Best way of laying out precise dimensions - particuarly for cutouts

Technical Problems SketchUp
1

Hi Folks,

I’m trying to use sketch up to design a model to send to a 3d print shop - it’s designed to hold an arduino (+ a couple of other things). The key point is that the dimensions need to be accurate - particularly the hole placements. The crux of my question is how can I type in the location of the holes so that their alignment is precise - e.g hole 1 is 58mm to the right, and 28mm above hole 2.

Hole sizes (i.e diameter) I can do, as when I ‘sketch’ the circle, I can then type in the exact measurement into the bottom corner text box but I’m following the arduino dimensions - here - so obviously I need the relative positions holes in this layout to match my sketch. I’ve tried adding dimension lines to my sketch, in the hope that if I typed over the figure, the drawing would realign - but this seems not to happen.

I played a little with FreeCad which was very buggy, but what was nice about it was that you could specify these dimensions by typing, and as relative constraints.

Thanks, Ace

2

You can use the tape measure tool to create the needed construction lines…

3 Likes
3

Thanks for the screen share - very much appreciate the time you took to make that.

I guess to make it work, I’d have to make sure that the image overlay is to scale, but I guess if it isn’t - I can pick some datum and scale it until it trues up.

Thanks again though - that definitely sets me off on the right track

-Ace

4

I’ve used the tape measure tool to scale the imported image (http://help.sketchup.com/de/article/95006 ) before creating the screenshot.

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Cool - I think that the key thing think that this showed me was that Sketch up is all about guide lines and the tape measure tool. I’ve only been using it for about 1 week, so I hadn’t grokked that until now.

Big Thanks Again, Ace

6

I sometimes make the object on a piece of geometry— an edge, for instance, assuming it is grouped— then move it a precise distance to get the location.