[Plugin] SImple wood working Tools

[jhoutman]

I have written a few simple woodworking tools that I use in designing furniture. Most can easily be done using standard sketchup methods but since I use them so much, they save me time.
Create Board - creates a named component, with all three dimensions and oriented in space.
Resize Board - One dialog box editing of all three dimensions.
Drill Board - a repeating tool for drilling holes in components.
Dado Board - a repeating tool for Dadoing boards.
Set to front - Sets a component to the xz plane with one click. (Handy for
creating cutting list scenes).
Set Relative - moves a component relative to another in all three dimensions. (Handy for setting boards in space).
I am working on a tool allowing one to resize a group of components, one direction at a time allowing one to resize say a drawer without resizing the widths, thicknesses etc.
I am new to Ruby, but have written tons of things inside AutoCad.
Joel

[Dave R]

Very interesting set of tools.

A question on the dado tool. I select the componentin which I want the dado. The prompts at the bottom are to click the FROM edge and then the To edge. I would expect the dado would be plowed from the first edge to the second but instead, I get a dado running at 90° from the edges selected. I'm also not clear about the "Over" option in the dialog box. Any clarification would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Chris Fullmer]

Very cool, thanks! Would you mind editing your initial post title to start be "[Plugin]SImple wood working Tools" (add the [Plugin] tag). Just helps keep the forum easier to search Thanks for the scripts,

Chris

[remus]

Edited the title, hope you dont mind.

Thanks for the plugins always cool to have a few more to add to the collection.

[xrok1]

it would be great if you'd show some pictures of your tools in action, so we could know (visually) what they do before we decide its worth the fight with our toolbars.

[dammerel]

Great script Joel
just a question with the drill board, how to you position the hole to be drilled. i tried to select a point but i keep getting invalid point

Andrew

[Dave R]

Joel,

Thanks for this.

I posted this question in the Woodworking forum where you first posted these but I''ll ask it here, too. It concerns the Dado tool.

"I select the component in which I want the dado. The prompts at the bottom are to click the FROM edge and then the To edge. I would expect the dado would be plowed from the first edge to the second but instead, I get a dado running at 90° from the edges selected. I'm also not clear about the "Over" option in the dialog box. Any clarification would be appreciated. Thank you."

[jhoutman]

I tried to post a small word document showing the dialog boxes
etc. I guess I don't understand how to do that.
Drill tool needs a point already on the component face.
Perhaps set by Tape Measure tool.
The Dado tool "from/to" edges are not the ends. They define
how you want to place the dado. The from edge and to edge define
the plane and how your dimensions to the dado are placed. Hence a dimension
of 1 inch is from the from edge in the direction of the to edge. What
you are dimensioning to is one of three possibilities To (the nearest edge)
Center (the center) or Over (to the furthest edge). That is kind of
an old convention in carpentry.

Thanks Joel

[Sawduster]

Hey, I like those. You can even use the dado tool to make tenons quite quickly. Thanks.

[akigrimm]

I've tried to translate this simple component. A simple component to draw carcasses with. Maybe you could use it. And you can use it in a report ...

[Ken]

Joel

Well thank you for the great plugin. I know those who cannot write these plugins never seem to be satisfied. So could this plugin be made to work on groups as well as components?

Again thanks

Ken

[brandy20]

Joel you did a very nice set of tools. I like them!

Any chance to have the same in the metric version for the european guys?

[jhoutman]

One could in principal make them work on groups rather than components, although, the way I work a "board" (ie piece of wood) is a component. Hence, I work on components.

On Metric. It would be simple to make a metric version. Anyone could do it. One could load in the *.rb's and where ever you see .inch on a variable then change that to .mm. You could change a default .75inch to 19mm for examples. The .inch appears in two ways in these scripts 1) as an extension for declared variables (depth.inch change to depth.mm) or 2) as default values for the input box. Make them whatever you want.

Thanks for the feed back.
Joel

[Jim]

On Metric. It would be simple to make a metric version.

It would be simple to make a version that used the user's default units, too. Just use .to_l to convert the dialog values to Sketchup::Lengths.

[brandy20]

One could in principal make them work on groups rather than components, although, the way I work a "board" (ie piece of wood) is a component. Hence, I work on components.

On Metric. It would be simple to make a metric version. Anyone could do it. One could load in the *.rb's and where ever you see .inch on a variable then change that to .mm. You could change a default .75inch to 19mm for examples. The .inch appears in two ways in these scripts 1) as an extension for declared variables (depth.inch change to depth.mm) or 2) as default values for the input box. Make them whatever you want.

Thanks for the feed back.

Joel

Well, I can see what you mean now. Thanks.

[RalphB]

OK, I'm a newbie but I cannot get your plugin to be recognized by Sketchup 7. I placed the file into the Plugins folder like I did with cutlist, re-started Sketchup, and yet nothing appears in the list I get when I click on Plugins.

[Dave R]

OK, I'm a newbie but I cannot get your plugin to be recognized by Sketchup 7. I placed the file into the Plugins folder like I did with cutlist, re-started Sketchup, and yet nothing appears in the list I get when I click on Plugins.

Ralph, this plugin doesn't appear in the Plugins menu. It appears as several entries in the Draw menu.

[RalphB]

Yep, that's officially a "Duhh" I did find it, thanks. It would be nice if the description of a tool such as this told one where it would appear once installed.....

[Dave R]

Ralph, if you open the file in NotePad or another text editor, you can read where it will show up. It's typically in the last few lines of the script.

[heaker89]

hi im use skechtup 8 and can't see where this plugin menu

[Dave R]

See this link: viewtopic.php?f=323&t=17076&p=452505#p138227