[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

Sorry for the delayed response on this one also.

You’re right, CabWriter does assume vertical grain direction on cabinet carcass sides and horizontal on the cabinet bottom and vertical on the backs. The length of the part is always in the direction of the grain. Right now, all you can do is disable Auto-Swap for that part in the Extended Entity Info box, but then it just defaults to the longest dimension being the length, which really isn’t what you want either.

In the case you’re talking about, does the grain go front to back on the sides, top and bottom of the cabinet carcass? What about the back?

To accommodate this, we would have to have a parameter that could switch the grain direction default, as you mention; we currently don’t have that. I can add it to the list for future consideration.

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

Sorry for the late response on this; I’ll take a stab at it, but Joe might have better insight into this.

I’m almost positive you would cause problems if you grouped components together, and most likely if you switched parts to new layers. Of course, you can always copy parts and put them on different layers, but that could cause problems with the cutlist. Joe is working on some solutions to that problem, however. Joe might have more insight on the layer issues.

As for the VCarve SketchUp import, are you talking about custom parts that wouldn’t normally get exported via the DXF? If that’s the case, you may be able to get away with those parts being on different layers so you don’t duplicate anything. However, SketchUp has a couple of issues with importing parts from a CabWriter model, with the biggest issue being that it doesn’t necessarily know which face of a part should be up. Also, it doesn’t have a way of dealing with grain orientation or part labeling, so I prefer to use the DXF export.

Not sure if I really answered the question or not, but we can keep the conversation going.

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the feedback; I’ll add it to the list for possible inclusion in a future release…

Greg

[cabwriter]

I’ve got it now! Basically, you just need to add a lone stile up agains the wall, or do you want a plywood “side” attached to it? Either way, CabWriter doesn’t do that automatically, but you can easily draw those parts using SketchUp commands, then turn them into CabWriter recognized parts using the “Make CabWriter Component” command. Alternatively, you could duplicate other parts in your drawing, like a stile with an attached side, or just the stile and move it into place and modify it as needed, then use the “Make CabWriter Component” command to change it into a unique part.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi There,

I think there probably is a way, but I was wondering if you could give me a bit more detail on where the filler panel goes. Do you want the filler on the wall side or the fridge side? You can easily have a 1 1/2″ stile at the wall by setting that width for the wall stile and if you use an opening stile on the fridge side, you will automatically get a narrow filler panel of the width of your choosing.

If you can give me a bit more detail or a SketchUp mockup of what you’re looking for, I can figure out the best way for you to accomplish what you’re looking for…

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Great brainstorming, Steve! Lots of good ideas in there. As Joe mentioned, we’ll kick it around on our end and see what makes sense. I’ve also run into the hole problem in the past; it would have been nice for them to allow hole copying, but it’s not to be for now.

Just to clarify some terminology above, in CabWriter, we use System Holes to mean the holes used for drawer slides, hinge holes, and shelf pin holes which typically don’t go all the way through the cabinet side. This is consistent with the 32mm system conventions. We use the term Construction Holes for holes that go all the way through for things like Confirmat screws which is also consistent with the 32 mm system. We made up a hole type called Connector Holes that we drill separately all the way through which are used to bind cabinets together. That said, you could also punch some of the system holes all the way through to use for that purpose as well.

I like the general concept of what you’re describing. We should be able to turn it into something useful…

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

You are correct, I should have been more clear. Actually, both the sheet goods and lumber will still be oversized in Cutlist Plus, but any sheet good exported to a DXF will be actual size…

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

l

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

Good question. Yes, all of the oversizing parameters are ignored when exporting to DXF. For CNC operations, all parts are exported at their actual size.

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

You might have missed a parameter. There are actually two of them, one to indicate the thickness and one to indicate whether to draw the trim or not. See the enclosed screenshot. The parameter for drawing it might still be set to no. Let me know if that doesn’t work…

Thanks,
Greg

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[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

You can also just let CabWriter draw the trim the same height as the cabinet bottom and then use the SketchUp push/pull tool to pull it up 1/16″ proud of the cabinet bottom. You would then be wise to set CabWriter Protection so that if you re-draw the cabinet, CabWriter won’t try to re-draw that piece.

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Todd,

Thanks for the feedback. I just use #8 x 1 1/4″ or 1 1/2″ screws for the backs. Per AWI specifications, you need to make sure you’re no greater than 4″ on center. However, I usually only do that on upper cabinets because they are hanging by the backs. On lowers, I typically do around 6″ O.C. these days.

I don’t have many more videos specifically targeted towards my construction method for kitchen cabinets; I have a lot of other internal ones that I use for the school, but most of those wouldn’t be as relevant. It’s on my to do list to do a series of videos explaining our construction method. When I do I’ll post them, but it may not be until summer.

Sorry! However, if you have other questions please post them and I’ll do my best to answer.

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steven,

You’re right, if you know SketchUp well, it’s probably easier to just draw the holes after drawing the door, then like you said, you can avoid the hinge plate holes…

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

Great conversation; thanks Lynn, for your input.

In terms of the pullout shelves, you have a couple of options, which start with drawing a Divided Base cabinet. See this tutorial video for how to do that:

CabWriter – Drawing a Divided Base Cabinet

This type of cabinet allows you to have a multi-bay cabinet of any height, but it doesn’t automatically draw the doors or drawers; you use the Door or Drawer tool for that, which gives you more flexibility. This video covers those tools:

CabWriter – Insert Door and Drawer Tools

Once you’ve drawn the divided base to your liking, you could simply use the Door tool to add doors, then use SketchUp to punch holes for drawer slides for the pullout trays anywhere you want and you’d have the information you need on the DXF files for your cnc. If you want CabWriter to draw the drawer slide holes, you would do the following. Before using the door tool, you would draw a bunch of drawers first with a drawer face height that would select the correct drawer box height as setup in the Drawer settings tab. For example, if your pullout trays were going to be 3″ high, you would have a drawer box of that height setup in the settings tab then start drawing drawer faces using the Drawer tool that are maybe 4″ high in the spots where you want a tray. One thing you must make sure of is that you don’t draw a drawer slide hole where a hinge plate hole will go later or it will cause CabWriter to have an error. Once you’re done drawing your drawer boxes, you’ll delete the drawer fronts and use the Door tool to draw your doors.

Let me know if this makes sense. If not, I can create a video for you to see how it works…

Thanks,
Greg

[cabwriter]

Hi Steve,

It sounds like you did the right thing; CabWriter doesn’t really know anything about the type of slide, only the info in terms of cabinet depth, hole spacing, etc. Could you email me your file at [email protected], or a link to it, so I can take a look? It might be something simple, or maybe you’ve stumbled on a bug.

Of course, you can draw holes at any time using SketchUp on the carcass sides and they will show up in the DXF. You don’t have to worry about the layers; simply draw the holes in the carcass part. If the hole is all the way through the part, CabWriter will automatically put it on the “Construction Holes” layer in the DXF, and if it only goes partway through, it’ll be put on the “System Holes” layer. I’ve done it manually at times where CabWriter can’t do it for one reason or another.

Thanks,
Greg

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