Once you've developed in SketchUp a detailed complex drawer or door assembly, you would like to re-use that investment in other pieces of furniture. After all, traditional drawer and door design is quite involved having mitered molding, mortise & tenon joints, dovetails, grooves, raised panels, etc. To create these assemblies in SketchUp can take several hours. So how do you go about re-sizing a complex assembly in SketchUp to avoid having to re-create from scratch? Hint: do not reach for the Scale Tool.

I'll use a paneled door as an example.  When I create a door in SketchUp I want the ability to show each piece of the door (stile, rails, and panel) as separate components. In this way, I can create separate Scenes in SketchUp to show essential dimensions and details of each component required for construction.

Here is the example, and let's assume we need a new re-sized door which is 3 inches shorter and thinner than this one.

Here is the Exploded View of the original sized Door. Each Component corresponds with a separate piece required for construction.

Steps 1 & 2: Shorten the Stile by 3 inches with a combination of the Select Tool and the Move Tool. Note that when you do a Selection, make sure you move your cursor in a left-to-right mode, i.e. start in upper left hand corner and move down to the right lower corner. (I've shown a Cyan colored box to indicate the area of selection.) Often I will click on X-ray mode to verify the selection of desired edges and faces. As an alternative, you can switch on Hidden Line mode to see the back side of the component. Be sure that you capture all of the mortise and the miter end of the molding in your selection box.

Steps 3 &4: Shorten the Rails by 3 inches. Again use the Select Tool to select key edges and faces on one end of the Stile. Make sure you include in the "select" all of the tenon parts and the molded miter joint.

Steps 5 & 6: Re-size the Panel in two directions. Make sure you include, in the "select", the beveled edge of the raised panel.

Step 7: Combine the components into the full assembly

Step 8: Copy the Assembled Door, move it down the Red Axis a few feet, then Create a new Scene to show the Exploded View

For a door like this, I will create additional scenes for each unique component. These Scenes will show all critical dimensions, and angles (e.g., the angle of the panel bevel). I will also show a cross-section view to show how the panel fits into the grooves, so that I can check whether there is sufficient expansion/contraction space. In addition, I will create a Scene of a full-size orthographic end view of the Stile or Rail. This will help me in constructing the molded edge and grooves on these components.

Tim

http://killenwood.com