Hi everybody. I’ve tried to make the following shape according to these specific dimensions: [image] I got this result: [result] My question is that I’m not sure if I made perfect tangents to join the circles. In the model the circles have 48 segments. Is there any way to make sure they are per…

Close enough? I used Common Tangents from the True Tangents extension to find the angle and then the closest number of sides for the circle. 50, in this case. [Screenshot - 8_8_2017 , 4_47_02 PM] [Screenshot - 8_8_2017 , 4_50_52 PM] It’s a nice, quick exercise to draw.

TIG published a True Tangents extension that can calculate true mathematical tangent points, but… Because SketchUp always represents circles as inset regular polygons, most of the time a true tangent line won’t touch the SketchUp representation! By increasing the number of sides you can get close …

Thank you so much guys I have to leave to work now, I’ll try it when I get home

@DaveR and @slbaumgartner that extension worked awesome. But just one doubt, it seems 49,50 and 51 are appropiate number of segments for the tangent of those circles, I don’t see any difference between using them. Why did you choose 50? it’s because it’s a pair number? PS: to delete the guidelines…

When I measured the angle between the perpendicular to the tangent and the diamter line parallel to the red axis, I got ~7.2 degrees. 360/7.2 is 50 so I used that. It’s incredibly rare that I would use an odd number for the number of sides because that usually creates problems. As for deleting Guid…

You’re right. Besides, if it looks good for 49-50-51, I think the one in the middle is the more appropiate. I did it with 50 segments but I wasn’t able to get the shape filled with a middle line. I had to do this way and then delete the lines, is it correct? [fixit]

Sorry, I add one question more. In the finished draw I did yesterday I had this problem when I push/pull. [isthisnormal] is it normal it happens? I fixted it yesterday drawing a new line to close the form and then deleting it.

It doesn’t look right to me. The nearly horizontal line across the lower circle doesn’t seem to be in the right location. You shouldn’t need those lines anyway. When I drew it, I drew two circles with the default 24 sides. Ran True Tangents and figured out the correct number of sides to use. Then I …

I did as you have said (I will repeat the process), I started with 24, I changed it to 48, and then I tried 49,50 and 51. Don’t need to answer this time I bet I will get by :slight_smile:

A circle can only have a whole number for its segments. e.g. 24…48, 49, 50, 51 etc So choose the nearest to suit… Often it’s best if it’s divisible by 4 [for various unconnected reasons] - but in your case 50 should be fine ??

TIG makes a good point. Most of the time I use a number that has factors of 2, 3, and 4. Not in this situation, though.

Is it possible to make a perfect tangent between two circles?

SketchUp

spawn August 9, 2017, 8:10pm 14

Thank you both

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Is it possible to make a perfect tangent between two circles?

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