Filling space and small movements of objects

Hiya everyone.
This is my first blog and my first project and my first use of Sketchup - or any 3D, though pretty good with 2D drawing tools like ppt and libre. I am afraid I jumped in to the deep end, that’s me.

I am trying to make a reproduction of an 1916 aeroengine, and making a reduction gear. No worries, not that mad that I am making the whole thing, JUST the outside.

Basically made two circles and stretched them for thickness, and put them larger top and smaller bottom as faced head on. But the two are joined, obviously, so I drew two curved lines from bottom surface to bottom surface and top to top to create the shape, but now I want to fill the space to make it look solid… A Marilyn Monroe shape if you like. HOW?

Lastly, I have added some nuts, but they refuse to go where I want them, jumping about the screen - GGGGRRRR.

I will try and add the images, just I use Linux and the only way to run Sketchup (at the moment) is either on a Windows machine or in a virtual machine or PlayonLinux (WINE) and the latter two my video card does not have the umph to run 3D on them. So I need to shutdown and reboot in to Windows.

Here are two images to show what I mean.

The face on picture shows the nuts (one missing). They should all fit in the centre of the round bumps on the edges, but they are all over the place.

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The angle shot shows the base (the part behind the two round crank housings) and the part that should be filled in. In addition there is a strengthening vein that runs down the centre of the two housings, which I have drawn the outline of, but also needs filling.

src=“//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/sketchup/original/3X/9/f/9feebdd2614f51a9582f00eb0dcb7ef636c63a8e.jpg” width=“690” height=“428”>

Hope all this helps.

Second image didn’t show… Try again.

You have drawn a curved line (or a loop of several curved lines) and want to connect them by a smooth surface?

For most smooth surface modelling (or “skinning”) one would choose plugins that add that functionality to SketchUp.

In your case however I would recommend that you practice using and combining the built-in tools to achieve a task. Therefore you need to be creative and sometimes add temporary geometry.

  1. You have a guiding edge starting orthogonally from the curve.

  2. Use the Line Tool to close the curve to form a filled, closed loop.

  3. Use the Push Pull Tool to extrude the resulting face until you hit the back end of the edge (same works with the Follow Me tool and a curved path as guide)

  4. Delete the temporary geometry and right-click the curved surface → Reverse Faces to turn the front side (white) outside.

Check out the measurements box (right bottom corner) for precise drawing:
After every (not so precise) operation you can type a precise dimension like 7.5cm into the keyboard (no mouse clicks necessary) and press enter. Calculate the precise dimensions using math. You should also adapt your snapping distance to help for exct drawing in Window → Model Info → Units → Length Snapping. For example I have it set to snap in increments of 0.1m, and everything I need more precise I type into the keyboard.

Also use right-click → Create Group to avoid objects intersecting or sticking together. You can re-use existing groups (or components) and flip/mirror them to have the exact inverse shape without redrawing it. Therefore use the scale tool with a negative scale -1.

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Wow, thank you Aerillius
I’ll try and have a go at that probably tomorrow now…

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