Woodworking

I recently have taken an interest in woodworking. Aka; table and cabinet making, laundry risers, pet food dish risers, floating shelves... etc... does anyone know of any type of software that is able to create 3D models?

Ideally I would like to be able to sketch it up on my laptop in some type of paint(ish) program but see all angles and be able to click and spin it, place measurements, see the product before I start putting it into practice... all that fun stuff.

Any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! And if I'm SOL and need to stick with my sketchbook then so be it.

Its not really meant to be a CAD program, but i use Blender for all my modeling needs. I constructed my geodome greenhouses in a blender. I also used it to make building plans for my outside patio trellis I built behind my house.

Another major reason why I use Blender is that it's free to download/use and it has exact measurements.

https://www.sketchup.com

I haven't used it, but lots of places with woodworking plans give their plans out in sketchup format. I don't know if it will do wha tyou want.

I really enjoy woodworking too, but at a much more amateur level where I start cutting and drilling into wood until I either have something cool or a conglomeration of trash.

I'm new to woodworking. Most of what I've made so far is essentially stuff for the shop, like a basic workbench, a table saw sled, that kind of thing.

This is a box I just finished for my GF. It's 3/4" plywood. She'll mostly be using it as a step-stool to get into our bed. It's a big kingsize bed with a fancy bed frame and she can't get in easily without something. She will also be storing some stuff in it, flashlights and candles, etc, in case the electricity goes out. We had a big outage after a storm not long ago.

All the joints are rabbets and glue. The top has a rabbet so it sits slightly down inside the rest and doesn't slide around. The top also extends, just slightly, past the edge of the rest of the box so you can easily grab it to open it up. All the edges have been routed with a roundover bit, and the finishing is a "burn it with a torch" thing, then sanding and polyurethane. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks, and all the corners and sizes lined up just right, which doesn't always happen for me.

It's a very basic box, but I just finished it, and I'm pretty happy with it.

[image: i.imgur.com]

[image: i.imgur.com]

I work at a Montessori preschool so I've been making a lot of school supplies for them- dressing frames, braiding boards, bolt boards etc.

Making stuff for a school is fun because it actually get used a LOT. When I make things for my children it doesn't get used or appreciated nearly as much.

I used sketchup when trying to design my own custom-built computer case and it only took a little while to get a handle on the basic controls. Sadly I had to abandon that project, but then I started doing a little bit of woodworking. I built my own computer desk with a raiser for my monitor, and what I have done most of is making wooden rings. I have used all kinds of different woods (was given a bunch of 1-inch square blanks for turning pens), and even did inlays of copper or colored sand.