Designing projects

Google Sketchup seems to be the program everyone is using. You can get a free download of it.

-- You can't get a hug from Facebook.

I don’t think there is any program that can do your thinking for you, but there are a lot of CAD type of programs like Sketchup from google. It’s free also.

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

Sketchup is the way to go. It’s a little frustrating when just starting out with it, but keep after it and you can do some amazing things. Best FREE program out there. Just go to Google and download it.

-- Getting to be an antique - been there, done that, can't remember!

Thanks for the help. Downloaded and looks like what i am looking for.

-- Nick , North Carolina

Sketch up is the way to go it costs nothing and there alot of resources online on using it. Marc Spagnuolo did an episode of the WoodWhisperer on using it you might like : http://thewoodwhisperer.com/episode-11-arts-crafts-table-part-1/

I used it to make a changing table for my son:

to

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-- -Alex, St Charles, MO - "Measure twice, cut once, and go back to the lumber yard because you still screwed up."

Another vote for Google Sketchup! I use it all the time. I am starting to work on another unit for my boys’ room, and I am actually going to to a scale floor plan using Sketchup. Maybe I should try to blog that one.

I am with the others, there is a learning curve, but there is with any other type of CAD program also. I use it because it works, and the price is definitely right.

-- -- Rob Hix, King George, VA

How about another vote for Sketchup. The thing I like about it is has the ability to rotate the piece and view it in 3-D from different angles. There are two versions, basic and pro, but all you need is the basic.

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

If you have Microsoft Office, Visio has some furniture templates and you could build up a room layout with that. I am going to get google sketchup now and start playing with that, but I do all my designs in Visio.

-- Rich, WNY, www.nyrockingchairs.com

I have Autocad, Turbocad, and Vizio, plus sketchup…... Autocad is very powerful but very expensive. Turbocad is also a very good program, but expensive also. For the money you can’t go wrong with Sketchup.

-- Wayne

I guess my personal take on design programs is that I just don’t get it. Alex’s sketchup of his changing table looks really cool, but how important is looking cool if you’re just fleshing out dimensions and rough design ideas?

A pencil and a piece of graph paper have a much smaller learning curve. :-)

(And I have to add that this is coming from a computer/software junkie!)

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

It looks like I am being more productive at my real job if I am working on the computer, even if I am just designing pieces to build…

-- Rich, WNY, www.nyrockingchairs.com

CAD is for historical and archival purposes. Sometimes it’s helpful if you want to try something out and want to explore the geometry. Once it’s in the CAD, it will be there if you want to build it again or modify it and such. Otherwise, it’s a waste of time for one-off pieces.

unless you have to deal with idiots like we do and they have to have everything in CAD otherwise you just aren’t professional. apparently.

-- arborial reconfiguration specialist

Here is another vote for Sketchup. Not only can you play with the designs, but you can get an idea as to how you are going to build something.

But to me, the greatest thing about sketchup, is being able to show a client how their furniture or cabinets will look. When they see it in 3d and with the woodgrain on it they get excited. And as a plus, if we need to change something in the design, its a lot easier to do it on paper then after we have started the building phase.
Sketch up drawings like this-

Can really help sell a job.

-- MISSION FURNITURE-My mission is to build furniture

Based on my recent experiences and forum questions I believe Sketchup is the best bet especially if you trying to visualize or prototype a design or idea.

-- Chris

I’m with both CharlieM & DaveInTexas. Sketchup is great for large-scale layouts, but I still do better with a rough sketch and Kentucky windage for individual pieces. And, I’ve been programming since 1975!

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

Yeah, Dave, I can really see the advantage to Sketchup if you’re working with a customer. A lot of people just can’t visualize in their heads at all.

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

Many woodworkers like to work with a simple pencil sketch and if that works for them, that’s perfect. Unfortunately there are many people who can’t translate in their minds a pencil drawing into what the real thing will look like. If you are working for someone else, even if that person is a spouse or other family member, that pencil sketch may not be enough.

The advantage that SketchUp has is that one can not only communicate accurately with their client but construction details can be worked out to help prevent surprises during the actual cutting of wood. While in the designing process, changes can be made quickly and easily. Once the design is finalized, the drawing can be modified as far as needed to create as much construction detail as is needed before heading to the shop. If the drawing is done properly, one can even get a cutlist in seconds. This makes it easier to more accurately estimate how much lumber you’ll need to buy and perhaps quote for.

I also find that while drawing in SketchUp, I end up working out the order of operations which helps me remeber not to cut off a needed reference face for example. Sometimes I end up designing jigs right off the project. Sometimes I also make full size templates from the drawing.

The level of detail put into the drawing should be only as much as is needed to get the job done. When I draw for someone else to build, I usually put in more detail than I would for myself.

As an example of the ability to make a quick modification to a SketchUp drawing, the 3-drawer chest in the foreground is a modification the 3-drawer nightstand next to the round table behind it. The chest in the foreground is my modification. The rest of the furniture here is from Thos. Moser.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

The group is obviously divided into two camps, one side thinking it’s silly to spend so much time designing in a model and one side thinking that creating the model makes the execution phase easier and less prone to error. Both are probably correct in their own reference, so it boils down to which reference you belong in.

I was once on the side of thinking it was silly but as my projects got more and more complicated I found myself creating more and more projects with expensive and disappointing design flaws. I either lived with them or re-did them (the Kentucky windage paradigm). Now I work out every joinery detail in the model before I cut wood. This has made my precious shop time far more productive and as I get better and better with the tool I find myself spending less and less time in front of the monitor (far less than I used to spend with paper, pencil and ERASER). As someone who has been in I.T. since 1982 implementing and integrating Hospital information systems (Pharmacy, Imaging, Laboratory . . .) I know that technology isn’t a silver bullet but in my frame of reference, modeling designs before executing them is a perfect fit.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

You are right, Scott. It depends on the individual, but individuals can also evolve and change. So next year I might be sitting here telling folks I’d never start a project without having it fully designed on paper.

I can really see your point about wasting expensive wood with design flaws. I occasionally find that something doesn’t work out the way I envision it, or I get to the end of a project and realize I could have used my materials more efficiently. But I’m not sure that I’ll ever get past the fact that, for me, too much planning detracts from the enjoyment of the creative process. I don’t even like to build something from plans…. it just feels like paint-by-numbers to me. But again, that’s just me.

I think some woodworkers are left-brain oriented (analytical types), and some are right-brain oriented (creative types). Both sides can produce equally beautiful work, but their processes are bound to be a little different.

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

Hmmm,

I’ll need to analyze that last sentence (LOL) since I think both Michelangelo and daVinci were rather creative left brained fellows.

Well back to the shop. I have some drawers to finish.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net