SketchUp Models of Festool...

[jonny round boy]

Recently, I've been using what spare time I have to create accurate sketchup models of festool accessories. I don't know why, but I find it both challenging and strangely satisfying. LOML thinks I'm nuts. Sometimes, so do I  .

Anyway, I started with some simple ones like the guide rails, and have gradually built up a few different models. The latest one I've finished is a Systainer 1. It's as accurate as I can possibly make it without getting hold of Festool's own CAD models!

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I've also created a model of the Sys 1 Vari (the one with the diced foam insert).

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Making the 'eggshell' foam for the lid was challenging in the extreme - there's probably an easy way of doing it, but I didn't find it!Unfortunately it has also vastly increased the file size from around 1.2MB to over 6MB!!!

The models are all grouped together in my 'Festool Power Tools' collection. Please feel free to use them in any way you see fit. If anyone has any models they want to contribute to the collection, or wants to make any, please feel free to upload them  .

As for the future, I'm currently working on a model of the Kapex saw, though the level of detailing will not be quite as high as some of the existing models (even I'm not THAT sad!). I will also be creating the systainers 2-5, and have already made some of the component parts for the systainer roll-board.

 

[Brice Burrell]

  Being a guy who tinkers with SketchUp a little, I just had to download your model of the Sys 1 Vari with diced foam insert.OK you got me stumped, how did you make eggshell foam?????

 

[Eli]

In the future of this forum, I see them all neatly arranged in a virtual workshop simulacron. Pulling them out would open menus to access manuals, user shots, tips threads.

Like in Minority Report.

 

[jonny round boy]

  Being a guy who tinkers with SketchUp a little, I just had to download your model of the Sys 1 Vari with diced foam insert.OK you got me stumped, how did you make eggshell foam?????

With great difficulty  ;D

Seriously, it took a LOT of experimenting, trying different methods. I couldn't even begin to explain it in the written word!

BTW, if you explode the model to reveal the component parts, you can then explode the diced foam bit to a second level, and remove individual cubes of the foam to make your own virtual inserts!!!

 

[Eli]

I'm sure you'll get around to making virtual diced foam inserts, if given enough time.

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Recently, I've been using what spare time I have to create accurate sketchup models of festool accessories. I don't know why, but I find it both challenging and strangely satisfying. LOML thinks I'm nuts. Sometimes, so do I  .

The models certainly impress me! I hope a Festool dealer will come along and offer you lots of money to design models of his products      I reckon they would make a great sales tool.

Well done!

Forrest

 

[clintholeman]

I use SketchUP a lot for drawings for my clients and I love your stuff.

Keep it up and then sell the collection to FesTool - I'm sure they will love 'em!!  I sure do.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Jonny,

That's quite impressive!

I've tried SketchUp a couple of times, and I must to admit I've never been able to get very far with it.  I know a lot of members here use SketchUp successfully, and whenever I see this kind of usage it makes me want to take the time to become more familiar with the software.  Maybe I just haven't given it enough of a chance.

I'd be very interested in seeing what other members have developed like this.

Matthew

 

[Eli]

I'm getting back to trying it again, I just finished the first tutorial. Good night everybody, I'm going to bed. Enjoy the day ;D

 

[jonny round boy]

OK, Systainers 2 through 5 are now uploaded ;D

 

[woodshopdemos]

... LOML thinks I'm nuts. Sometimes, so do I  .

  She may be on to something.  LOL  I know nothing about Sketch-up and am in total awe of what you have done. My suggestion: don't spend vital shop time on it. Priorities.

 

[Dan Clark]

Jonny,

Those are amazingly detailed and accurate models.  To see how detailed, I clicked on the "X-ray" view for one of the systainers.  Wow!!! 

I thought I had some expertise with Sketchup, but now I'm humbled!  :-[  Very nice work!

Thanks,

Dan.

 

[jonny round boy]

My suggestion: don't spend vital shop time on it. Priorities.

You're right, but since I don't have a shop...

 

[Eli]

John, you might consider giving sketchup another go. I tried it when it first came out, and wrongly assumed I just wasn't made for it. After everybody's rave reviews, and seeing the work these guys have been turning out, I gave the tutorials another crack last week.

