I am working on a skateboard ramp. I bought some ramp plans that came with a sketchup file. I am trying to making some changes and learn at the same time. Maybe even make my own design. What I dont understand is how they make the curved face of the ramp. When I click on it, its a giant cube, so I am guessing they made a cube and then cut a radius out.
I have included a screenshot to help explain what I am talking about.
I have been using sketchup for about 3 days now. I have gone through several tutorials and I am starting to learn the tools, but cant figure this one out.
Im guessing make a box, use push pull to set my size. Then make a circle and push pull across to essentially delete a section out of it.
The blue bounding box doesn’t specifically indicate they started with a cube although they may have. The blue box is the bounding box for the component or group that you’ve selected. Component and group bounding boxes are always rectilinear like that.
If you were going to make something like that you might start with a large rectangle and draw one curve on it. Use Offset to make a “parallel” curve to represent the end of the curved panel. Then you can erase the rest of the rectangle and use Push/Pull on the thin face to give the panel some width. You can do this without the start rectangle but it’s easier to keep the curve on plane with the rectangle especially if you are a newer user of SketchUp.
I noticed your plans only have one layer of plywood. You’ll need at least 2 layers of 3/8"-1/2" plywood, otherwise you run the risk of making holes in the riding surface. I learned that one the hard way…
I remember being confused about the same thing when I started using SketchUp. Curved surfaces were a challenge to learn, but don’t worry… you’ll become proficient in no time if you keep watching tutorials and asking questions here. @DaveR always gives good advice.
That final layer of Skatelite will be a smooth riding surface. SketchUp is great for designing skate ramps with. I think you’ll find the modeling process really easy once you get the hang of it because SketchUp is so intuitive.
For basic kicker ramps, launch ramps or any straight elevated platform type of ramp, you would need to cut the plywood sides first and frame them using your steel materials. Then, you could proceed to attach your steel cross members starting from the bottom. Once finished, you can attach your ramp surface which should touch the ground.
Going to try the rectangle and arc option
