Chiefwoodworker's Blog

In CutList Bridge Tutorial – Part 1 I demonstrated how to use CutList Bridge to create a cut list for a furniture piece us a Shaker Tall Clock SketchUp model. In Part 2 I use a custom kitchen cabinet to demonstrate how to you the Cabinet Mode features of CutList Bridge. While Cabinet Mode features are particularly useful for custom cabinetmakers it is also useful for furniture designers and craftsmen. I think this video will be well worth you while whatever style of woodworking you do.

Before viewing this video be sure to download and install CutList Bridge 2.5. The previous version had a bug that could make following along with this video frustrating.

Also, you will notice that in version 2.5 you no longer have to use the Save Attributes button as was necessary in previous versions and witnessed in Part 1. All entries are now saved as you enter them.

MAC users may have had trouble using CutList Bridge because of an OS/Safari Browser bug. When you download and install CutList Bridge 2.5 you will be shown a workaround if you have this problem.

Downloading CutList Bridge

CutList Bridge can be downloaded and installed by following the highlighted link; the target post will always host the most recent version of CutList Bridge.

Overview of CutList Bridge

CutList Bridge adds two export commands to the File menu and one dialog box to the Window menu of Trimble SketchUp. The export commands are:

• Export to CutList Plus fx
• Export to Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice

The dialog box is called Extended Entity Info and as its name implies is complements and extends the Entity Info dialog box.

When CutList Bridge is installed, as indicated by the availability of these commands and dialog box, a basic cut list can be produced simply by selecting one copy of your model using the Select tool and then choosing one of the export commands from the file menu. Simple as that.

However, the Extended Entity Info dialog box can be used to assign additional attributes to your components, which will produce a richer and much more useful cut list. This first video tutorial will show you how to create a basic cut list and then embellish the cut list with material types (rough lumber, dimensioned lumber, sheet good and other items), material names (cherry, walnut etc.), sub assembly groupings and notes. Subsequent video tutorials will show you how to assign attributes helpful for cabinetry and architectural models.

Downloading the Video to Your Computer

Sometimes the performance of your internet connection, the load on it at a particular time of day, and the length of these video tutorials can all conspire to provide you a frustrating and impossible viewing experience. If this happens it may be preferable to download the entire video unto your system and view it on your local video player. The video file is an mp4. It can be viewed with most video players including QuickTime and Media Player. If you have a default, or user specified, file association for .mp4 you may have to delete it or use a download manager to download this file. Otherwise the associated application may be invoked and file streaming will prevail over downloading. There are numerous free download managers on the internet. Be careful, and do some research to locate one that is not loaded with spyware or viruses.

If you are on a PC platform running Windows OS and have Internet Explorer or Firefox you don’t have to change file association or use a downloader. Simply right click on the link(s) below and choose Save Link As. When Explorer opens choose a destination folder and select Save.

To download this video click here or paste

http://blip.tv/file/get/Chiefwoodworker-CutListBridgeTutorialPart2111.mp4

into your download manager.

Viewing in Your Browser

You may find it easier to view the video in full screen mode. Start the video before selecting this mode. To enter full screen mode click the little screen icon at the bottom of the video player. When in full screen view hold your cursor near the bottom of the screen to access the video player’s controls. Exit full screen mode with the Esc key. This part is approximately 33 minutes long. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

In my 10-6-2012 issue of Chiefwoodworker’ Newsletter on page 15, I wrote at length about my Trimble SketchUp Ruby Script plugin called CutList Bridge (Version 2.2). As its name implies CutList Bridge permits quick and efficient cut list creation by exporting SketchUp dimensions and other key component attributes to a .csv file. This .csv file can then be imported into CutList Plus fx or any application supporting the comma-separated-value format, such as Microsoft Excel and Open/Office.

In the case of exporting to the latter two applications decimal equivalents of thickness, width and length can be exported. This permits the user to add equations in the spreadsheet to calculate board feet, area, total sheets, linear feet or weight. CutList Plus fx will do all but calculate weight on its own. The Base Cabinet shown above left produces the following cut list when exported to OpenOffice. Note the organization by material type (Rough Lumber, Dimensioned Lumber etc.), Sub-Assembly and Description (component). Click on the images to see larger formats.

