I managed to sort it out by copying and then pasting in place outside of the component and this got me out of the problem with nesting.
I want to remove the vertical lines now that I have managed to merge the components but using the eraser deletes parts of the shape.
Drill Press Table.skp (1.4 MB)
This probably happened because you did not open the component for editing. Select the component then right click Edit group or edit component should be in the menu depending how you are setting up your model. Or once the component is selected double click on it to open it for editing. when the part is open for editing there should be a bounding box around it.
Go back to post 58 click on the link for Campus Learning, in the fundamentals video watch lesson 7 and 8. Should help .
Open the group for editing, get the Eraser tool, Hold Ctrl and click on the edges to soften them.
Thanks Dave, I didn’t think that would work but it does! SketchUp behaviour is so strange.
Why is that strange? SketchUp uses edges to define the limits of faces. Those edges can be Softened/Smoothed so they don’t show in the model. You see this when you extrude a circle with Push/Pull. In the case of putting the four quadrants together, you need to tell it that you want those edges softened. Look at the bottom left of the SketchUp window when you select the Eraser tool. It shows the modifier keys for Soften and Hide.
This makes sense to someone who has such experience as you and you have accustomed your mind to thinking in the way that SketchUp does. To me, it seems strange that you would use the eraser tool to remove a line and smoothen it when it looks pretty smooth already. It’s all about understanding and experience.
Which is why several people have suggested you spend time learning the fundamentals.
I’ve been reading and watching material that you have all suggested and learned a lot.
I’m still coming across instances where I get stuck but my thought processes are slowly adapting to this software.
I’ve just created a quarter section of aluminium profile and duplicated the array as shown previously by Dave.
I don’t know how to merge all four parts though, if I use the eraser it deletes one of the quarter sections rather than merging them. What should I be doing please?
If the four sections are groups or components nested within another group/component then the eraser tool will delete the specific group/component.
I’d already removed them from a group/nested instances by cuttings and pasting in place outside of the respective group so not sure why it was still a problem.
Attach the model and I can tell you, otherwise it’s all speculation.
Just a quickie to show how to keep things simple. As @DaveR has shown you, reducing your work by making repeating parts can really speed things up, but remember it works with raw geometry too.
Here I have drawn only 1/8th of the extrusion, then a couple of copy rotates and you have it.
Sorry I hadn’t got back to you sooner and thanks for the tutorial.
