'Rasslin Out The Details

They really are a bugger. I made particle board templates for the big radius gusset and the megagusset. No sooner had I cut the radius one and sat back at my desk did I realize I may have messed up. The problem I have with Solidworks, since like forever, is that it's hard to think globally. I'm a global thinker- not so much linear. So messing with and tweaking parts here and there gave me a massive clusterfuck of a design that really just stymied me.

I mean, I knew this should work and be easy to lay out, but it's hard to think and design on the fly strictly in 3D with multiple parts. If this were a single and idealized part, then sure: not so bad. So I turned to my old lovable standby- Autocad 2005. Pre-Inventor, Pre-Mechanical Desktop. It's capable of 3D, sure, but mostly it's a, or My at least, 2D layout program. I use it when I have to actually do something or actually make something in the lab because traditional manufacturing is, regardless of trappings or glitz or expensive wizbangs, a 2 dimensional process. Maybe it's more fair to say that traditional manufacturing is a series of 2 dimensional operations performed at a selection of Zs.

Also, Autocad allows me to think globally, so it's a big warm comfy couch of... comfort or something. And around here, it's what separates me from the boys. They can solidworks themselves silly, but god help them if they want to manufacture their way out of a box, or manufacture a box for that matter.

Horn tootling aside, here's what I did:

The real big issue I need to address now is the actuals. That is, the actual thickness of materials. Most anyone (worth anything) knows that a 2x4 is not really 2" by 4". I mean, you know that, right? So i need to reconcile my drawings and haughty plans against the reality that 3/8" plywood may not be as thick as I think. Something something male concept of measuring. So I have a list of SKUs from Home Depot's website and I've assigned each material type in my concept to an actual item I can buy. Once I have a list compiled, I'll go to the HD and measure (digital calipers because I'm an enormous NERD) the wood (hur) and go back to the old drawing board and adjust my dimensions as required.

Measure twice and cut once, right?