I started using SU for Web last week, and have made decent (but messy) Side Table.skp (440.9 KB)
progress.
I’ve searched but can’t find this particular situation. I’m building a table that includes a dovetailed drawer. I made the drawer side with the tails cut out the way I believe they should appear along with the drawer front to which it will attach (or glue to when making the drawer in my shop). Each was made a component.
What I want to do is move the side to intersect with the front and cut the dovetail into the front. I tried gluing the side to horizontal and selecting “Cut Opening”, but when I move the front away, the dovetail pins have not been cut.
Am I misunderstanding this, or is it just not possible? I will eventually want to do the same operation when making mortise and tenon joints.
Cut Opening isn’t supposed to leave a real opening. It is intended to create an illusion of a hole for something like a window in a wall or a sink in a counter top. It also requires the cutting component to be in the same context as the face it is supposed to cut.
In your case you can open the drawer front component for editing and trace the geometry of the dovetail joint on the end. Then use Push/Pull to push away the waste.
Before you do that, you should correct the drawer front and back. Currently they are loose geometry. Make each one a component on its own.
Thank you Dave. That’s a lot easier then what I did. Now is there an easy way to copy that to the other end of the front, or do I just rotate and repeat the steps?
I see what you did and it makes perfect sense. I did get it done, but much less smoothly than your example. Where I got lost was in replicating the push/pull. If I remember from the tutorial, you push the first time, then just click on each part you want pushed the same distance. It appears that is what you did. I could not get that to work and just pushed each item to the appropriate edge. Also what is the correct term for an item (in this case, one dovetail pin, tail, or the cutout into which it fits)?
The drawer sides get the tails, the front and pack get pins (and half pins at the top and bottom) and the spaces between the tails are the sockets. It’s prbably easier to keep track of pins and tails when they are cut in a more traditional layout with the tails being wider than the pins.
Thank you. I’ve been doing this for almost 30 years and I STILL can’t keep them straight. But is there a term for one of those (or anything part of a component) in Sketchup?
