# Concept Ideas using SketchUp



## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Wooden C_Clamps*

I have recently started using SketchUp after a few unsuccessful previous attempts. You Tube tutorials helped me this time round. I find SketchUp quite useful as it helps me to put ideas to virtual paper and it also helps to print out templates which came in quite handy with my first attempt at making wooden handscrews.

My first blog entry is a wooden CClamp. I have seen a few of these made on the net (YouTube and LumberJocks) My one concern is that there is an inherent weakness where the uprights join the backbone. This is my concept to overcome that weakness. Any Ideas and inputs will be appreciated which could be incorporated in the actual build test.

Below is a picture of the CClamp and the SketchUp Model is available over here.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Adjustable Sled*

My second blog in this series is an adjustable sled. In a perfect world a sled would stay spot on accurate for ever. In the real world however things go wrong for various reasons. To overcome this problem I thought about a sled with a fence that could be adjusted when it goes out of square for whatever reason. Then I saw Dave's Super accurate crosscut sled here on LJ. This was also the inspiration for the SketchUp model which can be downloaded over here

The other reason is that I found that squaring the fence on the initial build is quite a fidely afair and with this design I hope to overcome that problem.










I also put in a few features which I would like to incorporate in sled mk iii. The removeable long fence. Replaceable zero clearance inserts to name a few.

I also incorporated a piston block stop block from Woodsmith tips

Comments and positive critique will be appreciated.

Edit 12/12/2014
Here is an easy method to square the sled using a dial indicator. If you don't own a dial indicator the 5 cut method can also be used.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Cross Puzzle or X Puzzle*

I have a few of these in my favorites and it is on my to do list. These SketchUp plans are my blueprints which can be downloaded here.









The Dimensions are in Scene 2









The detail for the hole position is in scene 3. "Paul with his "X Puzzle - 3 times a charm gave me the insight for this method. Use a kerfmaker (see my quick 5min kerfmaker) to cut out the centres of solid blocks. Put the two together and drill the holes right thru from the end. This ensures a perfect alignment for the pins. I have a few pieces of 5mm aluminium rod lying around so I plan to use that for the pins. Wooden dowels or nails could also be used. Adjust the hole size for whatever dowel will be used 5 or 6mm will work with the dimensions of this model. The pins should be about 2mm shorter than the recess holes in which they fit.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Moxon Vise*

Since seeing a Moxon Vise on LJ's I have wanted to make one. These are the SketchUp plans which can be downloaded here that I intend to use for the project.



















These plans are based on the Fine Woodworking #198 March 21 2008 article about Moxon vises


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*Scroll Saw*

This is on my woodworking project bucket list. Every time I see the prices of these machines I just turn away and decide scroll sawing is not for me. Thanks to YouTube I have seen that it is possible to make an affordable homemade alternative. This drawing is a combination of several different homemade scroll saws on the internet. It is designed to have a 600mm (Aprox 24 inch) throat depth and a tiltable table as well as a toe to hold the work down. The arm that supports the toe could also be used to attach a led or similar light (which I did not add to the SketchUp plan).

How this plan will work out in practise still remains to be seen. When I get around to this project I will update this blog.

The Sketchup plan can be downloaded over here.


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## Dutchy (Jun 18, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Scroll Saw*
> 
> This is on my woodworking project bucket list. Every time I see the prices of these machines I just turn away and decide scroll sawing is not for me. Thanks to YouTube I have seen that it is possible to make an affordable homemade alternative. This drawing is a combination of several different homemade scroll saws on the internet. It is designed to have a 600mm (Aprox 24 inch) throat depth and a tiltable table as well as a toe to hold the work down. The arm that supports the toe could also be used to attach a led or similar light (which I did not add to the SketchUp plan).
> 
> ...


I would be made a chevalet Goerge.
See:
http://lumberjocks.com/shipwright/blog/21773


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *Scroll Saw*
> 
> This is on my woodworking project bucket list. Every time I see the prices of these machines I just turn away and decide scroll sawing is not for me. Thanks to YouTube I have seen that it is possible to make an affordable homemade alternative. This drawing is a combination of several different homemade scroll saws on the internet. It is designed to have a 600mm (Aprox 24 inch) throat depth and a tiltable table as well as a toe to hold the work down. The arm that supports the toe could also be used to attach a led or similar light (which I did not add to the SketchUp plan).
> 
> ...


Jan
Wow, beautiful That will certainly take some practise!


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

George_SA said:


> *Scroll Saw*
> 
> This is on my woodworking project bucket list. Every time I see the prices of these machines I just turn away and decide scroll sawing is not for me. Thanks to YouTube I have seen that it is possible to make an affordable homemade alternative. This drawing is a combination of several different homemade scroll saws on the internet. It is designed to have a 600mm (Aprox 24 inch) throat depth and a tiltable table as well as a toe to hold the work down. The arm that supports the toe could also be used to attach a led or similar light (which I did not add to the SketchUp plan).
> 
> ...


Looks like a fun thing to build. I think every woodworker should have a scroll saw. They are handy for so many things besides just scroll work. The Chevalet is also very useful and easy to learn. The hard part is to build one. They don't require extraordinary skills to make, but it does require some time and precision together with a good plan with all the measurements and some hefty timber, anything from Douglas fir to solid oak will do.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*How to draw printable index wheels*

Edit
A MUCH EASIER way! There is a website (Hubs Spokes Spindles) that does all the calculations for you (You input the number of spokes the diameter etc.) and generates a printable template. 
(If you really want to do it in SketchUp then read through the rest of the blog.)
End of Edit

In the discussion Brian's (Bushmaster) post on INDEXING DISC JIG, EASY PROCEDURE
the question came up on how to make printable indexing diagrams in SketchUp.