Downloading CutList Bridge

CutList Bridge can be downloaded and installed by following the highlighted link; the target post will always host the most recent version of CutList Bridge.

Overview of CutList Bridge

CutList Bridge adds two export commands to the File menu and one dialog box to the Window menu of Trimble SketchUp. The export commands are:

• Export to CutList Plus fx
• Export to Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice

The dialog box is called Extended Entity Info and as its name implies is complements and extends the Entity Info dialog box.

When CutList Bridge is installed, as indicated by the availability of these commands and dialog box, a basic cut list can be produced simply by selecting one copy of your model using the Select tool and then choosing one of the export commands from the file menu. Simple as that.

However, the Extended Entity Info dialog box can be used to assign additional attributes to your components, which will produce a richer and much more useful cut list. This first video tutorial will show you how to create a basic cut list and then embellish the cut list with material types (rough lumber, dimensioned lumber, sheet good and other items), material names (cherry, walnut etc.), sub assembly groupings and notes. Subsequent video tutorials will show you how to assign attributes helpful for cabinetry and architectural models.

Downloading the Video to Your Computer

Sometimes the performance of your internet connection, the load on it at a particular time of day, and the length of these video tutorials can all conspire to provide you a frustrating and impossible viewing experience. If this happens it may be preferable to download the entire video unto your system and view it on your local video player. The video file is an mp4. It can be viewed with most video players including QuickTime and Media Player. If you have a default, or user specified, file association for .mp4 you may have to delete it or use a download manager to download this file. Otherwise the associated application may be invoked and file streaming will prevail over downloading. There are numerous free download managers on the internet. Be careful, and do some research to locate one that is not loaded with spyware or viruses.

If you are on a PC platform running Windows OS and have Internet Explorer or Firefox you don’t have to change file association or use a downloader. Simply right click on the link(s) below and choose Save Link As. When Explorer opens choose a destination folder and select Save.

To download this video click here or paste

http://blip.tv/file/get/Chiefwoodworker-CutListBridgeTutorialPart1342.mp4

into your download manager.

Viewing in Your Browser

You may find it easier to view the video in full screen mode. Start the video before selecting this mode. To enter full screen mode click the little screen icon at the bottom of the video player. When in full screen view hold your cursor near the bottom of the screen to access the video player’s controls. Exit full screen mode with the Esc key. This part is approximately 33 minutes long. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

It seems printing to scale is one of the most difficult procedures for SketchUp users to use. This condition is not helped by the fact that SketchUp has a poor implementation of printing. In fact, I believe the printing implementation in SketchUp is handicapped with software design bugs that have been there since the first release of SketchUp. Hopefully, with Trimble acquiring SketchUp, a more appropriate support budget will be planned and this issue will finally be resolved. In the meantime this article will provide you with some tricks that can be used to overcome these problems.

I use printing to scale frequently to create shop templates. One such example is the swan neck that frames the top of a trundle bed headboard shown right. This template is much larger than one 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper, but my printer only prints 8 ½” x 11 paper. What I did was print at a 1:1 scale in SketchUp which required about nine sheets of paper. Most of them were blank, so returned them to the printer tray. The three sheets that contained printed information I taped together connecting the line precisely. Then I backed the paper with self adhesive clear plastic, which can be purchased at any office supply store, and cut the template out with scissors. The clear plastic provided stiffening for the template and edges that will not collapse as you trace the template unto your stock.

The picture below shows the swan neck milled using the template above right. Also shown below is a template used to shape the headboard itself. Owing to symmetry I didn’t need both left and right swan neck templates, and a full headboard template; I only needed one side for the templates because they can be flipped to produce the mirror image.

I also use SketchUp to create shop drawings. Because I print off fully dimensioned drawings for all milled pieces, there is usually no need to print my drawings to a predetermined scale, I just read the dimension off the drawing. However, there are times when a scaled drawing is necessary. For example, when printing standard views of an architectural drawing a standard scale such as ¼” = 1’- 0” is needed. So let’s get into the how to of printing to scale.

