Replacing component with another component on Sketchup Shop (Web)

SketchUp
1

Hello-

I am new to Sketchup and seeking to apply CAD to my home woodworking and improvement projects.

I made the model below of a compost bin for our garden. Right now, the planks on all four sides of this cube are the same component, and through my assembly design I found that I am building an out-of-square cube that is a little longer in one dimension than the other.

To fix this, I would like to make a new component that is a little shorter, and then replace the existing components on two sides in the sketch with the shortened unit.

I find some instructions to use the ‘components window’ to accomplish this, but in the web version (the paid Shop version), I do not see any option to replace.

Am I missing something? is there a simple way to do this that’s easier than resketching? (i.e. (1) insert new component, (2) align to old component, (3) delete old component.

Compost_Bin
Compost_Bin1000×466 34 KB

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Wouldn’t it be easier to select all of the planks that need to be shorter and make them unique? Then you could just edit one of those and make them the correct new length (probably with Push/Pull or else with Move) and move the vertical corner pieces?

length
length1165×723 3.07 MB

FWIW there isn’t an option (currently) in SketchUp Shop to replace selected components in the model with other ones.

1 Like
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And if the ends are mitered, use the Move tool to change the length of the slats.

length2
length21165×723 1.91 MB

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Thanks Dave-

that works, I thought that would make (for my sketch) 11 different ‘unique components’.

I was trying to keep the model tidy, how to work with the mitered corners is a nice touch as well!

1 Like
5

It would if you make them unique one at a time.

If you have multiple instances of the component selected, those instance will remain related to each other while being made unique from the rest.

Think about this in terms of workflow in the shop. Often you’ll have a bunch of parts that are effectively identical throughout much of the production but at some point in the process some of them split out and go through some steps the others don’t. Table legs in a Shaker style table with a drawer would be an example. All four legs are basically identical up to the point where the long mortises need to be cut in the rear legs for the rear apron while dovetail sockets and small mortises need to get cut in the front legs. Up until that point, they get the same treatment so in SketchUp they can be instances of the same component. When you are ready to add the joinery for the front and back pieces, make one pair unique from the other pair.

FWIW, the method I show for changing the length on the mitered slats would also be used on rails that have tenons or mortises for loose tenons or dovetail joints or box joints…