I recently begun using eneroths solid tools, and have had the same off axis problem, but managed to figure it out in about 15minutes. Sorry I didn’t see shdesign’s problem earlier.
As DaveR says, dragging the circle out on an axis alleviated most of my problems.
Another variation of this problem, I have had up to 6 copies of the same 16mm “rod” (a component) penetrating the main component, most of them will work correctly, but one or two may not. Replace a dud rod via Copy/Paste with one that one that worked, and problem persists. Draw a new rod in place, make it a group/component, and bingo, problem fixed.
Have not got an explanation as to why that is.
Thank you both for your replies.
It’s so quirky and frustrating, I wish I knew why it seemed to be so random. We shouldn’t have to create new components that are basically the same as others which have worked!
I guarantee it is a modelling issue - such as the off axis one mentioned earlier.
SU does appear quirky to everyone learning it - but to the sages who frequent this forum - SU is simple and powerful.
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Even though I checked it all with the Solid Inspector beforehand and they were fine?
Hello there, I still haven’t cracked this. I have another example where I am trying to make holes through a solid and it doesn’t work,
Can anyone make the holes using the attached file? Please let me know either way.
Thanks.
Fence.skp (518.1 KB)
Scale up by 100 and try again.
We’ve gone over this before. Work on a scaled up copy of the component and it’ll work fine.
You’ll have problems with your T-bolts however. I don’t understand why you have such crazy nesting going on there.
Once you’ve straightened out the T-bolts so they are solid components, you’ll be able to use Trim to drill the holes for them, too.
Fence.skp (640.5 KB)
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Thanks Dave, how do I scale up and scale back to to make sure I get exactly the same size components afterwards as before?
I know that the nesting is that way because I created the parts individually and then groups them, before grouping them with all the individual parts of the object.
We’ve talked about this before, too. If you use the method I described to you, you don’t have to scale back down afterwards.
All that nesting creates problems for you in your modeling. Better not to do it.
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Thanks for that Dave. I am trying to follow your method and made the holes in the larger version with no problems. However, the smaller original does not have holes in it like the big one?
Do I have to use components or can I use groups instead?
For the Dave method to work, it needs to be a component.
Copies of groups are unique, so editing one does not influence the original.
Copies of components get the same treatment: edit one and all are effected.
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Thank you for confirming. I know where I am going wrong now (I think).
I have been experimenting and am getting frustrated.
I have the aluminium profile and pegs where I want them ready to make the holes. I have selected all these parts and turned them into a component. I have then move copied it all and scaled up by 1000.
When I try to make the holes by editing within the component, it doesn’t cut them properly. If I make the aluminium profile unique and move the pegs and profile out of the component grouping it makes the holes properly.
What gives? Surely this should be working?
Some how you are missing the entire point of the scaling up process. The extruded aluminum profile needs to be a solid component. The pegs must be solid but they can be groups or components. Don’t select the extrusion and the pegs and make them a component and don’t use Make Unique. Just select the extrusion and the pegs together, copy them with the Move tool off to one side. While the copies are still selected, hit S for the Scale tool and scale the copies up. Then use Subtract or Trim to cut the holes in the extrusion. If you use Trim, you’ll need to delete the pegs afterward.
Hello Dave, I’ve looked through your tutorial for dealing with this and it makes sense. I do understand the point of scaling up.
What I am struggling with is I have already made the pegs and so if I scale up, they need to be scaled up to keep their size and relative position.
How else can I retain the accuracy after I have carefully placed them in the proper dimensions?
Okay, so I need to select the aluminium profile and make it a component. Then I need to select the component and the pegs.
Then I need to ctrl + move cursor to produce a copy. Then scale that up. Then subtract the pegs from the aluminium profile to make the holes.
The problem is, I have done that, and it isn’t cutting the holes in the original component.
I have created a GIF to show you.
Thanks Dave.
The file is quite large so I have added it to 4shared:
https://www.4shared.com/file/5bieCJThfi/Drill_Press_Table_Final.html
you are selecting multiple Groups/Components and scaling them up. You need to make a component of them together and scale that one up.
A Component is more a concept than a thing in SketchUp, it is a kind of ‘little model’ inside the model and can contain more entities (stray edges, faces, Groups and Components, but also dimensions and text)
Hello Mike,
Thanks for your reply.
Surely that’s the opposite of what Dave said?
When you do that, after the first trim or subtraction, the extrusion becomes a group, meaning no component, anymore.
The component ‘wrapper’ of all groups and components doesn’t prevent the extrusion become a group, but it is inside the (scaled) Component, so any alterations still apply to the little one, as well.