Printing to scale in SketchUp is not difficult; you can print at a scale of 1:1 or any other scale you desire by following these five steps.
1.    Select Parallel Projection on the Camera menu. (Camera/Parallel Projection)
2.    Select one of the Standard Views (Camera/Standard Views/…..)
3.    Adjust the window and model size to minimize the amount of white space around the model. This is to compensate for what I consider a software bug, and is the toughest and most critical part of the process.
4.    Set your scale in the Print Preview dialog box and uncheck both “Fit to page” and “Use model extents” . (File/Print Preview)
5.    Choose print.

Steps One and Two are very important. SketchUp does not permit printing to scale using either of the other two Perspective views because it is impossible for perspective views to yield a scaled drawing.

Step three is required because there is a printing behavior that I consider a software bug when it comes to printing to scale. If you are going to print to any scale, including 1:1, first resize you drawing window so there is a minimum amount of unused drawing area on all sides of your drawing. Failing to do this will  result in multiple pages being printed when you need only one, or far too many pages when more than one is needed. The trick here is to estimate and fix in your head, the aspect ratio of the model you want to print. Next shape the window area to the same aspect ratio. Then use a zoom tool to center and enlarge the model to use all the window area available. You may have to iterate these last three steps to get the optimum setting. Try to make your window as large as possible while leaving almost no unused white space on either side, top or bottom of the window. The image on the previous page shows a case where there is too much white space on the right and left, but about just enough on the top and bottom. This is because the aspect ratio of the model is approximately 1.7:1 while the window is approximately 1:1.5, nearly the reverse.

The aspect ration of the window has been adjusted in the image at right to get a near optimum fit. Notice how little white exists around the periphery of the model. This model is correctly “cropped”.

We have completed steps 1 – 3 above. Now we have to decide what we want to do next. If this printout is to be used as a template then we need to use a scale of 1:1 scale. However, this model printout is not likely to be used as a template, but likely an elevation view of the hutch; which means it will be printed to scale on one page. The question is what scale?

The scale can be determined analytically or empirically. Analytically we start with the size of page we are going to use and then subtract the unprintable margin dimension from each edge. For example, if we are printing on 8 ½” x 11” paper with an unprintable margin of ¼” per edge, then the printable area is 8” x 10 ½”. This hutch has overall dimensions of 52” wide by 88” tall. Printing the page in portrait view is the most efficient selection for this case. This means the 88” dimension must fit in the 10 ½” height of the page. Similarly, 52” must fit in the 8” width. Use these two sets of numbers to calculate two scale  factors; 8.3:1 and 6.5:1 respectively. We must use the same scale factor for both dimensions and so we need to use the larger one. However, 8.3:1 is a difficult scale to use so we can go with 9:1 or 10:1. Either will work in this case, but 10:1 is probably more useable in terms of making measurements on the printout and calculating the actual dimension. The image at left shows the setup for this case.

In the Print Preview window above notice that “Fit to page” and “Use model extents” are both unchecked. There are four Scale inputs which the user need to fill in. In the “In the printout” input box I entered 1 and in its dropdown box chose Inches. In the “In SketchUp” input box I entered 10 (I will explain 10.000001 in a moment) and in its drop down box chose Inches. These inputs defines a scale of 1” = 10” or architecturally 1” = 0’-10”.

Here is an important little trick; after entering the four inputs in the scale area, place your cursor in the Page size “Width” and then “Height” input boxes. Don’t attempt to input anything or change what is there, simply place your cursor in each input box. This will cause SketchUp to calculate the page dimensions required to print your model. When this happens the numbers in the Scale input boxes may change slightly; in this case 10 was changed to 10.000001. It might just as well have been changed to 9.999999. This has to do with the precision the software is using to make calculations. Don’t worry about this. The important part is that when you have completed this step look at the “Tiled Sheet Print Range”. If the radio button chosen is All and the “Pages from” input boxes says 1 “to:” 1, then you are assured that you can print your model on one page with a scale of 1” = 10”. Hit OK and you should see a Print Preview shown at right. Choose Print to print the model to scale.

