Sketchup - Looking for shop plans

[Steve Kozusko]

Does anyone have a shop layout using Sketchup that they would be willing to share? I'm just getting started with it and it would be so much easier to modify someone else plan, move around pipes and equipment, etc.. than start from scratch. Please PM me if you would be willing to share. Appreciate it! Thanks.

[Tom Dixon]

I have my complete shop with machines and dust collection drawn in Sketchup. I'm still playing with the dust collection layout, and this summer I will build the cyclone shed and start installing piping, (I've decided to go all metal). I'll PM you a location for the drawing Saturday morning when I'll have the time to get to it. You can find some of my machines I've drawn and others I've modified from ones I've borrowed, plus a large collection of dust collection fittings in both metal and PVC on my 3D Warehouse page that I have drawn: https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/by/...fic?nav=models

[Julie Moriarty]

I opened Sketchup and then 3D Warehouse and did a search for "Workshop Woodworking" and found quite a number of workshop designs plus many more individual components such as machines, workbenches, etc. Take a look at the workshop threads here and see what is common to most. A tablesaw in the center is one of the more common places for that machine.

It can be fairly challenging to design a workshop that is efficient and allows for easy workflow. Too many tools and not enough space may make that goal impossible. Ask me how I know.

[Greg R Bradley]

It sounds like what you are after is various tools and components already done for your shop. That is the purpose of 3D Warehouse. If you want a table saw, you should be able to find a bunch of different ones. The problem comes when you find one that is close and need to modify it to match yours. Then you find out 90% of the people drawing their own and posting it on 3D Warehouse didn't really draw it logically in the first place.
Another thing to consider is the good suppliers of fittings will have various 3d software drawings of all their components available. Try to make sure of that before you buy fittings.
Best to start by drawing the shop itself to get the experience in using Sketchup.

[Tom Dixon]

Well sending PM's on this Forum is not obvious to me, (are you required to be "friends"?), so I'll just post the link to my Workshop drawing here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/n0j3nmp49...Gc465sDRa?dl=0

The 207MB file size is way over the 3D Warehouse 50MB limit. It is of course a work in progress. As posted, all the walls, exterior, etc. have been turned off so your first view is the stationart tools and Dust collection. I have not yet built the workbench and I have not yet acquired an oscillating belt sander shown. The Delta Drill Press is a placeholder for a Nova Voyager which I haven't drawn yet. I also included a separate drawing of an outfeed assembly table that will I build soon to replace the Unisaw fold down outfeed table. My summer plan is to build the cyclone shed, acquire the cyclone and run the DC pipe. Retirement is about 5 years away so I aim to be ready to spend lots of quality time in the workshop by then instead of spending most of my time building the workshop and acquiring tools.

[Steve Kozusko]

Thanks for the replies. I haven't found time.. maybe today.. to sit down and actually play and learn sketchup. What I was looking for was the .skp or whatever it's file extension is named type of file that someone put together for their DC setup. My thought was to take that file and then move around pipes and tools to fit my shop needs. I don't even know if that would work with the web version of the tool. I could do all what I need on a piece of paper but thought using software would be fun.. finding the time to learn it.not so much.. Thanks!

[Tom Dixon]

Thanks for the replies. I haven't found time.. maybe today.. to sit down and actually play and learn sketchup. What I was looking for was the .skp or whatever it's file extension is named type of file that someone put together for their DC setup. My thought was to take that file and then move around pipes and tools to fit my shop needs. I don't even know if that would work with the web version of the tool. I could do all what I need on a piece of paper but thought using software would be fun.. finding the time to learn it.not so much.. Thanks!

I recommend you download Sketchup Make 2017. The online version is limited. You can get it here: https://help.sketchup.com/en/downloading-older-versions

[Jim Becker]

Steve, while starting with someone else's design is a very helpful time-saver, you have a bit of a learning curve in front of you to be able to master "moving around" things and having them come back together the way you want them. You'll be working in three axis, rather than two, and it takes some time to "get it". I had a few frustrations with that the other day myself and I've been a casual SketchUp user for years.

