I’ve drawn a small box 1" x 0.5" x 0.3" that I would like to have tapered sides so it can be more easily injection molded. I want to taper the sides by 1 degree but I can only figure out how taper the sides by “Distance” and don’t know the distance I would need.
Does anyone have a solution?
Well, from basic trig a 1 degree taper causes a slope of 0.01745, that is, a decrease of that times the length of the taper. You will likely have to scale you block up while making such a small change or you will likely see issues due to SketchUp’s merging of vertices closer than about 0.001".
Could he not do the same as this with the rotate tool and rotate the face by 1 degree?
He could but it would shift the top face, too.
The vertical edges of the box need to be lengthened but Rotate won’t do that.
@RSalpeter, I expect you’ll want to add the draft to all sides of the box. Is it important that the draft be exactly 1°?
Obviously not, as Dave demonstrates!
Not the simple solution anyway, too messy to clean up.
If the tapering is symmetrical, the scale tool together with CTRL could be an alternative…
Put vertical guides on opposit corners, rotate by 1 degree, draw line and push through?
Edit-but other two sides are still messy
This will work for the first two sides, fot the next two you need some intersection and cleanup afterwards.
You could copy an edge with Rotate to create a surface that is angled 1 degree, then use Follow Me to drag that shape around the exterior.
Great idea
My lack of follow me use showing there
Thank you everyone for you ideas and suggestions. Not only did you give me effective solutions to my problem, I remember now what trig is for…
Just a random comment …
In a former life, I did 3D modeling for injection molds. The OP’s issue with draft was commonplace. One of the more difficult shapes was simple in concept:
The change in angle going around the corner was always problematic for the corners as well as the sides.