You can empirically determine the scale required to fit the model on one page. After completing step 3 above open the Print Preview dialog box (File/Print Preview). Place 1 in the Scale “In the printout” input and Inches in its dropdown box. These parameters are a guess based on my knowledge of the model. If I were printing an elevation view of a house I might start with ¼ in the input box. Next choose Inches for the “In SketchUp” dropdown box (if the model were a house I would probably choose Feet). Now enter pure guess in the “In SketchUp” input box. Place your cursor in both Page size input boxes to instruct SketchUp to calculate the page size. Then look at the results in the “Tiled Sheet Print Range” area. If it indicates more than one page increase your guess for the “In SketchUp” input and enter your cursor in both Page size input boxes again and check your results. If your first guess resulted in only one page try decreasing it until the number of pages is greater than one. Use this iterative process to choose a scale you are happy with.

Printing to a scale of 1:1 is the same for steps 1 – 3. After that you enter 1 and the same units for both Scale inputs. Then you print all the pages required. Put the blank sheets back in the printer tray and assemble the remaining pages as discussed earlier.

Good luck and I hope this tutorial helps.

As most of you already know, Trimble acquired the SketchUp division from Google. Fortunately, Trimble SketchUp 8 is still free and a powerful tool that is being used by woodworkers everywhere. The Pro version is used by professional to model and design everything from bottles to skyscrapers.

Yours truly will be giving two fall courses in Beginner’s SketchUp. In these courses we will use the free version to model a Bedside Table complete with tapered legs, mortise and tenon joinery, beveled top, dovetailed drawer trimmed with bull nose cock beading and a Shaker style drawer pull. We will begin by learning how to install SketchUp, setup application preferences, choose model defaults and customize a template. Next we will tour the work area and become familiar with its tools. The heart of this course is modeling the Bedside Table and producing dimensioned shop drawings and photorealistic textured images. At the course end each student will have completed a textured model and shop drawings; the textured model is shown above. Finally, we will learn how to extend the functionality of SketchUp through the use and customization of Ruby scripts. A notebook computer with SketchUp 8 installed is required for this course.

Sign up and join me for a fun filled learning experience. One that will pay dividends for many years and woodworking projects to come.

New England School of Architectural Woodworking (NESAW)

The NESAW Introduction to Google SketchUp course is a series of five Thursday evening meetings at NESAW in Easthampton, MA. Classes run from 6:30 – 9:30 pm October 11th through November 8th. No materials are needed beyond a notebook with SketchUp 8 installed. Go to either of the following links to register or seek further information.

http://www.nesaw.com/

http://www.workbenchschool.com/

Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking (CVSW)

The CVSW A Beginners Guide to Using SketchUp in Woodworking is a two day course given Manchester, CT. Classes run from 9:30 – 5:00 pm on Saturday & Sunday, December 8th & 9th. No materials are needed beyond a notebook with SketchUp 8 installed. Go to the following link to register or seek further information.

http://www.schoolofwoodworking.com/

Throughout my career I was fortunate enough to work with some of the brightest and most energetic young engineers. In my retirement that luck has continued with a string of woodworking apprentices: Amber Baker, Melissa Stylos and Jesse Moy. I call them my apprentices, though I am neither qualified in the traditional European apprenticeship sense, nor do I have an official apprenticeship program. “My apprentices” is a label of affection because I have grown to appreciate and respect each of them for their drive, desire to learn a traditional skill and the quality of labor they brought to the task.

Today Jesse came to pick up his completed project and so he graduated in a sense. I introduced you to both Jesse and Melissa in my March 29, 2012 newsletter (Amber in my December 1, 2010 newsletter). See the March issue for Jesse’s background.

Jesse and I met in December of last year when he was introduced to me by Steve Racz of CutList Ruby script fame. Jesse had just finished a timber frame program at The Heartwood School the previous spring and was a co-student with Steve. He told me he wanted to learn fine furniture crafting and could I help him. I said sure, can you spend about two days a week in the shop?

