Hi am a cabinet maker and I design, manufacture and install kitchen cabinets. I have managed to create a number of DC (Dynamic Component) cabinets and now I would like to do the doors for them.
Where would one find the formulas for this sort of thing?
I have included a model with some of the DC cabinets I have created and an image to indicate (more of less) where I have come unstuck. I need the cabinet doors not to exceed 600mm. If the cabinet exceeds 600mm the doors need to split into 2 equal sizes and remain 2mm from the edge of the cabinet. I hope that makes sense. wall.skp (203.6 KB)
I donāt have a resource I can refer you to for existing DC formula but youāre asking in the right place, mostly. Iām splitting this post away from the āAboutā topic and into itās own thread to encourage visibility from other users that might have some help to offer.
@prognotik: Your question makes sense. I have not tried to make a DC which splits the doors at a certain width, but it is possible with some nested IF() formulas.
The first idea to try would be to include both a Left and a Right door in all Base models. Then use the built-in āhiddenā behavior to show either the Left Door, the Right Door, or both doors depending on the base width.
I will try to work up a basic example but in the meantime the 3D Warehouse has many DC cabinet models which can be downloaded and inspected as examples. Perhaps there is something already available.
Unfortunately, most of the cabinets I have downloaded from the the 3D Warehouse are not very accurately modeled to my needs and as I use my kitchen designs for cutting lists, I need them to be dead accurate, or I lose money.
Cabinet doors in our LTPAC (Little Tin Pot African Country) are very expensive, so to have to re order is a costly affair.
I am very excited to have created one single DC cabinet component that can be copied and stretched to the exact size required. A one size fits all. And I can be confident that my cutting list is accurate. Now all I need is one formula and my life will be complete. My quest for the āholy grailā continues.
I encourage you to create your own custom DCās. They can be pretty powerful.
If you are willing to dive into developing with ruby, DCs in combination with the ruby api can produce some magic. Have a look at the videos from the CabinetSense - http://www.cabinetsensesoftware.com/
Hi Prognotik,
I think Jimās idea would be ideal and simple for this. Cabinet is your overall component and the doors are nested within.
First Door:
LenX: =IF(Cabinet!LenX<60.1,Cabinet!LenX,(Cabinet!LenX/2)
Second Door:
LenX: = Cabinet!LenX/2
Hidden: IF(Cabinet!LenX>60,0,1)
Both of their position would have to be adjusted according with a math function.
If you donāt want two doors, you can also try the COPY function, but then both doors will be identical, which you may not want if you add door knobs.
Hope this helps.
Note that if you type the exact width using the Measurements input instead of just using the Scale Tool, you will need to manually Redraw the instance. Itās a bug in Dynamic Components.
mm, never tried that before. I usually build my DC to either be scaled with the scale tool, or use the dynamic option box to give you the option for sizes.
I work for a cabinet company and we use Cabinet Sense software, a plugin for SketchUp, which allows you to create nearly any component you want and export your drawings to a cut list. The learning curve isnāt bad. Itās not expensive and there are dozens of training videos available online. I encourage you to check it out at http://www.cabinetsensesoftware.com/
I tried cabinet sense and it crashed sketch-up. So I uninstall it. I tried to work with the guy at cabinet sense and he was very rude by not responding to my email. So I will give you my old version dynamic component for free as long as you donāt give it to anyone else. It shows you how to do the doors so that they split and have gaps etc
Wow kimberleydesigner ! Thank you, that is very kind of you.
Sorry itās taken me so long to respond. Iāve just been to busy to check on replies. Also, Iāve knda cracked the formulas I needed but I would still like to check out cabinet sense. Iāll probably buy my own copy in the end, but I would like to give it a proper test drive first, so a hand-me-down copy would be great for that, thank you.
