How Do I Bend a Fixed Length Panel Between Two Points to Create Archway?

Hi, I’m new to SketchUp and need some help with arcing an object. I’m trying to model a cattle panel hoophouse and I need to bend the panel between two points. The panels are 3/8" thick, 50" wide and 16’ long. The short edge of the panel will rest in a 3/8" wide 3" deep notch on the top, inside edge of a standard 2x12 (1.5 x 11.25"). The 2x12’s will be 7’ apart on the inside. I need to bend this panel over and down to meet the other notch while maintaining the 16’ length of the panel. I believe this should create vertical sides for a short distance at the bottom before the curve starts. Right now I just have the panel modeled as a solid panel. I’ve tried TrueBend, but that just creates a half circle with a diameter much wider than my width of 7’, and drawing an arc between the points just balloons it beyond the width of the structure. I will try to attach the file as it is now and would greatly appreciate some help/advice. Maybe it’s a simple procedure, but regardless I’m sure I’m doing it wrong. LOLGreenhouse Plans.skp (167.0 KB)

Here is another take. Start with making your arc a half circle from the appropriate bearing points on the 2 x 12’s. Then with the arc selected use entity info to read the arc length. A bit of quick math tells you how tall the sides should be. Model the sides to the correct length then use the offset tool to make the cross section 3/8" thick. Push/pull that cross section to 50".

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another might use the arc tool to span a 7’ wide half-circle, then raise it to get the 16’ length of the panel (so 1/2 of the “sides”). then using pipe along path or a similar tube creation, create the first wire - copy to 50" and divide by 5 (/5) to create hoop. create the horizontal wires (i fit one per segment). create all of the hoops and wires into a component. then copy component as needed. in my example i’m using straw bales since that seems like a popular approach.


cattle_panel_hoop.skp (572.2 KB)

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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! All of these ideas have been extremely helpful and allowed me to begin modeling what I was envisioning. I greatly appreciate the help!

Hoophouse In Progress.skp (1.2 MB)

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@miataman2001 Glad that helped. Looks like you posted while your attachment was still uploading, which interrupts the process. You can edit your post (pencil @ bottom right) and re-attach.

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Thanks for catching that! I think it uploaded this time. I don’t know why it won’t preview in the post like yours did, though.

The ‘Preview’ is a second screenshot or gif, it’s not an auto preview of an attached file.

■■■■, didnt know entity info listed arc length. I always just did the math by hand on paper haha

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Can you do that cattle panel hoop and save it in 2017 so I can examine it

saved as 2017. note this is was quick example compared to perhaps actually reading the specs on the cattle wire :wink: cattle_panel_hoop.skp (1.1 MB)

thank you