Connecting multiple boxes

So I’m not really sure how to explain this but I will give it my best shot. I have tried to draw a box with 5/6 edges and an open center. To give a better idea I am trying to draw the outer box of a floating shelf and i’m drawing each piece of wood to better illustrate what I’m trying to do. Where I’m running into a snag is I have drawn three sides to the box and when I try to draw the forth side it snaps to the inner edges of the three sides of the box I have already drawn. This still happens even when i define the dimensions manually. It’s incredibly annoying, Am I doing this wrong? Please Help!

Maybe a printscreen would help us give you a solution or a hint about what you are doing wrong.

As ely862me said, at least a screen shot would help. The SKP file would be even better.

So here’s the skp and two .jpg the first jpg is where I’m at now, the second is what happens when I try to draw the forth side to the box from the outside edges. Hopefully this helps.Floating Shelf.skp (133.2 KB)


Sorry this only allowed to upload 1 link at a time because I’m a new user…

You need to be making components of each part that you would make in wood so that they can be kept separate. Geometry is “sticky” unless you put a group or component wrapper around the geometry for each part.

I’m popping in to agree with what Dave said (make groups or components of each individual piece), and also to say I’m craving an ice cream sandwich now!

Also, as you edit each component, you can “hide rest of model”, which is incredibly convenient. I don’t know what the command is for it right out of the “box” because I have it set up as a hotkey (Shift+H). But using it makes only the component/group you are editing visible on your screen. Very useful.

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Or you can not hide the rest of the model so you can use it for reference as you draw additional parts.

And I want an ice cream sandwich, too. :smiley:

Dave and Tkizzy got in while I was writing this but I’ll post it anyway.
You need to get a bit of a handle on how SU creates geometry and how best to deal with it. All raw geometry sticks together and will try to make faces when coplanner.
Groups and Components separate geometry so it doesn’t stick together and can easily be copied, moved, rotated, arrayed etc
When you draw your rectangle to the outer edges it naturally fills in the end face and the side, but if the other “pieces of wood” were a collection of geometry wrapped up as Group or Component then your final rectangle would be just that, a simple rectangle.
Make shapes as if they were real, select them, right click and Make Group. The next step is then to understand how a component differs from a group, and how to use them and their magic powers.

Thank you so much to everyone, Box that video was incredibly useful, I was kind of lost in translation with the other descriptions. Thanks again everyone!

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