have seen quite a few of those help videos and are great. May have missed that one, will check it out thanks.

I think I will try drawing with the construction lines Dave. I have the rotation down now, similar to autocad. Just have to get used to this sticky drawing technique. Once I get them cut out, I may group them or make them components. The file size wont be all that large so it shouldn't be a issue.

I will see if I can get the example file for ya. (how do you upload files on this forum?)

Thanks for the well detail replay. I got that part down now. Now the problem I found is I wanted to oval vent holes cut out on the plate. Problem is, I draw two circles apart from each other say 6 inches, then two lines. When I got to position the circles on my reference lines closer to what I need, it stretches the plate out of proportion. I want to move the circles over to a more precise spot and then delete or push out a oval hole in the plate. I could load the example if needed.

I am trying to draw steel plates and also trying to align them on various angles. I have drawn 3D objects in AutoCAD 2010 but not familiar with SketchUp.