When Nick, a woodworker and LAP reader, first let us know about Layout Computer, his free digital chair design tool, I thought, “Wow – that’s nifty and would be awfully useful…if only I made chairs.”
Well, now I think it’s unbearably cool and altogether useful, because Nick has added casework (as well as a dovetail joints, and he’s working on a drawer-design function right now).
Bookmark Nick’s site. The tool is a quick way to mock up various casework configurations – and a lot more quickly than I was ever able to do it in SketchUp – using a series of sliding tabs to change ratios, board thicknesses. (Watch the short video on the “Casework” page and you’ll quickly be up to speed on how to use the tool.)
You can play with combinations of bases, vertical divisions, depths, number of shelves so on, and you can toggle between metric and American customary units.
And when you’re satisfied, click the “layout” tab to get the dimensions for your design. Then you can generate a URL (under the “save” tab) to quickly get back to your masterpiece.
And did I mention it’s free? Nick developed Layout Computer make it easy for him to mock up his own work, but he generously shares his work with the world (though if you’re so inclined donations are welcomed – just click on the “About” tab on the home page).
– Fitz
p.s. The “Joint” tab is also a lot of fun to play with…and confirms my long-held belief that 1:6 is the best dovetail angle 🙂
