carpentry plans - question

[Anonymous]

hi everyone.

been using archicad for few years mainly for interior.
i wanted to find out, how people here, user of AC, do their carpentry plans.

Were not usually use AC libraries for carpentry but create our own.

the thing is that we use 2d for that - lines and fills - through detail tool.

maybe someone could send an example of how he creates these kind of drawings ? or maybe there are some drawings on the web ?

Thank you in advance,
Yoav.

[Jere]

Because you do lots of custom work, it might be better to continue modeling using 3d tools like walls, slabs, morphs, etc.

However, I think you should be able to model just about everything. Then use the interior elevation tool and add some 2d linework if required.

[Steve Jepson]

Yoavzarc wrote:
...but its strange that your not that familiar with these kind of plans.

Thanks
Yoav.

We are familiar with these kinds of plans, but the majority of ArchiCAD users here on ArchiCAD Talk are using ArchiCAD as Architectural Design Software not as Manufacturing Software. Architects are for the most part concerned with producing construction documents for What to build, not How to fabricate it.

In the case of Cabinet Shop Drawings we are typically satisfied to design the layout, and are finished with it using a note that says "See Cabinet Drawings by Others". Your are the "others".

There are several reasons for this.

It may be a waste of time to detail the joinery, door profiles, etc... when it will all be fabricated with CNC machines that need a specialized or even proprietary software files to run.

The majority of casework is prefabricated. We may add the manufactures number for the cabinet box, but the manufacture has no interest in some architects idea about how the cabinet should be put together. The fabrication plans need to be specifically for the equipment and computers used in the specific shop where it is being made.

Even small low tech Custom Cabinet shops have certain standard fabrication processes, specialized saws, jigs, and methods for the sake of efficiency. We rarely know what shop will be making the cabinets, let alone how to make useful shop drawings for their process and equipment.

Architects don't want to be bogged down with cabinet shop drawings. If you choose to make them, even if using typical prefabricated cabinets you will be stuck for days trying to help the client decide which side of the drawer the spoons go on, where they will put cookie sheets, etc... we have a building to make plans for.

ArchiCAD is a great tool for fabrication plans, it's just that very few ArchiCAD users here are using it the way you are asking about.

If all of my work was making cabinet fabrication plans I might choose one a manufacturing software program like this one.

http://www.2020technologies.com/en-us/manufacturing/2020-shopware/


Both of these carpenters need Architect shop drawings like another hole in the head.

[Anonymous]

Hey Steve.

I am an architect, but currently doing interior of houses, apartments etc.

I agree that this might be a 'dirty' job, detailing everything, but me and my partner are more then willing to do so, as the results give us, and the clients, a perfect, not prefab or similar-to-other results.

But i understand what You mean.

Yoav.

[Achille Pavlidis]

I don't think AC is a suitable software for doing what you intend to do. I mean sure, you can obtain the results you showed in your pdf, but it will be very time-consuming. I'm sure there are specialized applications for this job that will enhance your productivity with say libraries of mdf boards in the standard thicknesses and dimensions etc etc

[Steve Jepson]

I think I disagree with Achille.

[Anonymous]

Sorry Achille, I agree with Steve's disagreement. 😉

ArchiCAD is actually quite excellent for millwork, casework and (especially now with the morph tool) even for furniture modeling and drawings. Having been a master carpenter, cabinetmaker and furniture designer I have used ArchiCAD to model some projects in excruciating detail.

Even now I am using it to design audio speaker enclosures as a hobby. In this case I'm not doing shops but I am using the models to develop the tool path files for the CNC machines. (It is SOOOOOO cool not having to make templates and not having to hold the router.) Admittedly I have only modeled the drivers for size and looks but the enclosures are exact except that the morph tool seems unable to do a fillet less than 1 mm.


Yoavzarc,

Your screenshot looks like what we would call casework drawings. They are clearly more detailed than is typical but they are not what we would consider shop drawings. For that they would have to include a lot more detail and specification.

When you are specifying custom built casework I can understand the importance of delineating to the extent you do. I hope you are being well compensated for all the work this entails.