The plan was simple. Jesse was to help me build two cherry chest of drawers to learn fine furniture woodworking. He would be under my guidance each step of the way. We would start with rough lumber selection, then stock preparation, followed by milling, layout & cutting of joinery  etc. He would learn both power tool use & safety and hand tool use & sharpening. I am big on hand tool use and told him he would have to master the use of planes, chisels and hand saws during this first phase. Then Jesse would build a project of his own design, working on his own, getting help from me only when he asked for it. That was the deal.

I believe you learn woodworking mostly from doing it – and – having a project of value to work on. Jesse certainly had that motivation. Jesse and his woman friend, Christina, have plans to obtain graduate degrees in architecture. The project Jesse chose is a portable drafting table which he plans to gift to Christina upon her graduation this month from The Conway School’s Sustainable Landscape Design program. Certainly this is a project of value and a labor of love. What better way to learn fine woodworking.

Jesse didn’t just choose a project and design it himself. He had to learn SketchUp too, and then model his design and produce the shop drawings to work from. In the tradition of Swamp Road Wood Work’s SketchUp models, Jesse is making his SketchUp model available to anyone who wishes to build this drafting table, or modify his design for another use. At a later date I will place Jess’s drafting table on my Free Plans page.

As mentioned earlier, drawers and carcasses crafted at SRWW are almost always joined using hand cut dovetails. In the construction of the cherry chests Jesse learned not only through dovetails, but half-blind dovetails too. He started by practicing straight cuts on scrap wood; over and over and over until he could follow a layout line. Soon he was cutting tails and pins and putting together practice joints. As is typical, his first dovetail joint was almost perfect – beginner’s luck; his second and third not so much. But each one got better and better. Jesse built the first drawers of my cherry chest on his own and I was very pleased with the result.

The design Jesse created was full of hand joinery, some quite complex. The carcass employed hand cut through and half-blind dovetails, the drawers through and half-blind dovetails. Several styles of dadoes – traditional and v-grove – were employed. In addition, many of the dadoes were of the stopped variety. While the dadoes and rabbets were cut with the table saw and router, some were formed, or cleaned up, using a shoulder plane & shooting board or chisel. Jesse learned both the value of fine tuning joinery as well as the cost if you skipped this step.

Jesse was taught the tails first method of hand cut dovetails. And he was taught to cut to – but leave – a line when cutting the pins, since pins are laid out by tracing the tails. If done correctly you should still see the pencil lines after tails are cut. The more difficult dovetail joint is the half-blind dovetail because you have to cut to – but leave – the line, and you have to cut a complex angle and keep from unsightly overcutting. The picture below left shows how well Jesse performed this task.

Among the many things about fine furniture design and crafting Jesse learned was the importance of taking seasonal shrinkage/expansion into account. His top is fairly large and hence subject to seasonal changes in width and cupping. To account for this Jesse employed breadboard ends. He learned to use a moisture meter, first calibrating it and setting it for a particular wood species. Then making a moisture reading and using it to calculate dimensional changes taking into account species, board type (quarter sawn verses plain sawn), area of the country and the application (breadboard). Armed with this information he knew how wide to cut the top such that the average width over the full season would be the length of the breadboard ends.

Further, he learned to elongate the pin holes in the tenons in a graduated way, the first hole in the front un-elongated and each subsequent hole elongated in a graduated way to allow for maximum expansion and contraction. If you look closely at the picture below right you can see this graduated elongation.

Planning the inside layout of the drafting table was no small feat. Jesse had to provide storage for the T-Square, allow space and partitioning for the drawers, provide space at the ends for sticks that would hold the top open at the desired angle while drawing, and finally leave space for storage of other drafting tools, pencils, erasers etc.

Hardware choice was a particularly daunting task. Many woodworkers don’t understand the value of selecting and acquiring the hardware before completing the design and beginning crafting. Jesse learned this lesson somewhat the hard way. He also discovered that he couldn’t have chosen a more labor intensive drawer pull than the ones he chose. If you look at the sixth picture from the top you will see what I mean. The drawer pulls needed to be set into the drawer front. Creating the precise opening required the construction of a jig for the router. That was followed by drilling a rather large hole using a Forstner bit and then manually scooping out a ball shaped volume.

