I have a lot of holes drilled into my project so that I know where I need to drill in real life. However, whilst trying to dimension, I am unable to locate the centres to add a dimension from the end of the lumber to the hole centre and likewise from the lumber side to the hole centre.
I am not sure what the problem is, could someone please have a look for me?
Wood Store Pieces.skp (1.7 MB)
Try this: Click on the edge of the hole to highlight the circle. Go to Edit>Circle>Find center to place a guide point. Now you can use that point to insert the dimensions you need.
If, for some reason, the entire circle doesn’t highlight, use one of the Chris Fullmer plugins called Arc Centerpoint Finder. To use it, click once on two non-adjacent segments of the circle, then click on the plugin name in the Extensions drop-down menu. That will place a guidepoint in the center.
Hello David, thanks for your reply.
Is there an option missing from my edit menu? I can’t follow your instructions at the moment.
right click on the edge and the context menu should have a find center option.
I think that this could be the problem. It looks like the circles/holes are actually individual lines.
Is there an easy way to fix this (remembering that these are actually holes rather than simple circles)?
if the circle is broken like this, you can draw out two perpendicular lines from two segments and where they intersect is the center…or as was mentioned earlier, get:
https://extensions.sketchup.com/sv/content/clf-arc-centerpoint-finder
Chris Fulmers center finder. You just select two edges and it will put a mark at the center.
Thanks for your reply. I had tried that plugin before I even posted this, it’s bringing up an error message when I try what is suggested:
This happens even though I have highlighted the circle:
Is it possible to fix broken holes like this one?
You can see in the first demo the SU context menu which will find the center, and the second, where the circle has been exploded, using chris fulmer’s tool.
Thank you, that makes sense.
Is there a way to actually fix the holes easily though?
I don’t think so. You can use the “weld” extension after selecting the circles edges and it will become a connected ring/circle again. However, SU no longer recognizes it as such and you cant then use the native center finder. The only way would be to redraw a new circle on top of it ( delete the face) and then it will be recognized.
If you just weld, then neither the native center finder or Chris Fulmer tool will work, so find centers first or redraw a new circle on top of the old…make sure the cardinal points and edge count are the same to avoid a mess.
Thanks for your detailed reply.
So to fix the problem, for future reference, I would need to delete the existing lines that make up the circle and then redraw a new circle?
Would this fix the problem throughout the hole and at the other end? If not, what’s the proper fix for each hole?
The first gif is a clumsy alternative way to find the center of a circle by using two dimension lines.
The second shows the steps to repair the hole…
repair the hole by drawing a new line on one edge ( the circle will fill ( push pull it through again to repair the other side hole if those circle’s edges are broken. then delete the face. You should then have known circles again.
Not sure how yours got exploded in the first place?
Thanks for your two posts. Very helpful.
I am not sure myself, I think it could have happened when I ran the tool to minimise the file size?
My attempt to follow your instructions to fix an example:
Line drawn, creating filler circle
Push/pull tool activated:
Dragging with push/pull tool:
Leaves nothing and the hole looks broken with lines showing…
if you look at my gif (clumsy ) you have to draw a circle on top of the new face then push pull. Make sure the edge count is the same and you snap to a point.
if you just push pull you will get those lines and not have repaired the circle.
You can always just draw one edge across the circle and measure to the midpoint inference.
There is a plugin by nobnob called Exploded arc lines to arc that will convert an exploded circle back to a proper circle. But the segments must all be equal. It’s available from sketchucation.
I’ve tried to follow your instructions. I’ve recorded this because the outcome does not appear to be the same, what’s different?
Still trying to figure this out because some of the holes look really messed up. It’s hard to explain, but if you open the attached filed and try to use the plugin by clicking on two edges you will see what I mean. It almost looks like the edge is jagged, although I don’t know how/why.
Wood Store Pieces.skp (1.5 MB)
