In this tutorial we will do a simple book case . For those who have seen Gary Katz excellent video on bookcases this one will be a bit different. It is the way I would build one (one piece sides, dadoed shelves). I do, however, blatantly steal some of Gary’s methods. Please be assured that I do not claim the expertise that he has in his little finger, I am doing this because it helps me learn.
If you are just beginning to use the program, I recommend that you do tutorial 1 first.
First we are going to do the sides, draw a rectangle ¾ by 11 inches. See the picture below.
Make this into a component, and then select edit component. In the rear right of the rectangle draw another rectangle 3/8 x ¾ inch, then delete the two outside lines. You should now have a cutout in the back that goes from the midpoint of the ¾ inch edge to the right side and is ¼ inch deep.
This cutout is for the cabinet back. Now we copy the left side to create the right side. Close the component then click to select it. Select the move tool and click on the front left corner, press and release the control key and then move the copy along the red axis 29 ¼ inches you can just enter 29.25 and press enter. (if you hold down the shift key while moving it will keep the move on axis.). now while you still have the move tool right click on the side you just created. You will get a dialog box, select flip along, and then groups red.. This tells Sketchup to flip the side along the red axis. If you look at the picture below you will see that the cutout for the back is now in the correct position.
We are now going to draw the rectangles for the components shown below. First the left stile. Draw a rectangle in the left front as shown this one is ¾ x 2 inches. Now make it into a component, select it and copy it to the right side as well.
Now draw the bottom rail in the front center make it into a component. Then do the back it will be ¼ inch thick. The back will not be copied so you can make into a group. Your picture should look like the one below.
This is the end of section 1. Be sure to save your work.
Let us know if you have problems.
