Building Support

Hi,

I have a simple SketchUp model. A rectangle at the bottom and a circle suspended above. I need to create supports between the rectangle up to the circle on 3 of the edges, but cannot seem to find a tool/method to easily to do.

Any suggestions?

Can upload the build file if need be

Thanks

Jack

I didn’t get this part. Could you provide screenshots or the file with references?

So on the below rectangle the supports only need to be connected by 3 of the sides faces not all 4

Paul Blade Protector.skp (177.4 KB)

I can think of some possibilities (mainly involving extruding a “rod”, placing it appropriately, and then using intersect-faces-with to trim off the ends) but need some more information:

  • I get that the supports should start at three of the corners of the rectangle, but where should they end up on the circle? To say that differently, how should they be oriented in space? They can’t go straight up, as they would then miss the circle. But there are lots of slanted ways they could go…
  • Assuming the supports, like the “rectangle” and “circle” are actually solids, what cross section should they have?
  • Should the supports start outside the rectangle touching its corners, or on top of the rectangle touching its corners? Same question with regard to the circle.

[quote=“slbaumgartner, post:4, topic:38893”]

  • I get that the supports should start at three of the corners of the rectangle, but where should they end up on the circle? To say that differently, how should they be oriented in space? They can’t go straight up, as they would then miss the circle. But there are lots of slanted ways they could go…[/quote]

I wouldn’t say that they have to, it could be in the centre of the face, this is more of a concept to further my knowledge. ideally they should hit the middle of the floating circles bottom edge.

Not sure what you mean by cross section?

Outside of the rectangle

@jackwetson: see Steves questions!
Also, the model you presented should have its outher circular ring oriented the same as the inner circular ring. Right now they don’t mach. this would make things unnecessary complex when connecting both objects (ring and rectangle).

Right click on an edge of the rectangle and select ‘Divide’ and divide the edge into six pieces.
Now with the ‘Line’ tool connect endpoints of that edge with corresponding endpoints on the circular ring (so called ‘handstitching’) to create triangular faces. This is just one way to do it.

You answered part of the question but missed a key part: should the supports be symmetrical in the same way as the rectangle and circle? That’s important info when there are only three supports, as it leaves one quadrant of the circle unsupported.

Imagine a rod or beam. Slice through it perpendicular to its long axis. The shape of that slice is called the “cross section”.