So, do most of you use sketch up for your designs?

[Yojevol]

I've recently been trying Fusion 360 which is considerably more powerful and consequently much harder to learn. Its main advantage is that it is parametric so that you could, for example, design a shelving unit of a certain height with an arbitrary number of shelves which would be equally spaced. By changing the number of shelves required, the program would automatically recalculate everything for you.

Fergal

Sketchup can do this.

Fusion360 at $360/year?

 

[Grawschbags]

I have been teaching myself sketchup whilst designing a router table. I roughed it out with pen and paper, then took it to sketchup. It's probably already saved me the cost of some materials given that I could see issues in my design before cutting anything...

 

[DBT85]

I like Sketchup and, for me at least, it was very easy to learn and use. Way easier than I remember when I used to try and learn 3dsmax or Maya.

 

[MikeK]

Fusion360 at $360/year?

From the Autodesk website, Fusion 360 is free to hobbyists and startup businesses that have less than $100K in gross revenue. The free subscription must be renewed each year for as long as Autodesk supports the generous offer.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/free-trial

 

[Eric The Viking]

I have been teaching myself sketchup whilst designing a router table. I roughed it out with pen and paper, then took it to sketchup. It's probably already saved me the cost of some materials given that I could see issues in my design before cutting anything...

Exactly the same for me - SketchUp lets me test designs before diving in, saving both mistakes and materials.

For example, I had a shock recently when I realised that for the interior doors I'm planning to make, I can save about seven feet of stock by using dominoes instead of traditional mortice and tenon joints. That's per door, and I have a dozen of them to make. It means the dominoes will pay for themselves and the construction will be much simpler as a consequence. Of course, if I was more experienced I'd know this already (and I'd already have a story stick, too), but I'm not. Seeing it as 3D objects really helped in construction decisions.

Of course I rough stuff out with pencil and paper (weapon of choice is a 3B or 4B pencil), but my measurements come from SU, as do the plans usually, and I can quickly get sections through a 3D object, to see if there are issues such as clearances that will cause problems.

Two more recent examples:

I've got to make a strong storage box for castoring legs for a tower scaffold system. These things are three feet long (roughly), very unbalanced (weight at one end), tubular and greasy. But they are also fragile and a safety-critical component. And I need space to store small parts for the toeboard brackets, etc. I won't be using it - it belongs to the church my wife attends - so things have to pack-in intuitively. So I've drawn out a castor column to scale, and copied it four times. These objects I can just move around in 3D until I get a practical arrangement.

I'm refurbishing a motorbike fuel tank, by stripping paint and rust from the inside and re-coating it. It's big and will be pretty heavy when it's full of chemicals. I'm making a jig to hold it, allowing it to rotate for agitation and invert for draining out. I can't afford to drop it (no dents presently) nor splash chemicals on the outer paint finish. So again, modelling it and the jig lets me see if ideas will work.

I've also played with drill press table designs, etc. Again, I picked up on problems where the quill three-handled drive would foul parts of the table, and issues fixing it to the press's existing circular table, for which I think I now have a neat solution.

I could do all of this without SU, but nowadays it's my go-to aid for thinking through design problems.

. . .

The biggest tip I was given, incidentally, is to make every object you create a "component", as soon as you draw it out - cubes, cylinders, whatever. That way you can control how they interact with other parts of the model (you can always combine them later on). The ability to have clones of a component, such that changing one modifies all of them at the same time, is invaluable for things like table legs and other repeated components in a design. I use that a great deal too - it's automatic and very fast. Again you can turn this off quickly if you need to.

HTH, E.

 

[beechman]

Pencil and paper, ruler and a glass of wine for me
I gave up on sketch up when I couldn't download it properly (my fault I'm sure)

 

[HOJ]

Sketchup is my preferred method, I am inspired by Dave Richards for woodworking www.finewoodworking.com/author/david-richards and Nick Sonder for Architecture www.nicksonder.com/

 

[woodbloke66]

A sketch on the back of an envelope works for me.

On occasion I've done a scale drawing, usually when there's funny angles involved. An old roll of wallpaper is quite handy for drawing on; I got a roll for 25p from B&Q (or Homebase?) when they were getting rid of stock.

Generally I agree with this approach as I just can't be faffed with SketchUp. Over the last couple of years I've created several boards on Pinterest of stuff that interests me and it's from this that I get most of my inspiration and ideas for new projects. Any new project is sketched out in a drawing book from Poundland and further details can be drawn approx. to scale on squared paper, available from WHS.

I then make a 1:2 or 1:5 scale drawing(s) on white wallpaper lining paper (cheap as chips but buy the lightest grade) which you can get from any of the DIY sheds - Rob

 

[Jacob]

Pencil, T square, set square, A1 drawing board. Sketch pads backs of envelopes etc.
Sometimes paint a bit of hardboard with white emulsion for big full size drawings.
MFC shelving for rods.
You can't do rods with Sketchup or a computer unless you have a plotting printer. Even then it's just paper- better on a board so you can lay stuff on.

 

[MikeG.]

