Hello! I want to sketch out a wrought iron frame for a bench with a seat and a back. On the frame I will attach two elm planks, creating the bench, but that’s the easy part. Can anyone point me to how to get started designing wrought iron in Sketchup?
Thanks!
Can you share an image of the wrought iron like you’re thinking of modeling?
Do you want wrought iron or cast iron?
An easy way is look up a transparent wrought iron bench texture.
(Note: Image may be subject to copyright)
Here’s a model I made with the texture.
Looks like cast iron to me…
“Wrought iron” is quite a broad term. Are you planning to make the frame from bent flat or round sections? In that case you should look for documentation about the FollowMe tool.
I made this handrail using the follow-me tool, groups, and components for the gold leaves.
I started off drawing the paths, so the rail was just lines. Then grouped each individual path, so I could do individual follow-me’s. For a wrought iron bench, I think it’d be similar because of the follow-me paths and the leaf components, but you’ll probably want to trace a reference image first.
Note: this method can be pretty time consuming…
I want to use wrought iron, although the material is not so important at this point. I want to design something very simple in 1/2 inch diameter wrought iron or maybe steel, with 4 hairpin legs and a back. The seat of the bench, which would be a three foot wood slab, would screw into the frame. The back of the bench, would be a three foot board, would also attach with screws.
The question is how I produce the 1/2 inch material in Sketchup - just make a 1/2 circle and push it to my desired length? And how do I bend the material around curves? I’m attaching a sample hairpin leg to give some idea of the curves I have in mind.
Thanks for any feedback!
A hairpin leg would be pretty straightforward with native tools. Draw the centerline of the rod and put a circle on the end of it. Then select the centerline as the path, get Follow Me and click on the circle.
I made hairpin legs for these nightstands that way.
You could draw the centerline for the leg vertically. I drew it at the final angle which I worked out from positioning the mounting plate at the desired height. If you need help with how to get the angles and stuff, let me know.
DaveR how to you get the curve at the bottom of the leg?
I used the Circle tool and then drew lines from the circle up to where I wanted them to hit the top plate. Then I erased the bit of the circle I didn’t want.
As I said before, I drew the leg in place so I created a triangle between the ground and the points were I want the wire to contact the L-shaped plate. I made that triangle a component so the next bits of geometry wouldn’t stick to it. I measured up from the bottom point to located where I wanted the center of the circle. If you are drawing the center line of the wire like I did, you have to take the radius of the wire into account when locating the circle. The triangle makes it easy to orient the circle tool at the right tilt.
After the circle was placed, I switched to the Line tool to draw the rest of the centerline.
Then erase the top half of the circle and the triangle since it isn’t needed anymore.
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