Not shown are the 6-lb rare-earth magnets and associated hardware to keep the drawers from falling out when the drafting table is moved. These are mounted into the drawer backs and the partition just behind the drawers. Knowing where to place this partition required detailed knowledge of the rare-earth magnet hardware which Jesses neglected to order until late in the game. To his credit he figured out how to stage the construction and glue-up so he could rescue himself from this situation.

Shown in the picture below right are the spalted maple T-Square and the top with breadboard ends. Both the T-Square and the breadboard ends are attached using pegs. This project for sure employed a wide variety of joinery making it an ideal project for learning fine woodworking. Looking at these pictures, especially the two of the completed piece; I think you will agree with me that Jesse is no longer an apprentice and deserves to be called a fine woodworker. His “graduation” comes with mixed emotion. I am happy to witness his end product turn out so well and I am proud of Jesse and his efforts. But I will miss working with such a talented, dedicated and hardworking individual. A young man who has become a good friend.

During the course of our working together I dropped my #5 Jack plane and broke the handle. As a going away gift Jesse gave me a replacement handle and a gift of a Shaker furniture book. Every time I pick up my Jack or refer to that book I will be reminded of a young man with a bright future who passed through my life and shop and gave me the pleasure of teaching him fine woodworking. Good luck Jesse.

New England School of Architectural Woodworking

By now, if you have read my last two newsletters, you are pretty familiar with NESAW, at least their nine month professional program. But if you are an adult hobbyist or weekend woodworker, or a young woodworker wanna be, NESAW has an offering for you. Parents, nothing can be more rewarding for a child than to learn a craft like woodworking. Completing a woodworking project gives a child a sense of accomplishment and pride. Check out the Kid’s Classes.

Adult Classes

Beginning Woodworking Level 1 10 Thursdays, 5/17 – 7/19, 6:30-9:30 pm

Beginning Woodworking Level 2 10 Wednesdays, 4/25-7/18, 6:30- 9:30 pm

Intro to Wood Inlay 6 Thursdays, 4/5-5/10, 6:30-9:30 pm

Intro to Veneering 1 Saturday, 5/12, 8 am – 4:30 pm

Intro to Carving 2 Saturdays, 5/19 & 6/2, 8 am – 4:30 pm

Kid’s Classes (Elementary Grades 4-6)

After School Program 8 Thursdays, 4/24-6/12, 3:30 – 4:45 pm

Saturday Woodworking Class 1 Saturday, 6/2, 10 am – 4:30 pm

NESAW also offers a number of summer intensives that can be found on their calendar at http://www.nesaw.com/calendar/.

The Heartwood School – SketchUp for Timber Framing

SketchUp is used in many fields of woodworking. The Heartwood School, which I wrote about in the 6-27-2011 newsletter issue, teaches timber framing for the professional and hobbyist. As part of their course offerings they have a SketchUp for Timber Framers 3-day course. It runs from April 26-28 of this year. You can find details on it and other courses at www.heartwoodschool.com.

Chiefwoodworker’s Calendar of SketchUp Classes

I teach SketchUp in a number of the local colleges and woodworking schools. If you live in the area, plan to vacation in the area or would like to stay in the area for a class, check out my schedule below. Anyone who wishes to visit the area for a class, or for any reason, contact me and I can help you make arrangements at very reasonable rates.

Beginner’s SketchUp Courses

Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA – Saturday May 12^th & Saturday May 19^th, 2012 from 9am to 5pm. Contact Linda Pierce at (413) 236-2122.

Google SketchUp for Furniture – Advanced Techniques

Offered by the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, this is an intermediate course in Google SketchUp. The beginner’s course, A Beginners Guide to Using SketchUp in Woodworking, is recommended prior to taking this course. The free version of SketchUp will be used primarily, but the students will be exposed to the Pro version also. The focus of this course is modeling non-linear components; i.e. components with circular and complex shapes. The format of the two day workshop is six sessions, each session a one hour lecture followed by a one hour lab. Students should bring a laptop (notebook) to class with SketchUp 8 already installed.

