A Bookshelf cabinet with doors and drawers is a very popular woodworking project.
A few years ago we conducted a survey on what SketchList 3D users were designing. While of course kitchens were at the top of the list, a bookshelf cabinet with doors was a close second. Who can’t sue more office storage? Sometimes they have door and drawers, a television, or computer equipment. So it’s a general category.
One thing about that type of work — it really can challenge you in terms of custom woodwork. And custom woodwork presents the challenge of selling your client – since it’s harder for them to vision unique rather then cookie cutter work.
A shop owner, Trent Tedder of Old Mill Custom Woodcrafting, wanted to address this this difficulty of selling custom work by learning to use SketchList 3D the segment of his business that provides bookshelf cabinet with doors and doors.
Trent called to set up his JumpStart session. The goal of the Jumpstart session is to create a model of a project you are bidding or proposing using SketchList 3D. Trent emails a copy of a hand drawing of the job he was proposing. In a one hour session, he shared the SketchList trainers screen and creates the model. This post shows what happened.
Drawing to modeling – the big switch over.
The bookshelf cabinet with doors and drawers might have been more of a office – since the center contained a drawing table / desk top.
Here’s the image we used for our effort. It gave us a starting point with Trent filling in the missing dimensions and details verbally.
This is the result as we completed the session. (We did not ‘install’ the top of the bottom cabinets since that material had not been selected yet.)
This model was completed in just over an hour. The shop drawings, the list, and optimized material layouts included – because they are integrated with the design process.
In this hour – social pleasantries and business questions included – Trent learned the 3 – 4 SketchList3D concepts, the 3 tools used for all designs, how to output the reports, and the three steps in every design.
These three steps repeat constantly: insert, size, locate. He also saw how tools like clone (space, and mirrror included) and align speed design times.
The work we did:
Working together we modeled the lower unit on the left – at least the box and face frames. After about the first 20 minutes Trent was given control over the mouse and key board. He then started modeling the drawer in that unit, and cloned a copy and located it. Then he cloned another drawer but this time making the height 6 inches. Clone and mirror that first unit and the two lowers were done. He did that.
On his way to expert – he cloned the lower left unit, deleted the drawers, inserted the doors, resized and located it.
The center unit was ‘built from scratch’ but by this time Trent knew the 3-4 concepts, 3 steps, and how to use the 3 tools for sizing and locating.
He ‘built’ that upper center book case in 2 or 3 minutes.
Remember – his first time using SketchList3D for his bookshelf cabinet with doors and drawers.
Now what he wanted at the beginning of the training was to give his prospect a non-hand drawing with dimensions.
So here that is.
Ongoing process
And his work goes on. In order to ingrain what he learned in this hour, he will re-create the model on his own computer. If and when he gets stuck he will ask for guidance from SketchList.
As of today – no contact from him. Must be he’s getting along well.
If you run any type of woodworking business and want to save time, generate better proposals, and have the detailed reports necessary to minimize production errors – you should use SketchList 3D.
Make the change today. Call in. Get online and sign up. Take advantage of this powerful way to get you moving in the right direction.
