First project design

[Chris Nickell]

Ok, so I designed my first project on Sketchup. I've used AutoCAD for several years on industrial settings, mostly evacuation and sprinkler systems in buildings we have operations in. I’m new to woodworking in general, and wanted to get your opinions on what I have done. This is a pretty basic design for a fishing rod holder. The design i used for inspiration was all butt joints and screws, and not in print anywhere I could find. What i did was change everything to mortise and tenon, so I could one get practice doing those and two eliminate screw heads.

 

If you could look this over and let me know if you think my joinery is ok and just any other recommendations I would appreciate it. Also I’ve seen demos but couldn’t figure out how to round over corners using follow me or any other way so any advice is helpful.

 

Also it appears I’m not cool enough to upload the Sketch up file directly so any help on that much appreciated.

 

 

Thanks

 

Chris

fishing rod holder-MT.pdf

[Dewald Swanepoel]

On rounding off the corners and edges. There are three ways that come to mind, the third one being easiest but requires a 3rd party plugin.
 
1. Subtractive use of the Follow Me tool
2. Additive use of the Follow Me tool
3. Use the RoundCorner plugin by LibFredo. Unfortunately this plugin is not available in the Plugin Warehouse that is native to the newer versions of Sketchup and it has to be installed in the old way. The website explains the process though.
 
Method 1 can be seen in this tutorial. I don't like it much as it doesn't do a good job of the corners. The edges are fine but the corners need some extra work.

 
Method 2 and 3 can be seen in this tutorial (if you can make out a word of the dude's accent).

 

There's actually a 4th method as well which involves using the Push/Pull tool and intersecting of geometry but it's very unwieldy and not worth explaining.

 

I use the RoundCorner plugin all the time. It's one of the few plugins that I really use often.

[Jerry_in_SD]

Looks good and very detailed. i use sketchUp as well except in a different manner. I use it mainly to work out proportions and maybe work out some exact dimensions. All the detail I leave off like joinery and edge detail and exact dimensions where I'm going to get those from the workpiece anyway. I guess it means I only use it enough to answer some key questions. It would be and interesting poll to see how woodworkers use sketchUp. I may be in the minority.

[wtnhighlander]

I'm with you, Jerry. When I do use Sketchup, it is to answer a question about how a complicated joint might go together, or maybe to get a feel for proportions.