I Am having trouble creating a dynamic component. Its a shaker door, How can I make the tenon stay the same length when changing the width of the door?
Thanks
Shaker door.skp (114.4 KB)
Dear Will:
Make the Stile Component using TWO (Nested) Sub-Compos. One for the “solid” stile, another for the “male tendon” on the stile. Then you can Fix the LenX on the stile’s tendon.
Think you’re going to need a similar treatment for the “female tendons” at the Rails when altering the door height.
NOTE: I used “Copies” on the Rails and Stiles to reduce the number of Compos in the Model. Copies are then FLIPPED on the corresponding Red or Blue Axes. I also took the liberty of adding restricted Scale Handles along the X and Z Axes.
Shaker door v00.skp (214.6 KB)
Thanks I’ll give it a go.
Resizing elements with Dynamic Components involves scaling which isn’t an appropriate thing for the stub tenons nor for the grooves in your door. In order to change the lengths of the rails without changing the lengths of the tenons, you’ll need to separate the tenons from the rail. Then you can scale the rail and just move a tenon to change the overall length of the rail.
You need to fix the widths of the rails and stiles so that value doesn’t change, as well.
If you had a raised panel instead of a flat one, you would need to divide it into nine sub-components so you could move the raisings without scaling them when resizing the panel.
If you are hoping to use the door for a cutlist you may find DC’s aren’t really useful. If you are just using the dynamic doors for looks, you don’t need to add the stub tenons and grooves.
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Ok thanks I thought that might be the case. Its only really for customer drawings so I don’t suppose I need to show tenons etc. It would be useful to use for a cutlist, can you suggest something more suitable?
My main use for doors like that is for shop drawings and cutlists are an important part of it. I looked at Dynamic Component and worked with them for awhile and decided for things with joinery details, it just made more sense for me to resize the parts manually. The Move tool can be used to move one end of the rail without affecting the length of the stub tenon or change the length of a drawer front without changing the dovetails on the end.
You could also use Fredoscale to resize the parts scaling from the center without scaling the ends.
I have very few dynamic components for use in the casework projects I do. Mainly there’s a drawer box that needs no joinery shown. It is designed for use with a specific brand and model of Blum drawer guides and outputs the numbers needed to order the drawer box from the supplier.
Yes. If the model is only for customers, don’t add excess detail. Besides a simpler model is easier to modify when the customer changes their mind. 
Ok thanks for your help.
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If you prefer to go the manual route as @DaveR suggested, you might also want to try the Stretch by Area extension you can get on Sketchucation. It’s one of my go-to extensions. Curic has a similiar paid extension on Extension Warehouse which looks like it does the same thing, but I haven’t tried it yet.
I find DC’s usefully if you have a company that delivers content or (small) companies that have a range of products that is managable
(Deck builders, gardensheds, etc)
The 80/20 rule applies also here (time spent developing/result)
But with DC, it’s almost 95/05 
I merely use it for data only, now…
For now, it is the only way to correctly export BIM data in an IFC export