Follow Along Project - Part 3b - Drawing

Carol Reed

In Memoriam
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Coolidge, AZ
The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say.

Click on the top view (the roof of the little house). Notice that the right side is not facing the left side as it should. It needs to be rotated. First, we‟ll get the insides to face each other. SketchUp has a neat feature. When you select the edge of something, it will snap on the corners or intersections of edges. It will also snap on the middle of the edge. Try this to see what I mean. Select the Line tool and move it along the top outside edge of the right side until it finds the middle. Notice a little box pops up and tells you that point is the middle. It works with other tools as well. In this case, the rotate tool.

Select the Rotate tool or type “Q.” You will get a protractor. They come in colors. You want the blue one. From this view that should be automatic. Place the center of the protractor on the middle of the outside of the right side until you get the purple middle dot. You won‟t get the little text box telling you it is the middle. Click. Now move toward the outside edge of the protractor and click. Move the mouse and watch the side rotate. Stop it at any point by clicking. Then type 180. It will rotate the side so the inside faces are facing each other.

But the rabbet for the back is in the front! Another rotation is in order. Click on the isometric view. Select the Line tool. Draw a line across the outside face in the middle of the side. You will want to stay in the green axis. Select the right side group by pressing the space bar and clicking on the side. If you do this you will only rotate the line and not the side. Click on the Rotate tool and place the red protractor in the middle of the line. Rotate the side. Now check by going to the top view.

The cabinet is intended to be 18” wide. Select the isometric view. Select the Tape tool. Click anywhere on the outside edge of the left side. Move the cursor to the right maintaining the red line. Click. Type in 18” and don‟t forget the inch mark. Now click on the roof view of the houses. Select the right front corner and move the side to the guide line. Type Alt+D to erase the guide line. The two sides are now the right distance apart.

Now the top and bottom. They also are identical parts, so we only need to draw one and mill the rabbet for the back. Here is how I did it.

Click on the front elevation of the little houses. Type Alt+Z or click on Zoom Extents. Type “H” of click on the Pan Tool. Move the drawing down a little. Zoom into one upper corner. Type “T” and click on the inside edge, move mouse to the outside. Release. Type 13. Repeat on the other corner.

Type “R” and click on the left drawing guide above the cabinet sides, extending the rectangle to the other drawing guide. Pay attention to the little information boxes. Release the mouse when is on both guides. Type 446,19. The 446 is the width of the top and it was calculated when you hit both lines when making the rectangle. The 19 is the thickness of the top.

Type “O” and orbit until you can see the back angle of the cabinet. Use the push/pull and make
the piece 458 mm long. Mill a rabbet 7mm deep and 9.5mm wide. Push/pull to make the rabbet. Now here is a trick to select all the lines of the part you just drew Press the space bar and move the cursor in the middle of the part. Click the left mouse button 3 times. You will see each face selected. Then type Alt+G. The top is now a group. We need a bottom.

Orient the view to be looking at the back edge of the top. Move/copy a second part. Rotate this part so the rabbet in on the top side. You want a green protractor here.

Now move the parts into place. For the top, zoom into one corner so you can see the top corner of the top . Select the top (blue bounding box) and type “M.” Grab the top corner and move the piece so the corner of the top is flush with the corner of the side.

Select the bottom. Move it below the cabinet, zoom in and move it into place as you did the top.
Finally, dimension the parts. Type “N” to select the dimension tool, or click on the icon with the number 3 in it next to the tape tool. Click on the corners of each part to get its dimension. Orbit and zoom as necessary.

My final dimensions are:
Sides = 458mm wide x 712mm long
Top and bottom = 446mm wide and 458mm long.

I need two of each. Future dimensions come off the actual cabinet.

Do save the file. You may need it later.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 2 - Update

Part 3a

Part 3b

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6
 
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