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A few readers gave me a little grief about the SketchUp drawings posted here this week saying that the renders weren’t as good as a completely dimensioned architectural three-view plan. And that the file posted here was little more than a sketch on a napkin.
While I like formal three-view drawings and make them for all my projects, I think that everything you need to build that bench is in the SketchUp file. If you use the Dimensions tool (it’s under Tools in the menu), you can strike almost any dimension that you need. It’s not as freeform as, say AutoDesk, but SketchUp costs a little less.
The joinery is there. Select a leg. Use the Move tool to pull it away and you’ll see the mortises, which you can strike dimensions from. Disassemble the shelf to see how the tounge-and-groove is sized and exactly where the cleat below is located. SketchUp is quite the powerhouse for the price (free).
I like to think of these SketchUp drawings as akin to being cut loose in a museum with a tape measure. Measure everything you think is important to create the architectural three-view you need to build the piece. This could be a full set of mechanical drawings with the screw threads drawn in. Or it could be a few crude boxes inked on a TGIFridays napkin soiled with buffalo wing sauce.
Also, Wendell Wilkerson, the man who joined Mr. Roubo and Mr. Holtzapffel, is proud to announce their newest addition to the family: Little Baby Dominy. This bench has a more traditional twin-vise set-up, like Mike Dunbar’s on his famed Federal workbench from the holiest of holies: “The Workbench Book.” (Shockingly, despite my enthusiasm for it and my track record (see “Essential Woodworker”), Taunton has kept this book in print.)
Check it out. Take the SketchUp tutorials. And play with the Dimensions tool.
Dominy_workbench_color~.zip (1.37 MB)
