Benchwork - now with wheels!
Two key thoughts to remember while creating benchwork in SCARM: Close enough is good enough for the benchwork elements and Vertical position and height are the key properties when rendering elements of the benchwork in 3D. A third thought is that dimensional lumber is not really 1 inch by 3 inch, for example, so you need to make allowances when measuring your cuts on real lumber. For this purpose however, we can assume that the height of a riser is 3 inches.
After creating a 24 inch by 96 inch baseboard, select Figures from the library drop-down menu, and then click on Rectangle. Put the mouse at the top of your baseboard, and press and hold the left mouse button to place the start point of the rectangle. Drag it down and to the right to create a rectangle. At the bottom of your SCARM window, the size of your rectangle is displayed. Once you have a rectangle about 1 inch wide and just under 24 inches tall, let go of the mouse button; the Properties box appears on your screen. Type in -3 for the Vertical position value and 3 for the Height value. Select a color for the piece of wood, and click OK. Now you can copy, paste and move as many risers as you need. Do that until you have all your risers in place. You should have something like these 2 pictures:
The L-girders will be made up of a 1” x 2” and a 1” x 3”, 96” (8 ft) long. Create another rectangle about 2 inches tall and just under 96 inches wide, then let go of the mouse button; the Properties box appears on your screen. Type in -4 for the Vertical position value and 1 for the Height value. Select a color for the piece of wood, and click OK. Click on that rectangle again, select Copy and Paste, then resize it so it’s only 1” tall. Let go of the mouse button, and in the Properties box, type in -7 for for the Vertical position value and 3 for the Height value. Select a color for the piece of wood, and click OK. Select both rectangles and click on Group. Now click on either rectangle, select Copy and Paste, then click Rotate and move the slider in either direction to 180 degrees. Click on Move to slide each L-girder into place under your risers.
To add legs (in this case, simple 2" x 4"s, create a 2” x 4” rectangle; in the Properties box, type in -3 for the Vertical position value and 34 for the Height value. Select a color for the piece of wood, and click OK. Move the leg against one the L-girders. To make the remaining legs, Copy and Paste, then Move the legs over to their final positions. I tied the bottom of my benchwork together with a shelf with more 2" x 4" crossmembers, then added a piece of plywood as a shelf.
I finally figured out how to add wheels to my benchwork in SCARM. Click on Horizontal Cylinder on the Figures list, then put the mouse next to one of the back legs, and press and hold the left mouse button to place the start point of the rectangle. Drag it down and to the right to create a rectangle that is 3” wide and 1” tall. On the Properties box, type in -37 for the Vertical position and 3 for the Height value. Select a color for the wheel, and click OK. Click Rotate and move the slider in either direction to 90 degrees. Select the wheel, Copy and Paste, then Move the new wheel under the front leg. Select both wheels, Copy and Paste, then Move the new wheels under the legs at the other end of the benchwork.
Your benchwork should look like this when you click on the 3D View button:
I hope this helps anyone trying to create a quick mockup of their benchwork in SCARM. Any comments are welcome.
Janet N
