Anyone Up For a New Homework Exercise? [SketchUp]

That is one uncomfortable looking chair. or am I missing the idea of sitting backwards so your chest has something to rest on while your getting a back tat. :lemon:


but seriously now.. Is the point of the exercise to use a program to draw the chair and parts? It may be obvious to everyone else but I'm a little slow. Could some one tell me which program is best and where to get it and how to use it (and maybe come over and do it for me).

I have always wanted to learn something like that because i have a hard time drawing simple shapes. If you saw some of my plans you would tell me wood working was to dangerous a hobby for me.
 
Keith, the chair doesn't look especially comfortable to me, either.

Yes, the point of this exercise is to help some folks learn to use SketchUp, a free drawing program available from Google. If you read through most of the recent threads in the Design forum, you'll see that's what we've been talking about. I put [SketchUp] in the title so folks would know what this is about.

If you want to give SketchUp a try, you can download it from here. You might have a look through some of the other threads here for some ideas.
 
hey i know your not a softy you gave homework to us after i told you i was gonna be vacationing,, so now i am behind again and that ken guy is gonna go to the head of the class after bill:) but i have been profetsizing while away and even straightened bill out few times yesterday as much as one can to a old gray haired texan:)
 
OK, so to say I've been tied up for a few days would definitely be understatement! I certainly can't complain, though. Having The Ambassador visit for two and a half days sure got me caught up on a whole lot of stuff! I had a little time this morning after he headed out for Mississippi to finish my attempt at the chair. So, here's what I did with it:

DR_Ex4_a.jpg


Since Dave mentioned efficiency, I started with these three building blocks. Combining these three components, copying them and merging, I got the three pairs of assemblies for the feet and seat. Extruding the end of the 2x6 added the length needed for each segment.

DR_Ex4_b.jpg


I went a little off track with the seat attachment in order to make it possible to break down the chair but add a little stability (I think?). I cut mortises in the back edge of the seat and the front edge of the back leg/foot and made a matching tenon. The tenon gets glued into the seat, slides through the backrest and into the back leg/foot where it gets locked into place with a tapered block.

DR_Ex4_c.jpg


Here's an xray view to show all the parts a little better.

DR_Ex4_d.jpg



I know, I know! I expect to get a rap across the knuckles from our teacher, Mr. Richards. But, I promise to send him a donut along with the apple this time! :)
 
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Sorry, Ken. I'll admit the project itself isn't that interesting but I was hoping some folks might come across some interesting time savers in drawing that might be used in other, more interesting or more complex models. Maybe this was the wrong model for that.

Here are a couple of things I did when I drew the chair to save myself some work.





I drew the seat board first and then made a copy with Rotate/Copy to make the back. The seat board was drawn laying on the ground plane. The copy was then flipped so the notches mated.

I copied the rims of two holes from the seat board component and used Edit>Paste in Place to paste them outside the seat board component. THen I drew the wedge shaped piece in place so those circles got incorporated into the wedge component. That meant there was no lay out for the holes and they had to match the location of the existing holes.

Although I didn't have to, I placed all the wedges before I added the dowels. Then, before I added them, I pulled away a copy of one of the wedges. I opened the wedge component for editing, selected all the geometry and made a new component. Thinking about my wrapper analogy for components, this resulted in the component being double wrapped (for freshness :D). Then while the outer wrapper was open for editing, I made a dowel component just as I did for the little box using the bottom of the hole as the starting point. The dowel geometry was made into a component and copied to the other hole. At the end of that process I had dowels in all the holes.

Finally, to rotate the chair into position, I selected all of it and used the Rotate tool. The center of rotation was the back outside corner of a rear wedge. The start point of the rotation was the corresponding corner on what would be the bottom front wedge at the end of the back rest board. then it was a simple matter to rotate it up until I got an "On Axis" message. By using those points for rotation I was assured that the model would be sitting on the ground plane correctly.

