Revolve shape around two superposed circles of different radius

[Argus]

Hello, I am new to 3D drawing and I got suggested sketchup as a good tool to learn and make simple things. I’m a hobbyist that build 1/35 armored vehicles. I wanted to draw certain parts of a specific vehicle to enhance the level of details on my model. It consist of an antenna base.

So far, I managed to build this with sketchup :

I want to give some thickness to the brackets so I tried the follow me tool… no sucess. The shape goes crazy or doesn’t follow both cylinder path… Because my part is so tiny I am limited to 24 segment circles so my bracket lines from one circle to the other are probably not 100% straight. I tried drawing lines from the base along the circumference of the cylinder, to then make a polygon, but when drawn, if I click on select, I highlight the whole circle instead…

I’m still learning guys and this is mostly a covid side project, but I’d like to become better at this and maybe be able someday to 3d print whatever part I want for my models.

Thanks !

[DaveR]

I’m not quite following what you want to do but it seems like you should be able to do it with a single circular path and profile.

As for the size, model it at life size. Then you won’t be limited. You also won’t need to make the scale conversions for all the dimensions. Scale it down when it is finished.

[Argus]

Sorry, I may be more confusing than anything else.

What you see on my 3d model is 4 lines that are supposed to have certain thickness. So I created a profile but the follow me tool makes the profile go on the path of the top or bottom cylinder only… so if I choose the top circle, on the bottom the bracket will have gone too far and there will be a gap.

[Sasquatch]

Looking for something like this:

Give me an idea of some of the dimensions and I can try to make a demo video for you. It is pretty simple, using only native tools (i.e. you will not need any extensions).

[Argus]

Hmm yup, but the columns are “angled” because top and bottom are not the same radius.

[DaveR]

So draw the cross section through the thing as if there are no gaps. Use a single circle as the path for Follow Me. Then cut the openings.

[Argus]

Ok I’ll try, an image is worth a thousand words. Thanks. If it works out I’ll post it here. It’s much simpler than what I was going through.

[Argus]

Hello ! Ok I learned how to do my cross profile and make it follow a path. it gives me this :

But if I try to cut the openings (only one bracket made to see what will happen) I end up with pretty much the same shape I had before lol.

I must be doing something wrong because I’d like to end up with the same result as posted above.

[DaveR]

After you’ve cot the turned shape, create “cutters” to intersect with it to cut out the gaps

[Argus]

I connected the brackets with lines… If it that is what you meant ? I need to close the last face…

Sorry I feel stupid asking this many questions !

[DaveR]

I was talking about making shapes that cut through the round piece like this.

Based on your screen shot, thouh, the next step for you would be to sticth the vertices on the curves at the top and bottom with the Line tool to get the faces. Certainly possible but more time consuming.

[Argus]

Wow ! Thanks for the answer ! Lots of information. Really appreciate it. If I suceed, I’ll post my finished model, printed piece and onto my scale model afterward. Thanks again !

[Argus]

Hello ! Here is my result :

Now… I’m working still on my model, but on a different part. I want to model the gun. I have acess to measurements from the model part itself, not the actual 1:1 vehicle… Here is what I managed to do :

There is one last part I have to do and this is the tricky one. It’s some kind of “lips” on the top of the muzzle brake (not the brake from the actual vehicle I’m trying to model bu they are essentially the same) :

Can that be done by creating a “cutter” shape, like in earlier examples ? I’m having difficulties picturing that in 2D…

Any help will be appreciated !