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Thread: sketchup question - how to show a chamfer

  1. #1
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    sketchup question - how to show a chamfer

    just kind of getting my feet wet with sketchup. Drew up a nice workbench and all that went fine. But i'm trying to draw a leg vice and i'm not sure how to show the 45 degree chamfer (i think that's the correct term) that is visible around the entire parameter. this task even seems hard if i try to do it on a cube but it's especially difficult on this shape.

    How do you go about doing this?

    here's my feeble attempt below

    vise.png
    Bob C

  2. #2
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    Bob-- I don't claim to be an expert, but I do use SketchUp. Here is how I drew what I think you're looking for:

    1. Draw the outline
    Chamfer [1] 2-5-18.jpg

    2. Push/Pull to get the thickness
    Chamfer [2] 2-5-18.jpg

    3. Draw the chamfer edges (I did this with the Offset tool for the front surface-- offsetting by one inch-- and the Move/Copy tool to just duplicate the outside edges back 1 inch)
    Chamfer [3] 2-5-18.jpg
    4. "Connect the dots" at the corners-- which creates the planes of the beveled edges.

    5. Erase the original outside edges.
    Chamfer [4] 2-5-18.jpg
    Hope this helps-- or that you find someone better suited to answering your question.

  3. #3
    A different way...

    Make your part.
    In a corner, use your Tape Measure tool to pull some guide lines in from the edges at a set distance (I used 1/4" here).
    Use your Pencil tool to draw your chamfer profile between where your guide lines intersect the edges. This will give you your 45° chamfer.
    It should look like this:

    Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 3.55.18 PM.jpg

    From the Tool Menu, select Follow Me. Bring the Follow Me tool over the 45° profile that you want to remove. It should fill in with dots when you're in the right spot.
    Click once to activate the tool.
    Drag the tool along the perimeter of the piece that you want to be chamfered. Each line that you drag along will become red, in sequence as you track over it.
    It should look like this, as you progress (note: My Screenshot did not pick up the Follow Me tool, but it will show as well.):

    Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 3.56.42 PM.jpg

    You have to stay pretty close to the edge that you want to follow, otherwise it might lose it and you might have to start this step over, but when you get all the way around, make sure that it ends on the starting point corner, as shown below, and then click to end.

    Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 3.58.01 PM.jpg

    If you've done it right, it will give you a nice 45° chamfer all the way around. As shown below:

    Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 3.53.24 PM.jpg

    The Follow Me tool is a bit finicky, but once you get used to it, it saves you a lot of time by not having to work through a bunch of other steps.
    Last edited by Keith Weber; 02-06-2018 at 3:26 AM. Reason: Spelling

  4. #4
    There are a number of ways to create that chamfer but the Follow Me method shown by Keith is probably the easiest for you for the moment. You can think of it as equivalent to running a chmafering router bit around the perimeter of the real board. And it's easy to change that to a radiused round over or a cove profile by changing the shape you draw on the corner.

    An alternative for that would be to use the Offset tool on the front face and then use Move with Autofold to move the face out by the same distance as the offset to get a 45° chamfer.
    Last edited by Dave Richards; 02-06-2018 at 8:19 AM.

  5. #5
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    If you move into the world of plug-ins and extensions, I find Fredo6's 'RoundCorner' to be quite handy.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  6. #6
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    When using the follow me tool you can select the lines you want to follow (double click on the surface then hold shift and single click on the surface and you should have selected the perimeter) and then just click on the profile you want to follow them (the little triangle in Keith's example) with the Follow Me tool. That saves the trouble of dragging the Follow Me tool close to the line and is really handy on complicated shapes.

  7. #7
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    great...thanks so much. i may try both approaches (or all 3 if i install this plug in) just to get some more experience. I've used the follow me tool only a little and had mixed results but i think the advice you guys have given me is very helpful.
    Bob C

  8. #8
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    Wow! That is a time saver.

  9. #9
    Ted,

    Look at that -- I learned something, too! Thanks for that tip! I no longer have to follow the perimeter around. Now if only you had a tip to put a roundover on all sides of a cube with a few clicks like that. I've pulled it off by doing opposite faces as I did with the chamber, but then I got into a complex thing with the other 4 edges that involved intersecting faces and erasing the extra parts. It worked out, but it was a huge headache.

  10. #10
    It's not that difficult with Follow Me to round over all the edges of a cube if you think ahead a bit.

    Fredo6's Round Corner extension is dead easy for that, too.

  11. #11
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    A plug in would probably be the way to go on a cube. I've learned that SketchUp (at least the old version I'm using) doesn't handle very small geometry very well, but if you scale your model up everything will be fine, even though it's the same shape. This applies to the compound curves on the corners of the cube with roundovers. If you have holes in your compound curves try scaling up 10 times and it might work.

    Something that might not be obvious from Dave's drawing is the line your following doesn't have to be part of the model.

  12. #12
    Yeah, I've used that method to make a sphere before. Like you said, it requires forethought. I usually decide after I've finished building something and then want to just soften the edges. It gets a little trickier after the fact. I'll have to take another look at Fredo6's extension. At one point I was going to download it, but then it said that I had to download something else first, and eventually I just lost interest (or I saw a squirrel -- I can't remember!)

    Edit: This reply was to Dave's post
    Last edited by Keith Weber; 02-06-2018 at 2:29 PM.

  13. #13
    Must have been a squirrel, Keith. You need to install LibFred6 too. It contains support files that are common to many of his extensions. It's no big deal and if you use the Sketchucation Plugin Store tool, it will install the files for you correctly and automatically.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Keith Weber View Post
    Yeah, I've used that method to make a sphere before. Like you said, it requires forethought. I usually decide after I've finished building something and then want to just soften the edges. It gets a little trickier after the fact. I'll have to take another look at Fredo6's extension. At one point I was going to download it, but then it said that I had to download something else first, and eventually I just lost interest (or I saw a squirrel -- I can't remember!)

    Edit: This reply was to Dave's post
    My results with every plug-in I ever thought about installing.

  15. #15
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    ok...wow that was just easy. i followed keith's instructions and then just walked around the perimeter. Just had to manually clean up the final edge.
    Bob C

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