Building from plans?

I enjoy tinkering and piecing things together, but when you are trying to turn out work with a deadline, having plans and cutlists saves huge amounts of time.

-- http://www.north40custom.com -- http://north40studios.etsy.com --

I usually just wing it, but it takes a lot of time stop and think about your next step.

I like to make at least some general dimensions on paper to start with. It all depends
on what I’m building.

Having a set of good plans takes all the thinking away between steps so things go a lot faster.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Several of my projects were designed in process, but I get better results from plans.

I generally like to use plans since I tend to have trouble with overcoming the difficulty I have with worrying about details of the project. Plus I need a design to work with and am on the steep side of the Sketchup learning curve right now. If I wing it I usually get myself in trouble.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

i dont use plans much. the printer table im making is all my own creation just from a saturday morning a measured the space and made all the dimensions. if i see something that i like that is already on plans. ill use that though.

I would not mind to build from plans if I wern’t too darn cheap to pay for them ! : )

runngt

-- It seem's I just make scrap wood and saw dust most of the time !

When I decide to build something, I figure out the over all size of the piece and determine what size all the compartments will be. This is done by a few sketches of the face frame or the front of the cabinet. I make a complete cutting list of the unit before I start. Because I have done this for so many years I have been Blessed with the ablity to visualize all the parts. I then cut the whole cabinet before I start the assembly.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

I guess like others have said here, I start with simple paper drawings and adjust in the shop as I go along. Seems like it would be better to completely design it all in SketchUp, create drawings, and cut to them, but it is not how I really do it. I have more fun keeping the design in my head, since this is just supposed to be fun for me. It gives me something to think about during my commute.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Thanks guys. Gary you pretty well summed up my routine of construction. I am in the not to distant future planning to build a grandfather clock. Probably my next winter project (provided I am not shovelling as much snow as this year)I am seriously considering cherry wood. I am looking for something ornate and draw in all my tools and 25 years of hobby woodworking. I am going to do some serious looking around and I am sure with the intracacies and details a set of plans is how I will go.
Any good places to go and look or a source of good plans?

-- AllWood

I enjoy a good plan. I’m early enough in my life as a woodworker that I am still learning a lot and having a guide, even if just scribbled notes, really helps. Most of the pieces I have made so far have been from a plan that I either found in a book/magazine, found online, or purchased.

That being said, I have found myself moving away from that. Some of my recent ideas have started as a plan that I saw but I didn’t like the layout or dimensions of so I re-drew. Even further, I am always finding myself trying to figure out how someone else did it. I have note books full of sketches and notes on a piece that I just saw or dreamed up. I haven’t had the luxury time wise to really attempt any of those pieces, but I am excited about the prospect of doing them later (that’s why I keep them in a notebook).

~DB

-- He said wood...http://hickbyassociation.blogspot.com/

To paraphrase a quote I once heard, I read plans like I read science fiction, I get to the end and say, “That’s never gonna happen.” I think I’m like a lot of the folks here, I work from a picture and get some rough dimensions then have at it. I am, however, working on learning to draw accurate plans so that I can actually reproduce something in the future.

-- Working at Woodworking www.VillageLaneFurniture.com

I started out using plans, but then needed to change some to make things fit into the space alloted, so went to doing some drafting that I had learned in school.

In a past job, I got into CAD and it is great. So once I visualize what I want to do, All I need are the basic size needed and then can draw plans that are spot on accurate. (More accurate than my measuring/cutting.) Plus you can go back and find a sizes if needed.

Whatever works!!

-- Paul from New England "No man is a failure who is enjoying life". William Feather

For my own work (my wife’s) I don’t use a plan, just an idea

For commission work, I do detailed drawings. Then a cutting list, then I throw it all away and work by “engineering on the fly”

I like to let the wood do the planning.

-- The only easy wood project is a fire

My wife will say, “I would like this…” This seems to be a trend here.

Anyway, I have the idea of what I want and then draw a quick sketch with rough measurments. After that, it’s off to the shop where I usually throw the sketch to the side and work from my memory of what I grew, and what I want it to be. A plan is nothing more than something to be deviated from. I like to see the finished product from the beginning.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

I like the idea of making plans but not following them.

-- John in Belgrave ,(Slideshow http://cid-69bce320c6d8b119.spaces.live.com/ (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com

I envy you guys who can start a woodworking project with no plans. I have to have a plan. If I don’t, then I will draw up my own. It usually takes me some time but I enjoy making the plans about as much as doing the project. For me, I find that making a mistake on the drawing board, or CAD, save me the frustration of making the mistake on wood.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

Case in point: I started working on a doll cradle last night and was looking at some plans at first, then I put them aside and just went into it, then I picked them back up because I lost track of what I was doing, then I put the aside again… After a while I realized that I had completely screwed up an cut so I through the whole thing in the scrap and hope to start over later (good thing it was scrap to begin with).

-- He said wood...http://hickbyassociation.blogspot.com/

I sometimes like to look at plans just to get ideas about how to put things together, but I never follow a cut list or anything like that.

I don’t mean this as a put-down in any way, but for me, building exactly to plans is like doing a paint-by-numbers painting…. there is just not enough creativity involved. I’d much rather visualize something in my mind, then build it, making adjustments as I go along.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

When I started learning woodworking everything built was from plans. Reading plans and understanding how to put a piece together was a valuable learning exercise, and helped me develop a discipline. Now I design my own pieces starting with a sketchbook of ideas. Transfer an idea to a dimensional shop drawing on drafting paper (I’m not a great draftsman, but it works), and then create detailed drawings of joinery, etc. I then create a cut list.
While this seems like a lot of prep work, my goal is to start my own woodworking business in “semi-retirement”, so sketches and shop drawings will be a integral part of my work with a client.
Like all of you, I’d rather start cutting wood than planning, but the advantages to having a good plan are-1) you recognize design/construction flaws early, 2) you understand how much wood is needed, and its cost, and 3) it teaches you the discipline of woodworking, which to my way of thinking makes it more enjoyable because you have fewer “oooops, dammit-why did you do that, stupid!” occurrences in the shop.

-- Gerry