SU and miters has me stumped

[Chet Parks]

I have spend about 4 hours over 3 days trying to draw one side of a mitered frame. I am assumeing that the best way is to first draw the piece in 2 dimensions, the do the two miters on each end, then use push/pull to make the proper thickness. I have been trying to use the protractor tool at one corner and then move the angle to 45 deg. This just doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

All I want to do is build a simple 4 sided frame around a coffee table and the frame around the top has me wanting to pull my hair out--if I had any.

Thanks for any help.

Chet Parks

[Doug Shepard]

Dave R. will likely jump in here with better advice but I think I may have an answer. I'm pretty sure the protractor tool only gives you a construction line (faint dashed line) not the angled line you're looking for. You'd then use the regular line drawing tool and line it up with the construction line created by the protractor.
However, I'm not sure you need it anyway. If you have 2 rectangles - one inside the other - that represent the frame width, you should just be able to draw a line to connect the corners and would then end up with your 45 deg miters.

[Dave Richards]

Chet, Doug was right on several counts. First that I would jump in, second about the protractor tool. It should give you a construction line at an angle relative to another line. Set it at a corner, click, drag along the reference line a bit. Click. and drag out the construction line and type the angle. In this case 45 Enter.

He's also right about connecting the corners. If you are drawing the individual frame components (sides) make sure you group them as you draw them. Draw one and group it. Draw the next and group it (or just copy the orignial you want. Ignore for the moment that they aren't mitered and place them together as if they were. Select one to editand draw the line between inside and outside corners. Use Push/Pull to remove the waste. Edit the other piece and do the same.

If your frame pieces have some sort of molding profile applied it gets a bit trickier but isn't really very hard. It simply involves creation of cutting planes which do exactly what the name implies. I can do a simple tutorial on that if someone is interested.

[Jon Masterson]

Dave

I would certainly be interested in such a tutorial. Although most of my work is M&T (I am a window maker) I do make mitered frames now and again

[Tony Falotico]

It simply involves creation of cutting planes which do exactly what the name implies. I can do a simple tutorial on that if someone is interested.

Would love to see that Dave, I've played with the Section Plane that will 'cut' an object but have not been able to permanently delete part of the object. Once I eliminate the section plane the rest of the object re-appears.

[Dave Richards]

Tony, the Section Plane is inteneded to give you a non destructive way to create a cross section view of your model. It won't cut. I'll do a cutting plane tutorial and get it posted ASAP.

[Tony Falotico]

Tony, the Section Plane is inteneded to give you a non destructive way to create a cross section view of your model. It won't cut. I'll do a cutting plane tutorial and get it posted ASAP.

Thanks Dave..........

[Dave Richards]

Here we go.

1. The molding that we wish to miter.
2. Draw a construction line at the miter angle on the bottom with the Protractor tool. If the bottom isn't flat draw it below the molding if need be. Pull up a parallel construction line to above the molding as a guide. That part is optional but helps you draw the cutting plane. Draw the cutting plane. Note at the intersection between the cutting plane and the molding there is no black line. The cutting plane hasn't actually done any cutting yet.
3. Select the plane, right click and choose Intersect with model. Note the line now.
4. Erase the waste and heal any missing faces if any. Make a group or component of the molding now before you stick it to something else.

[Gideon Yuval]

Here's a little tutorial for you. Hope it helps

[Chet Parks]

If your frame pieces have some sort of molding profile applied it gets a bit trickier but isn't really very hard. It simply involves creation of cutting planes which do exactly what the name implies. I can do a simple tutorial on that if someone is interested.

This is exactly what I have. Actually the piece I want to miter has both a dado and a rabbet on the miter. Your offered tutorial on cutting planes would be an immense help. I figured if I get the technique for miters down, then I try to figure out how to do the more complex piece.
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I have reviewed most of your comments on other threads and found them to be very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge with us.
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Chet Parks
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Footnote: I just figured out how to draw the miter angle I want. When using the protractor, I have been left clicking, not CONTROL-left clicking. Don’t know why I never tried CONTROL-click before. Now I am ready for the cutting plane lesson.

[Dave Richards]

Chet, see my previous post regarding cutting planes. Does that help? Can you see the picture?

[Chet Parks]

Thanks for the tips. I took the two miter tutorials and made a PDF fie from them. Perhaps this will help some others.

Chet Parks