Well, I've been an Autocad* man for getting on for 20 years, so I find myself diverted to drawing furniture or somesuch when I'm bored working. I am quite happy sketching on a scrap of mdf or the back of an envelope, though, and have done some pretty substantial pieces of furniture without any formal drawing.

*Draftsight for the last year or so. It's excellent, it's free, and it took me less than 2 days to teach myself.

The following is the real benefit of drawing on the computer, rather than at a drawing board, in my view. This is a series of sketches of alternative pedestal designs for a dining table I am planning for next year. It takes seconds to copy a design across and alter it, so that you have side-by-side comparisons, and can make an informed choice from a dozen or more alternatives:

 

[Jacob]

I see your point but in fact you'd get something fairly equivalent, possibly more creatively, by the process of pencil sketching, rubbing out, sketching again, but much more quickly, freely and without switching a computer on!

 

[MikeG.]

I do that too, Jacob. The point is you don't get the side-by-side thing. The only sketch you're left with is the last one. That's fine for something small and simple. Also, client's like to have a choice......even if that client is your wife/ partner.

 

[Jacob]

I do that too, Jacob. The point is you don't get the side-by-side thing. The only sketch you're left with is the last one. .......

Well no. The way I do it (often) is to pin a big sheet of cheap flip chart paper on my board and work all over it. Sketches, alternative versions, rubbed out bits, measured bits, notes, all sorts of stuff all visible in one place. You just can't spread out on a computer!
I do similar with written stuff - notes, boxes around interesting bits, arrows, Venn type diagrams, calculations and so on. Looks a mess but it is so accessible. Then pin other stuff on the wall sometimes.
There's so much you just can't do with a computer - it's like having to work looking through a little telescope or something.

 

[MikeG.]

........You just can't spread out on a computer!.........

.......There's so much you just can't do with a computer - it's like having to work looking through a little telescope or something.

A few years ago I was drawing a block of flats which was a quarter of a mile long and 12 stories high. I could zoom out and see the whole building, and then zoom in to see the "H" on the top of a hot tap. Whatever you think of computers as a design tool, don't accuse them of not having enough space!! Don't forget you're talking to someone whose early years as an architect were all spent on the drawing board, and who sketches all the time. I sketch live for clients, often upside down so that they can see properly. Here, for instance, is the first sketch I did of my front door:

I was sitting on an aeroplane at the time. And here, for comparison, is the door:

So yeah, I'm a big fan of sketching as part of the design process. It is the critical part. However, it has its limitations, and the computer has strengths which sketching can never match.

 

[Jacob]

Well yes of course a design prog does some amazing things. But when it comes to little woodwork projects a computer can make life difficult, especially for people who haven't got the hang of a pencil. You have to revert to the pencil at some point, you might as well start with one.

 

[nabs]

the other bonus of having a physical drawing is it encourages other people to engage with it in a way that it is not nearly as natural or convenient when on a PC.

Not strictly design related, but when modern technology companies started to reject computer based planning and drawing tools in favour of post-it notes, whiteboards etc the major impact was that people on the teams actually started to look at them, sometimes for the first time.

 

[Cordy]

Inkscape is good enough for me, it's free and plenty YouTube tutorials
LOOK
Detail of a proposed Walnut Trestle table

 

[matt]

My choice of pencil/paper, Sketchup, or not plan at all tend to be driven by the physical size of the components and my workshop setup. Let me explain...

My "workshop" is a garage (from the day of Austin A35s (i.e. small!)). I often expand out on to the patio too. In a nutshell, I am not blessed with a workshop where I can cut sheet, use the routere etc as required. It tends to get set up for each stage of a project. So... when making a 14ft run of fitted wardrobes, I want to cut all the sheet first, then the door parts, then move on to assembly. A Sketchup design which produces a cut list works well for me. It gives me the confidence I've got the dims correct for each stage so I can somewhat blindly cut all the timber to size.

By contrast, if I had a large workshop with spaces for cutting sheet, routing, assembly etc, then I'd be more likely to prepare things ad-hoc. Cutting the parts that define the overall size, then cutting shelves, back panels, etc to fit later.

I much prefer the latter way of working as, for me, it's doing the design and construction in the workshop; allowing to devise solutions on the fly. The former does, at least, ensure solutions to challenges are not constrained by work already completed.

 

[Jacob]

Inkscape is good enough for me, it's free and plenty YouTube tutorials
LOOK
Detail of a proposed Walnut Trestle table

Yebbut what does that drawing do for you which a pencil sketch wouldn't?

 

[Bodgers]

Inkscape is good enough for me, it's free and plenty YouTube tutorials
LOOK
Detail of a proposed Walnut Trestle table

Yebbut what does that drawing do for you which a pencil sketch wouldn't?

The ability to change things quickly and view it in 3D. If it was SketchUp or Fusion...

I use Fusion 360 now instead the of SketchUp as it allows you to parameterise the dimensions and then just change and scale things instantly whereas SketchUp doesn't.

SketchUp also has a great CAM mode for ever you want to generate any part of your drawing to be sent to a CNC.





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