Session 1 will begin with an arched rail for a clock door, the arch being a simple circular curve. Each session will progress to more complex shapes. Session 5 will focus on modeling cabriole legs using Bezier Spline curves. Each session will include an introduction to new tools – including a few Ruby script extensions to SketchUp – necessary to create these ever increasing complex shapes.

Finally, Session 6 will introduce the Pro version of SketchUp. The instructor will detail the differences in the free and Pro versions and even demonstrate a few of the new tools in SketchUp Pro 8. In addition, the student will be introduced to LayOut 3, a 2D presentation application that comes with the Pro License. Students will be shown how LayOut 3 can be used to create professional looking shop drawings and marketing materials. If you have any questions please contact the school’s director, Bob Van Dyke at (860) 647-0303.

Section 041412B: Saturday & Sunday, April 14 & 15, 9:30am – 5:00pm

Steve Baumgartner (http://www.slbaumgartner.com) discovered a bug in my Get Dimensions tool and sent me code changes to fix it. He also changed the Status text box to be consistent with the Outliner names. The latter may be marginally helpful if the group or component name is longer than the Status text box; SketchUp does not permit stretching this box to accommodate longer names.

The bug Steve fixed is significant. You should download the Construction Plus Zip file and update your Plugins folder. However, there is still a potential problem in using this tool. The picture at left shows two solids; one not desirably aligned with its bounding box (misaligned) and the other correctly aligned. Hence, the dimensions the tool will display for the misaligned solid are not the dimensions you would expect. This can occur whenever you create a part and rotate it before you make it a solid, or when you draw it relative to current components and then make it a solid. An example of the latter might be drawing a rafter of a house in place, using the ridge board and wall plate to assist in creating it.

In the case of groups, since there is always one instantiation of a group, all you need do to correct this problem is align the group to a major plane (red/green, red/blue or blue/green) and axis, explode the group and re-make it. If you made copies of a misaligned group you will have to fix each one independently; but shame on you for using a group.

In the case of components, misaligned instances are not a problem (thanks to Steve’s fix) provided the original creation of the component (the one in the library) was aligned properly. If the component in the library is misaligned you can fix it by using the context tool Change Axis. But be careful, this will transform all instances of that component.

As a general rule you should align all groups and components to a major plane and axis (preferably the red/green plane and red axis. If you need to create a solid in place, and it is misaligned as a result, fix the first instance or copy before proceeding to use other instances of a component or copies of a group. This will ensure that tools like Get Dimensions and Cut List will always provide the expected dimensions.

I have added a SketchUp Ruby script drawing tool called Drawer Side to the Construction Plus tool set. Drawer Side creates the Drawer Side component of a traditional drawer, including front and back tails and dado for the drawer bottom to ride in. A Left Drawer Side instance is placed at the model’s origin. This instance can be copied, placed and mirrored (flipped) to create the Right Drawer Side. From there the front and back can be easily created using the Intersect Faces tool.

The tool’s Drawer Side command shows up in the Draw menu and also on a tool bar called Construction Plus. Its human interface is user friendly and allows for the quick creation of multiple drawers, such as needed for a high boy. Each time you use the tool a new drawer side is added to the In Model Component library with a unique component name. To create a series of drawers with the same depth, but progressively deeper, simply change the drawer side width, and perhaps the number of tails and re-Draw.

Drawer Sides accepts Metric or Imperial inputs and user inputs are saved when the tool is used or closed so that they can be restored on the next use. User instructions can be displayed by clicking the Instructions button. Help buttons are also provided for each category on user inputs, as is a helpful picture showing the input information requested. The Drawer Side window will adjust size to accommodate older and smaller screens.

Download Construction Plus and check out Drawer Side. I will probably evolve this tool to add functionality such as drawing the front, back and bottom of the drawer, drawing general tail or pin boards (without dado) and with the same  or different ends. Stay tuned.

