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Old 08-05-2015, 11:10 PM
CousinVinny CousinVinny is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: New York USA
Posts: 21
Default Egg Crate Buck in Google SketchUp

Hello everyone,
I came across this plug-in feature for Google's free SketchUp program that can be used to create a egg crate style buck for a car body. Since this section is devoted to Buck Building I thought it would be a good fit, and bear with me as I'm a better artist than tutorial writer . First you would download the SketchUp program (free) then also down load the 'Slice Modeler'' plug-in. Plug-ins are the name for add on features you install into your SketchUp program, there must be thousands of them! So, I started with a generic car shape I created in Sketchup. Pic 1.
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Then I selected my shape by clicking on it, the edges turn blue to show its selected. I must make it a group or component so Sketchup sees the whole car shape as one unit, not just a bunch of lines next to each other. The upper menu select EDIT and in the drop down menu select, MAKE GROUP, a note here that 'make component' also works.
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Pic 2
With your car body selected, go to the upper menu and select PLUG INS and in the drop down box select SLICE MODELER
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Pic 3
The dialog box will open for the Slice Modeler to display your options for the distance in between slices (4'', 6'' etc) , the thickness of each slice (1/2'' plywood) and what axis you want to apply it to, X (across) ,Y (longways) or Z (up and down). In Pic 3 I sliced the model along the Y axis and I created 7 stations front to back
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Pic 4 , After your 1st slice of the model you're given options such as adding number labels to the parts to prevent mix up in assembly, you'll also be asked to continue to hide the view of the original shape to which you'll click 'yes' while you keep slicing. Pic 4 shows the 2nd axis sliced which follows right after the first slicing operation. SketchUp knows you will likely want your model cut on 2 axis so you're fed into the next step automatically with the same setting for distance between stations and thickness of wall section already filled in, you can easily change settings for more or fewer wall sections in one direction to get the detail where its needed most.
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Pic 5 Show your model after the 2nd slice across the first one, note all the parts are numbered X01, X02 and so on (See Pic 6). There is an option at this stage where you'll be asked if you'd like the parts Flattened out for exporting. This will generate the file that the operator of the Laser cutter, Waterjet Plasma or CNC machine will want., Shown in Pic 7.
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There are a few variables at the end of the process when you export your file out of SketchUp, because depending on where its goin to get cut, they may ask for a particular file type. So far just about every popular file version can be created from SketchUp either in its native form or by use of a Plug-in that converts the file to the type needed. I can help with converting files for cutting.
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I've been looking for a reasonably priced solution to be able make an Egg Crate Buck for a car and I'am very pleased with how this worked the first time out. I hope I can answer any questions for members here because I've learned a lot from reading all the posts you've taken time to create. Thank you, Vinny

Here's a video, (not mine) that shows the steps in real time with a generic shape.
https://vimeo.com/14578877

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pic4.jpg

pic5.jpg

pic6.jpg

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__________________
Vinny

Last edited by CousinVinny; 08-05-2015 at 11:20 PM.
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