Dovetails in SU?

[Ken Stevens]

Has anyone already drawn in dovetails in SU? Can you share a model in which you have done this? It would be nice to reapply someone's templates before spending the time to create some myself. If there are none, then I will post the results I get (assuming I can do it at all).

Thanks,
Ken

[Chris Foley]

Ken,

This is great as it was something that I was going to try to do today. I wanted to get one full and one blind. My only issue is the dimensions to use. The size of the dovetails are based upon the jig and bit. Do you have any details that I can model up? (I am an engineer by trade and the solid modeling stuff is typically easy for me)

[Mark Singer]

It should be pretty easy in SU. I often just try different layouts in a 2d program like Turbo-Cad and then lay the strips on the drawer side and transfer the layout. This helps in the design and spacing of the dovetails.

[Don C Peterson]

Here's a model of a drawer for a small cabinet that I just finished. This is only the second time I attempted to use SketchUp and while it took me a while to get the hang of it, I found that by the end I was working pretty efficiently.

[Ken Stevens]

Don: your model is neat, and half blind at that, making me realize that I have more work to do.

I have successfully modeled a full dovetail (actually just the tail side) but I am going slowly and trying to make a SU file that is a tutorial.

Can you easily describe the steps you went through on your model? If not easily....well, then......

Ken

Edit: I am using an approach of drawing the "male" part of the dovetail to be removed and then intersecting with model on the board. Easy to copy the "male" part as many times as needed and at the proper spacing (can even be uneven). However, right now I see that each and every "unneeded" line from the intersection has to be manually deleted, which is a small pain with one element and a PITA with half a dozen or more. Anyone comment about another approach other than Intersect with Model followed by manual deletions??

[Ken Stevens]

Chris: for the tutorial/learning task I am just trying to copy a dimensioned drawing from an old copy of Woodsmith. Actually these are for a hand made dovetail and thus have 14 degree angles, with 1/2 inch base (I am not sure what to call the different surfaces of a dovetail). The wide part of the pin is determined by the geometry.

Try the plans in any of the woodworking mags for an example.

I think the entire approach (half or full, even or uneven spacing) has to be done by using Intersect with Model command after drawing the male part of the pin or tail. Not being that experienced with SU, perhaps there is another way.

Ken

[Don C Peterson]

Don: your model is neat, and half blind at that, making me realize that I have more work to do.

I have successfully modeled a full dovetail (actually just the tail side) but I am going slowly and trying to make a SU file that is a tutorial.

Can you easily describe the steps you went through on your model? If not easily....well, then......

I don't know that I'm qualified to be providing tutorials on SketchUp, but... essentially I drew the back panel as a plain 3d rectangle. Make the rectangle exactly half the length of the full back. Then I used the line tool to draw marks to plan the layout of the pins.

Next I used the protractor to measure 7 degree angles in both directions. Once you draw the first outline of the tail you just use the push tool to make the hollow area. Now you can select all the lines that make up the cutout copy them and paste them in the appropriate place(s) on your back. Then use the push tool to hollow the rest of them out.

Now you're ready to work on the sides. Just draw a (2d, no depth) rectangle for the side that overlaps the back just like the side would when assembled. Now if you use the push tool on the side surface first pushing in toward the back and then pull out away from the back the surface will be a perfect negative of the hollows you created in the back. If you just pull it will be a rectangle, but if you push first it works.

I pulled out far enough to create a very thick side, then used the eraser to delete the entire side except for the surface outline. Now you can use the push tool to make the side to the appropriate thickness.

Now you can just copy the back paste it and flip it along the appropriate axis. Then but it right up against the original and erase the dividing lines, thus joining the two halves. Do the same to the side.

Now make each one a component so that you can easily manipulate and move them around.

Thats essentially it, but I bet it sounds almost unintelligible. Hope this helps.

[John Schreiber]

Here's a drawer I did a while ago.

Drawer.skp

I find it easiest to depend on guidelines. I'll post a tutorial on that tomorrow.

[Chris Foley]

Gentlemen,

I played with this a good bit yesterday. You do not have to intersect a model but the creation of the joints is still a pain. I am playing around with the Ruby interface. I am sure that I can write a ruby program that creates plain dovetails quickly from a menu driven command.

I have the commands laid out and the generic logic done also. I just need some time to work with Ruby as it is a STRANGE language.

I will let you know how this goes...

[Ken Stevens]

Well, thanks. From your message I went back and tried push/pull, and oh, so easy.

I am somewhat confused by the terminology of the spaces between the tails -- it can't be the pin because the pin is in the other board.......?

Anyway, draw the shape of the first pin in the tail piece and copy it down the board, then push to eliminate. Transfer key points from the female space with guidelines to the other board, draw the space between the pins, copy down the board, then Push into the board the required depth. It looks like the ends (the last pin) has to be manually adjusted (drawn) unless the board width has an even number of pins, properly spaced. Still, not a big deal.

Couldn't be more simple, once I was "pushed" in the right direction. Thanks.

[John Schreiber]

Looks like you are going in the right direction. I wrote this up last night - my first complete tutorial - improving my knowledge of layers and scenes dramatically in the process.

Please let me know if there are errors I didn't see or if I skipped any steps.

Dovetail Tutorial.skp
Dovetail Tutorial

[Don C Peterson]

Ken,

Glad it helped.

John,

Thanks, that gives me some ideas. I haven't used guidelines but I will start...

[Ken Stevens]

John: that is a great tutorial. Your use of the scenes and layers made it especially effective. Much easier to do than I had first imagined. Chris's approach to a script driven process would be even more convenient (I think).

Many thanks for the contribution and help.

Ken

[Bertrand Lisée]

Couple weeks ago I have draw this seven drawers chest and all the drawers have dovetails; you can have a look at the drawers. Sorry for the notations on the drawing that are in french

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...4763df40048906

[Don C Peterson]

Bertrand,

Now that is a model created by someone who knows what he's doing. That must have taken some time. Thanks for sharing.

I couldn't help but notice that your measurements are all in SAE rather than metric though... I thought it was just us crazy Americans who still resist using the metric system.