I use the following procedure.
Note: this tutorial assumes that you know the basics of using SketchUp. 
If you still need to find your way around SketchUp, do a search in YouTube for Sketchup for woodworkers 2017

In this example I used 40 degrees to make a 9 segment index wheel.


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## bushmaster (Feb 25, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *How to draw printable index wheels*
> 
> Edit
> A MUCH EASIER way! There is a website (Hubs Spokes Spindles) that does all the calculations for you (You input the number of spokes the diameter etc.) and generates a printable template.
> ...


Thanks for doing this blog, it is most helpful, I haven't tried it yet, will when I get time.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *How to draw printable index wheels*
> 
> Edit
> A MUCH EASIER way! There is a website (Hubs Spokes Spindles) that does all the calculations for you (You input the number of spokes the diameter etc.) and generates a printable template.
> ...


A MUCH EASIER way! There is a website (Hubs Spokes Spindles) that does all the calculations for you (You input the number of spokes the diameter etc.) and generates a printable template. 
(If you really want to do it in SketchUp then read through the rest of the blog.


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## George_SA (May 4, 2012)

*How to make a vernier scale with SketchUp to use on jigs*

I am busy with a wooden toy Dump Truck. The jig that I'm planning for cutting the treads in the wheels requires a measurement scale. The first jig that I designed in SketchUp makes use of a digital vernier attached to the jig.

However, I found with my Digital Height Gauge that going digital is a great idea in theory. In practice however digital is quite fiddly. The main problem is that the adjustment mechanism doesn't match the readout precision. It is like trying to adjust increments of a mm using a 4lb hammer.

That took me back to the drawing board. I decided to try using a printable scale on the jig that works the same as my traditional vernier. (Details of the jig will be in my Wheels blog of the A Dump Truck Adventure blog series. I still need to build the jig and will do so when I start with the wheels. )

I decided however to share what I learned in making a custom printable vernier scale. Maybe it can be of use to someone who wants to use this route. I'm thinking of making another Height Adjustment jig using printed Vernier Scales.

I decided to use SketchUp because 
i) it is a free 3D drawing program 
ii) I don't have any other 3D drawing programs and I know how to use it. 
iii) It is also quite popular with woodworkers.

(I am not an expert, but I can help myself).

I'm sure the same principals of drawing a Vernier Scale can be used in other CAD programs.

With this blog I assume that you have a working knowledge of using SketchUp. If you are still new with SketchUp or want to give it try, just inquire from Prof Google and his assistant YouTube. There are some excellent tutorials out there. Just use "How to use Sketchup for woodworkers" or something similar as a search phrase.

First thing I had to do was to find out how the scales on a vernier differ from normal ruler scales. 
On studying my vernier I found the following:









The primary fixed scale on the vernier is the same as any ruler. 1 mm represents 1 mm.
The secondary movable scale however is where the magic happens. There are 10 major increments (ignore the finer 0,02mm increments) That means that each numbered line on this scale represents 0,1 mm 
The first zero increment matches the zero mark on the primary fixed scale and the tenth 0,1 mm increment matches the 49 mm mark on the primary fixed scale. Therefore each 0,1 mm on the secondary movable scale = 4,9 mm on the primary fixed scale.

How does this work? I attempted an explanation with the following pic. There are also excellent tutorials available on the world wide web. Just ask Prof Goggle or his YouTube assistant "How to use a vernier" or something similar. This explanation explains how the metric scales work. Unfortunately I have no idea how the imperial scales work. I see a 1/1000 inch on the top scale, but I haven't the foggiest how that works. Sorry.









With the knowledge that one 0,1 mm increment on the secondary movable scale = 4,9 mm on the primary fixed scale we can now proceed to SketchUp to draw the scale.

Drawing the secondary movable scale
1) using the "Rectangle drawing tool", draw a rectangle to work on. 
For my purposes I used a 16mm x 55mm rectangle 
(This is determined by the size of the scale that you want to use on your jig.)









2) using the "Tape Measure drawing tool", draw 10 guidelines spaced 4,9 mm apart on the rectangle (offset the 1st line a bit)










3) Using the "Line drawing tool", draw 10 lines using the guides from step 2 as reference (I drew the lines 5mm long for the size of my scale), each line representing 0,1mm on the scale.









4) using the "3D Text tool" place the number markers underneath each line increment.

























5) Use the same method to draw the fixed primary scale. Line increments are now 1mm apart.
 Draw the first 10 lines representing 1 cm and the using the "Move, Copy tool" copy and place 
the other 9 cm on the scale. The primary scale needs to be at least 10 cm long.
Just like on a ruler, the number lines are the longest and the un-numbred lines in between are the shortest.
The 5 mm increments are halfway in between in length. 









The finished scales look like this









6) Follow steps 10 to 12 on my How to draw printable index wheels blog to print the scale 1 on 1. 
If your printer is accurate the you should get a accurate scale









If you don't want to go to the trouble of drawing the scales, my SketchUp vernier scale plan is available in the SketchUp 3D warehouse.

Thanks for watching


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## Ted78 (Dec 3, 2012)

George_SA said:


> *How to make a vernier scale with SketchUp to use on jigs*
> 
> I am busy with a wooden toy Dump Truck. The jig that I'm planning for cutting the treads in the wheels requires a measurement scale. The first jig that I designed in SketchUp makes use of a digital vernier attached to the jig.
> 
> ...


I appreciate this explanation. I learned how to read one in shop class years ago and can read one, but never rally understood why it worked.


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