[Monte Milanuk]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who has that problem ��

[Greg R Bradley]

I find it a pain and I have no problem doing it with Chief Architect, Solidworks, Agtek, etc. I think Sketchup still has some roots back in the start where it was just something to make a quick drawing of a building to fill in Google Earth. Some of the functions just seem missing.
Sometimes I find things difficult even compared to our new Trimble Software, which is CAD/CAM for heavy equipment. Want to see dozers and graders controlled by computers? Only $168k per user.....
TrimbleBC.jpg

[Chris Schoenthal]

I've changed the layout of my shop many times. I too found it hard to use somebody else's components and I'm far too new to SketchUp to draw my own.
I just drew boxes the size of all my machines. That would at least allow me to move them around easily for layout and to see if anything interfered with something else.

[Steve Kozusko]

I've changed the layout of my shop many times. I too found it hard to use somebody else's components and I'm far too new to SketchUp to draw my own.
I just drew boxes the size of all my machines. That would at least allow me to move them around easily for layout and to see if anything interfered with something else.

That's what I did. Couldn't figure out how to draw the pipes. Watched a google video and after 30 minutes of playing was able to draw a pipe. A straight pipe.. Now need to figure out how to move the pipe.. I think this is going to take a while.....

[Tom Dixon]

That's what I did. Couldn't figure out how to draw the pipes. Watched a google video and after 30 minutes of playing was able to draw a pipe. A straight pipe.. Now need to figure out how to move the pipe.. I think this is going to take a while.....

Steve in my first reply above^ I gave you a link to my 3D Warehouse page where you can download pre-drawn 4", 6" and 8" spiral or pvc pipe and all the metal or pvc fittings needed to layout a dust collection system. You can also download my shop plan in my other post above that has a dust collection layout that you can rob from by copying and pasting whole sections and it provides an example of how to align the parts.

To move parts you use the tool that is 4 arrows in a cross shape. You can grab by any point in the object. move.JPG I suggest you first group the object so you can also use the move tool to rotate it to change its direction. Sketchup does have a learning curve but once you get over the initial hump of being unfamiliar with what each tool does on a basic level it starts to become very intuitive. I have found that the most valuable tool of all is the Tape Measure Tool tape.JPG. With that you can add guides for drawing or aligning objects and guides are can all be deleted at once with a single menu command, (Edit>Delete Guides). Guides make it easy to draw to the exact dimensions and can be used to measure on the fly. To create a guide click on a red, green or blue axis line and drag a guide where you want it. Actually you can drag a guide from any line. A guide can snap to anywhere on an axis or any point on a drawing or another guide. I also find typing in measurements for a guide or object is a lot easier than trying to get the exact dimension only by clicking and dragging the mouse.

[Steve Kozusko]

Thanks Tom. I just downloaded the Shop+tools+.skp file. I clicked on it which launched Sketchup but it just hangs there with the spinning wheel. Had to force quit several times. Is there a specific way I need to open this? Appreciate the help!

[Tom Dixon]

Thanks Tom. I just downloaded the Shop+tools+.skp file. I clicked on it which launched Sketchup but it just hangs there with the spinning wheel. Had to force quit several times. Is there a specific way I need to open this? Appreciate the help!

Steve it is a pretty big file, (47.1MB). Depending on how much RAM your computer has it might take a while to open. Maybe as much a a full Minute. All my Drawings are pretty detailed. That particular file is a good example of a PVC plan. If you are thinking of going metal or spiral then the one I linked above that is on dropBox is the better one to use. That one is huge, (202MB). It has my entire shop plan, (every brick, block stud, siding, roofing, etc.), so it could take a couple minutes to open. That one is in Sketchup 2017 format. With either one give it some time to open. If it takes more than 5 minutes then it's a problem. Also make sure you selected the right version file if you are downloading from the 3D warehouse.


Edit/Update: I just downloaded both files and tried opening them on my work laptop with 8GB RAM running Windows 7. The Shop+tools+.skp file took 56 seconds before it was fully open and the Workshop_Master.skp file took 2 minutes and 7 seconds before it was fully open. Once opened Sketchup is very responsive but it take a while for these big files to get rendered into memory at the beginning.