Do you live in the Eastern States? Are you a woodworker looking for something new and exciting to do for the weekend? Well visit the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking and their 11th Annual Open House.

This one is shaping up to be the best ever. All the info is below. As always – there will be student displays exhibiting some of their most excellent work. The student work gallery has gotten better and better each year – and this year promises to be their best.

If you are interested in Woodworking, Furniture making, Woodturning, Blacksmithing, old tools, Guitar making or just having a good time then you need to come.

Check out the superb work of CVSW students and talk to demonstrators and school instructors.

If old tools are your thing then you are in luck. There will be at least six antique tool dealers there for the day.

The whole idea of the event is to get a bunch of people who are interested in woodworking together and have a good time!

A partial list of demonstrators/ exhibitors is below:

• Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking student work gallery
• Lie-Nielsen Toolworks
• Central Ct Woodturners
• Mystic Woodcarvers
• Fine Woodworking Magazine
• US Guitars
• Matt Bickford 18th Century Molding Planes
• Walt Scadden Blacksmithing and Carbon Fiber work
• Tico Vogt – Chute boards
• Jeff Noden – Adjusta bench
• Greg Massicotte – Behlen finishing products
• Bill Rittner – custom handplane knobs & totes
• Joe Zeh- Sketch Up instructor
• Ct Historical society
• CVSW Instructors
              Bob Van Dyke, Will Neptune, Mickey Callahan, Walt Scadden

The open house is Saturday, September 10, 9am – 3pm- Rain or Shine! For directions see http://www.schoolofwoodworking.com/contact-and-directions.html.

If you haven’t noticed yours truly will be there demonstrating Google’s free SketchUp 3D drawing application, which has become a must tool for woodworkers who design their own furniture. Stop by and say hello. We can talk SketchUp, shop or anything woodworking related. Hope to see you there.

If you are interested in CVSW classes the entire fall schedule is posted and can be seen at www.schoolofwoodworking.com.
There are some great classes coming up.

One of the most frequent requests I get is for a drawing set of the Shaker Tall Clock I crafted for my son to give his wife on their twelfth anniversary. I originally drew the model and plans in TurboCAD and printed drawings for anyone who wanted them. Later, I exported the model from TurboCAD to a .dxf file and imported the file into SketchUp. A lot was lost in the translation. Up to now that is all I had to supply anyone wanting to craft this clock. I recently looked at the translated files in detail and was embarrassed by the incompleteness.

Fortunately, I have completely updated the documentation, inserted missing information and cleaned up the model. You can download the new documentation from my Free Plans page. There you will find a complete SketchUp model with dimensions, a CutList Plus cut list file, an Excel cut list file, a .csv cut list file and a PDF file including both shop drawings and cut list. If you want a LayOut 2 file click here. You should have no problems crafting this clock if you so desire.

This  Shaker Tall Clock was inspired by a clock designed and built by Benjamin Youngs, Sr., circa 1809, of the Watervliet, New York Shaker Village. The original is held in a private collection. A photograph of the original can be seen in The Complete Book of Shaker Furniture by Timothy D. Rieman and Jean M. Burks, page 163.

Slightly larger than the original (81" H x 20" W x 9 7/8" D) this piece measures 85" H x 21 5/8" W x 12 5/16" D and is constructed from solid cherry hardwood.

Other changes from the original are the simple footed base, an arched waist door to complement the  arched hood and  arched side windows in the hood. The piece has been finished with 3 coats of hand rubbed Waterlox Original Tung Oil.

The hardware is polished brass consisting of drop pulls, one small pull for the hood door and a larger one for the waist door, a set of overlay hinges for the waist door, and a special pair of hinges designed specifically for tall clock hood doors which allow the door to clear the deep arched inset. The 8-day Kieninger clock movement is cable wound and weight driven with a top mounted bell that strikes on the hour and half hour. It was purchased from Green Lake Clock Company.

Although the design is traditional and simple keeping with the Shaker influence, the construction, on the other hand, is not. This piece is constructed using hand cut dovetails and mortise & tenon  joinery which will last for hundreds of years to come. To see the various stages of construction, details of joinery and explanation of technique, click here.