So, since this exercise wasn't so interesting, should I come up with something a bit more complex? Or would someone else like to suggest a model? Or, since it really is spring, now, should we have a break until the weather gets nasty again? Maybe everyone would rather be outside mowing their lawns and weeding their gardens instead of sitting at the computer. I'll leave it up to you. If the decision is to have a break until next fall, and anyone is interested in earning extra credit, the bottom of my boat needs a new coat of paint. :D :D
 
Nothing to be sorry about Dave....I forgot to put my thinking cap on before I started this one. I started with the back-rest board and then added the bottom wings, went to move them, to add the dowels and hadn't made anything a component...Grrrr get the eraser out :doh:...well it was a sign of things to come. Angled that board back to what I thought looked good, which led to some hair pulling sessions trying to get the seat board to line up with the notch...blah blah blah needless to say it felt like I kept dealing myself, back to back games of 52 card pick-up. This morning it hit me, that it would of been much easier to make the two boards and their wings prior to angling them.....live & learn I guess....tho working bass-ackwards sure can suck up a lot of that living :rofl:

Last night I would of suggested a year long break, but now that I'm better :huh: I'll go along with what-ever the others feel up to...maybe we should allow you the time to finish your boat, then our next assignment could be discovered, while we're all aboard on a class trip :D
 
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Well, it would be a heck of a drive from down here to make points by painting the bottom of your boat! But, I'll be there in spirit! :rolleyes:

I enjoy the exercises you post, so fire away!

By the way, I downloaded your new "book". I've only been through the basics so far, but it's good to watch how you do certain operations to make them simpler. Good work!
 
So, since this exercise wasn't so interesting, should I come up with something a bit more complex? Or would someone else like to suggest a model? Or, since it really is spring, now, should we have a break until the weather gets nasty again? Maybe everyone would rather be outside mowing their lawns and weeding their gardens instead of sitting at the computer. I'll leave it up to you. If the decision is to have a break until next fall, and anyone is interested in earning extra credit, the bottom of my boat needs a new coat of paint. :D :D

Don't take a break. I just joined the forum today b/c I stumbled across these homework assignments.

Here's a donut. I look forward further homework!

di-6V1X.jpg
 

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Mmmmm, donut!

212px-Homer_Simpson_2006.png


Ken, I think we all have days like that. ;) It is amazing how sometimes when you step away from something, you get an inspiration a fresh approach. Take advantage of them.

I guess we could hold class on board the Julie K if you're all up to it. The boat's only 27 feet long so we'll have to get cosy. :D

Bill, I appreciate that you'll be with me in spirit while I'm painting my bottom. :D It's actually only about a three hour job. It'll take longer to wipe the bottom down with a wet rag than it will to paint it.

Alright, let's see what I can come up with for the next assignment. I'm thinking of something with ball and claw feet and upholstery. :D

David, welcome to Family Woodworking. Perhaps you can let us or at least me know where along the learning curve you are. If you don't want to put that out publicly, you can send me a PM.
 
Mmmmm, donut!

David, welcome to Family Woodworking. Perhaps you can let us or at least me know where along the learning curve you are. If you don't want to put that out publicly, you can send me a PM.

Thanks. Well, that donut took me about 25-30 minutes. So that's where I'm at. :)

But seriously, I've been using SU for a few versions. Since maybe 5 or 6? I use it for recreational purposes. Last year I got sidetracked into Kerkythea but then ran out of patience and went with Podium. I want to learn about different techniques and available plug-ins. I can do anything that doesn't involve curves/angles through all three dimensions... a cabriole leg w/ claw foot is beyond my skills. Or a footed bathtub, for instance.

The octagonal turning in your last lesson was interesting too, because I didn't anticipate the distance differences between a circle and the octagon. For instance, the way I did that one was to build a profile, Follow-Me around a complete circle, then draw an octagon a Push it through the shape to flatten out the top and bottom pieces and create the interior. That gave me 1/8th of the shape, I just assembled from there. It took some trial and error because I kept underestimating how much bulge I needed in the profile to crop the top and bottom while avoiding the turned section in the center.
 
Hi David, welcome to the classroom. That's a fine looking doughnut, hope you brought enough for us all ;)

We have a great teacher in Mr Richards! FYI, he's not as sadistic as one might think after reading some of the moans & groans posted in his threads{mainly from me :wave: }.

Larry's out playing during recess, I'm usually in detention... You probably won't hear much from us as we're the quiet types :p. When we're not sitting in the corner, we sit in the back. Not sure if it's because we are the noobs to Sketchup, or if there is a conspiracy towards those of us with grey beards. Bill is an almost shoe-in for class valedictorian {figures, one little apple and BANG! to the front of the class he goes ;)}. We also have a variety of students whom I believe must be on a full ride scholarship, as they come and go as they please :dunno:.

Anyways...glad to have you here, be sure to peek into some of the other rooms here, lot's of friendly knowledgeable folks who love to trade methods, tips, secrets, and the occasional yarn, with like minded woodworkers...OK I'm outta here, gotta hankering for some apple fritters! :D
 
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