Last night I drew up the ground floor plan of my new house in a few hours. Okay, it's rough, but  I laid out all the framed walls in an hour or two and it really gives great sense of scale. Another hour and I had all the fixtures in. I'm looking forward to getting better at it. In terms of shop time, I think it's going to save me a lot of wasted time in the near future (and justify my costs, let them see finished product before it's built, etc, etc.) as I lay out a kitchen remodel and a bar build for two clients, not to mention mocking up some furniture for the new house.

It's a free download.

While I have everybody's attention, what's the best way to edit a model, like if a wall framing component is too long? I've tried the eraser, and it just seems to erase the whole thing. All my top plates are running long!

 

[jonny round boy]

While I have everybody's attention, what's the best way to edit a model, like if a wall framing component is too long? I've tried the eraser, and it just seems to erase the whole thing. All my top plates are running long!

Eli,

There are several methods, depending on what the shape of the component is (I don't really understand what you mean by a 'wall framing component').

If the component you want to reduce in length is an extrusion of some kind, then just use the push/pull tool to alter the length. Alternatively, or if it's a more complicated shape, you can use the scale tool (you can scale in different ways, ie just in one dimension rather than scaling the whole thing).

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Eli]

I downloaded the Architecture and Construction libraries from Google, and they have framed skeletal wall sections in there along with sinks, toilets, windows, kitchen cabinets, etc. That was what I was calling a wall framing component.

Obviously I'm too lazy to actually stick frame it myself, although they have the right length lumber in the same library. I can't push/pull it (and if I did, wouldn't that change the stud spacing?) and I can't figure out how to unlock it so that I can use the erase tool on select portions of it.

I will try to scale it and see if that works.

(head scratch, fiddle,fiddle,fiddle. Edit)

Yep, scale works well. The studs do obviously end up closer together, but life isn't perfect, and I'm not using it as a plan for framing. Thanks Jonny.

 

[Brice Burrell]

  Being a guy who tinkers with SketchUp a little, I just had to download your model of the Sys 1 Vari with diced foam insert.OK you got me stumped, how did you make eggshell foam?????

With great difficulty  ;D

Seriously, it took a LOT of experimenting, trying different methods. I couldn't even begin to explain it in the written word!

  Jonny, I tried my hand at the eggshell, I made a bell shaped component copied it and them spaced them in offset rows. Is this how you did it?

 

[jonny round boy]

No that's not how I did it, but it's a bloody good method - well done for coming up with that! Much simpler/quicker than my method.

I'm beginning to think I'm going TOO far with some of my models - I've tried to make them as accurate as possible, but the result for many of them is that the file sizes are way too large to use them in any practical way (at least on my computer!). I think I need to simplify the details on future models. As long as they're dimensionally accurate and have the right 'look', they don't really need the level of detail I've been modelling.

Oh well, you live and learn...

 

[Eli]

I got my whole house laid out and lost it because I hadn't initially saved it, so the autosave wasn't working. Grr.

For some reason I thought of a comic book I had when I was a kid about a POW who stayed sane for seven years in prison by building seven houses in his mind, nail by nail.

Jonny you've got enough detail for a small village populated by pixies, nestled in the undulating foam.

Speaking of which, either of you guys done any work with Sandbox for site elevations?

 

[jonny round boy]

I got my whole house laid out and lost it because I hadn't initially saved it, so the autosave wasn't working. Grr.

I think you have to save it initially & give it a file name, otherwise the autosave doesn't have anywhere to save it to

For some reason I thought of a comic book I had when I was a kid about a POW who stayed sane for seven years in prison by building seven houses in his mind, nail by nail.

Yes - I need something to keep me sane, living here 

Jonny you've got enough detail for a small village populated by pixies, nestled in the undulating foam.

Of course - where else do you expect them to live? 

Speaking of which, either of you guys done any work with Sandbox for site elevations?

I've done a bit of experimenting with sandbox, but not used it for any real situation. I did consider using it for an illustration I did for a decking/fencing quote, but I couldn't see a way of altering the 'mesh' to make it finer (the site was relatively small). I'm sure I could have found some help on the web if I'd taken the time, but in the end I just used the normal tools to get the end result:
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