New Project - Does Anyone have plans for...

[mcsincnj]

For the better part of this last year I have been making assembly line type projects in a one-man (me) shop. Beach chairs. Adirondack chairs, Day Tripper chairs, tailgate tables, and a few other projects for the owner of the shop. Lots of the plans come from www.yellawood.com and are cypress or ash. I want to make some craftsman/mission style furniture. I know there are lots of plans out there, but I admit I am cheap and want to know if anyone has plans they would share for this type of project. I have plans for a Morris Chair. I have a bunch of pictures from the internet, but mostly not from sites that offer plans. I have an unlimited supply of various types of wood b/c the owner of the shop owns a lumber yard and my cost is an awesome price. If anyone has plans or suggestions of what to start off with first, I would appreciate the input.

Happy Holidays to all,

Mike

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Mike, are you familiar w/ SketchUp? If so, try their 3D Warehouse, and search for Craftsman and Mission style furniture. The drawings don't include plans, but if well drawn you can easily convert them into plans, including parts list.

Just a thought.

 

[Jeff]

+1 to Sketch Up and make your own customized design plans. With a fundamental working knowledge of the program you can draw accurate plans and extract a cut list. Many internet pictures of items for sale will at least give the basic dimensions as a starting point.

A pencil and paper also works well but it's more tedious.

Here's a recent example from a fellow member who needed a "plan" from a rough general concept. :dontknow:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=54513

 

[mcsincnj]

Awesome, now I have learn how to use this - but def looks like a plan



just downloaded sketch-up - thanks guys

 

[McRabbet]

While these are not free, Bob Lang has a number of very good books with measured drawings of lots of Arts and Crafts furniture. Great source material. You can find them at his website http://craftsmanplans.com/ or on smile.Amazon.com.

 

[Mark Gottesman]

Don't forget the Library and Inter Library Loan.

 

[KenOfCary]

While you're out there looking if anyone comes up with a plan for a Craftsman Style Glider I'm willing to pay for it. Since I doubt such a thing exists, I figure I'm going to have to use a glider base plan and add a Craftsman looking chair on top.

But let me know if you find anything.

 

[Dave Richards]

Mike, if you go hunting through the 3D Warehouse for Morris chairs, be aware that you may or may not find anything from which you can directly develop a plan and that the quality of the models can be a crap shoot.

I've done a couple or three different Morris Chairs in SketchUp over the years. They aren't too bad to draw. You might find you want to take details from different ones and put them together. For inspiration, here's a couple I've done.

 

[KenOfCary]

Dave, as you say combining plans or drawings works well. Just comparing your two drawings I like the curves on the bottom rails of the first one and the corbels on the second one so would use features from both to make the perfect chair.

I like having plans or drawings as a starting point but tend to combine two or more and then modify somewhat to make it mine. But it very much helps to have something to show my Wife as a starting point for - "Do you like this or this and which feature of this one do you like versus this one, etc."

Since I'm often working to please an audience of one, it is really helpful to have multiple drawings / plans to use as a comparison.

Really appreciate your work BTW.

 

[Dave Richards]

Thank you Ken.

It's also nice to be able to confirm those design details before you commit to making sawdust.

 

[Jeff]

It's also nice to be able to confirm those design details before you commit to making sawdust.

So that's how it works? I've done the opposite on occasion and had to do careful reassembly but the piece looks like particle board.

 

[Dave Richards]

Jeff, been there, done that.

 

[ErnieM]

Mike, if you go hunting through the 3D Warehouse for Morris chairs, be aware that you may or may not find anything from which you can directly develop a plan and that the quality of the models can be a crap shoot.

I've done a couple or three different Morris Chairs in SketchUp over the years. They aren't too bad to draw. You might find you want to take details from different ones and put them together. For inspiration, here's a couple I've done.

Dave,

These drawings are beautiful as well as inspiring. It looks to me like you used a rendering program to make them more photo realistic than the typical SketchUp output. If so, could you recommend a rendering program?

 

[ErnieM]

Great advice about the quality of models in the Warehouse. This is a model I did a while back that's available in the Warehouse. While it may look okay, I assure you it's a real mess internally. Many models are posted by people, like myself, who don't really know what they're doing. As a result, the models are put together with a "whatever works" philosophy. That's all well and good if your goal is to see what a design might look like, but is far from ideal in terms of taking it apart to make plans from.

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[Dave Richards]

Ernie, although I sometimes do use a rendering program with my SketchUp models as I did it with this one, the two Morris chairs didn't get that treatment. The light-colored one was made from a several image exports direct from SU which were combined in an image editor. I could give more detail if you care. The other is direct from SketchUp.

When I do use a rendering program I use Kerkythea. It's a freeware app and fairly easy to use. There's an exporter plugin for SketchUp which also gives you the option to put in Kerkythea lights.

Ernie, that's good looking drawing and your point about the quality of SU models in the Warehouse is good.

Warehouse models might give you a place to start if you are trying to create a plan. Even when they look like they should be good, they can have problems. I know of a number of models uploaded by one of the big woodworking magazines which are supposed to be good enough to use for plans which have many problems that prevent them from being good for that use.

 

[ErnieM]

Ernie, although I sometimes do use a rendering program with my SketchUp models as I did it with this one, the two Morris chairs didn't get that treatment. The light-colored one was made from a several image exports direct from SU which were combined in an image editor. I could give more detail if you care. The other is direct from SketchUp.

When I do use a rendering program I use Kerkythea. It's a freeware app and fairly easy to use. There's an exporter plugin for SketchUp which also gives you the option to put in Kerkythea lights.

Wow - now I'm even more impressed with your SketchUp skills. I could have sworn those chairs were rendered. SketchUp is indeed a wonderful program. I wish I had the time (and skill) to learn to use it and all of its capabilities. I'll certainly look into Kerkythea - thanks.

 

[Dave Richards]

Thank you very much, Ernie.

 

[mcsincnj]

Thanks to all.... when and if I ever get this project started and completed I will make sure to post as progress is made.

 

[wayne]

While you're out there looking if anyone comes up with a plan for a Craftsman Style Glider I'm willing to pay for it. Since I doubt such a thing exists, I figure I'm going to have to use a glider base plan and add a Craftsman looking chair on top.

But let me know if you find anything.

Not plans per-se but couple of design approachs. found by google "craftsman glider chair plans"

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[Dave Richards]

Hmmm....

It seems like it would be reasonably easy to modify a typical A&C to be a glider. I suppose a Morris chair without the reclining feature would work.