Sheet 02 of 11
3D Sketch and Butt Joints: a Coffee Table Frame
In 6 minutes you'll draw a coffee table frame in a 3D sketch, make the legs and the rails as two Frame Members, set the rails flush with the tops of the legs, and get its cut list right: rails that stop against the legs, not through them.
- Part
- Coffee Table Frame
- Profile
- Rect Tube 40x40x2
- Material
- Default
- Time
- 6 min
- Status
- Open
OP 10Watch
Video in productionBuild along with the steps in OP 30 meanwhile.
OP 20Turn the part
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The model shows part A, for illustration. Your part has its own sizes: build it from the drawing in OP 30.
OP 30Build it in SolidCraft
Part A of 8. Every learner gets a part with its own sizes, so the values you check below are yours to find.
A new part has new sizes. It clears this sheet's checks and ticked steps; your quiz answers stay.
The picture shows part A, for illustration. Build your part from the drawing and the sizes listed here.
- Profile
- Rect Tube 40x40x2
- Material
- Default
Your task
Build this coffee table frame in SolidCraft, all in 40 × 40 × 2 mm square tube. The table is 900 mm long, 450 mm wide and 400 mm high.
- In a new design, Weldments tab › New Sketch on XY. In the sketch palette open More and tick 3D Sketch.
- Draw the four legs with the Line tool, straight up from the floor (z = 0) to the top (z = 400). A leg's line is its middle, 20 mm in from each outside face: at (20, 20), (880, 20), (880, 430) and (20, 430).
- Draw the four rails at the top, z = 400, each stopping against the legs it meets: the long rails from x = 40 to x = 860 along y = 20 and y = 430, the short rails from y = 40 to y = 410 along x = 20 and x = 880. The drawing lists every point. Finish Sketch.
- Weldments tab › Frame Member: pick the four leg lines, Profile Rectangular Tube, Width 40 mm, Height 40 mm, Wall 2 mm, Name Leg, OK.
- Frame Member again: pick the four rail lines, the same tube, Anchor Top, Name Rail, OK. The rails' tops are now level with the legs'.
- Work out each piece's cut length from its line.
What to write down
- Box 1: How many pieces to cut.
- Box 2: The cut length of a long rail.
- Box 3: The cut length of a leg.
- Box 4: The cut length of a short rail.
- Box 5: The total length of tube to buy.
Type them below and press Check.
OP 40Inspect
Enter what SolidCraft shows you. Each value is checked against SolidCraft's own result, within the tolerance shown. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Stuck? Compare with the finished part
This opens once you've checked every box at least once: try it yourself first.
Open it in SolidCraft (File › Open) next to yours and compare the timeline, the rule and each feature's sizes: the first one that differs is where yours went wrong.
exercise · Rect Tube 40x40x2 · cut lengths in mm| Profile | Cut length mm | Pieces |
|---|---|---|
| Rect Tube 40x40x2 | 820 | 2 |
| Rect Tube 40x40x2 | 400 | 4 |
| Rect Tube 40x40x2 | 370 | 2 |
8 pieces · 3980 mm of bar in all
OP 50Quiz
Q1Why make the legs and the rails as two Frame Members?
Each Frame Member has one profile placement. The legs are centred on their lines; the rails hang from their lines with the anchor at Top, so their tops are level with the legs.
Q2The rail's line is drawn at the table's top height. What does Anchor: Top do?
The anchor is the point of the profile that sits on the line. With Top, the tube's top face is on the line, so the rail's top is exactly at the table's height.
Q3A rail is drawn the table's full length, through the legs. What goes wrong?
SolidCraft makes the overlapping piece without complaint, so the model looks fine, but the rail is 80 mm too long to fit between the legs. Stop each line at the leg it butts against.
Every value is within tolerance. This sheet is done.
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