Kidney-shaped desk

[Alan Robert Blough]

Hello out there! I'm completely green at this sort of thing, but one of the Thermwood team said to use this forum to see if anyone can help.
I have a potential customer who wants a desk custom-made. She thinks she wants it to be kidney-shaped, but would like to see a picture of it before she makes her final decision. I have played around with the Ecabinet Systems software enough to be able to edit cabinets, but this goes way over my experience. Does anyone know how to do this? I need a full-color, 3D drawing to show her. Here are the particulars:

small radius-16"
large radius-60"
rise of arc from chord for large arc-6"
distance from large arc to back of small radius-39"
depth of desktop-31"
height of desktop from floor-30"-32"
overall length of top-84"

I will try to describe the layout process I used to come up with this design. I am going to use compass directions to help visualize the whole picture.
Starting at the West, draw a circle using a radius of 16". From the centerpoint, draw a line directly eastward out from the centerpoint. Measure over 52" and make another centerpoint. Draw another circle with a 16" radius, using this centerpoint. You now have two 32" diameter circles, connected by a straight line. Bisect this line and draw another line perpendicular to the first line(North to South). Draw an West-East line that is tangent to the South end of the circles. Measure down(South) from this line 6". That is the outside point of your large arc. Measure due North from this point to 60". This should be the centerpoint for the large arc. Draw the large arc using this centerpoint, and bringing it tangent to both of the circles. From that same centerpoint, measure due South 28". This should be the deepest point of the inside edge of the desk. Draw an arc using the centerpoin and bringing it tangent to the two circles. That should give you a symetrical kidney shape. You may have to adjust the radiuses for the large arcs.

She also wants raised panels on the sides of the desk. I figures two on the short radius sections, and three across the large arc. On the back side of the desk, there is to be an 18" full-height door cabinet on one side and a three-drawer desk base with file drawer on the other.
I would appreciate any help and/or advise anyone can give. Thanks much!
Alan

[DanEpps]

This can certainly be done but will take a lot of work in the Part Editor.

Will you be cutting the parts on a CNC router or do you just want to create a 3D presentation?

[Joseph Fusco]

Alan,

Is this the shape you'd like to archive?

[Mark Taylor]

Hi Alan...

Where are you located? If your close enough that we could help cut the parts and/or work with you on the project we would be happy to do so.

Mark

[Alan Robert Blough]

Thanks for all the replies!

Dan:I do not have a CNC machine...I would be cutting out the parts by hand. Right now I just need a 3D full-color rendering for presentation.

Joseph: Nice work! That is exactly the shape for which I am looking!

Mark: I am located in Southeastern Ohio...a fair distance from SC.

Dan, how many hours are we talking here...8, 12, 20? I am starting from ground level on that part of the program.

[Alan Robert Blough]

This can certainly be done but will take a lot of work in the Part Editor.

Will you be cutting the parts on a CNC router or do you just want to create a 3D presentation?

Dan,
I don't have a CNC machine. I am looking to make a 3D rendering for presentation purposes. How many hours are we talking here...8, 12, 20,<?

[Alan Robert Blough]

Alan,

Is this the shape you'd like to archive?

Joseph,
That's exactly the right shape! Nice job!

[Alan Robert Blough]

Hi Alan...

Where are you located? If your close enough that we could help cut the parts and/or work with you on the project we would be happy to do so.

Mark

I am located in Southeastern Ohio.

[Alan Robert Blough]

Sorry for the double replies, guys! I am still getting used to operating this system.

[DanEpps]

This can certainly be done but will take a lot of work in the Part Editor.

Will you be cutting the parts on a CNC router or do you just want to create a 3D presentation?

Dan,
I don't have a CNC machine. I am looking to make a 3D rendering for presentation purposes. How many hours are we talking here...8, 12, 20,<?

You don't have to own a CNC to cut the parts with one...as Mark was referring to, just use Producion Sharing.

The amount of work required is dependent on several factors. Since you do not intend to cut the parts with a CNC, that removes one factor. Another factor is whether you wish to have an accurate cut list and cost sheet from the design.

If neither cut list or cost sheet is important, the entire desk can be made in the Part Editor using display cubes. If you do need a cut list then you will need to define materials that are thick enough to cut the parts from, taking into account how you intend to construct the desk.

Are you going to build a frame with all of the contours then skin it with bending ply or will you cut the contours from glued-up stock? How will you do the raised panels on the curved contours?

eCabinets is NOT a drawing program...it IS a custom cabinet and furniture design program. If all you need is a picture I suggest using something like Google SketchUp to create it. One of our fourm members, Gene Davis, is pretty good with SketchUp and could probably help you if that is the direction you wish to take.

[Alan Robert Blough]

Here is how I plan to build this project. I want to start with two curved panels with a 32" radius to the outside face and one curved panel with a radius of 60" to the outside face. I plan to resaw material to approx. 1/8" thick to make the rails and glue them back together around curved forms. I intend to cooper the panel stock at approx. 11/16" thick to allow for fairing the curve smooth on the outside. I may have to put a slight curve on the stiles as well. These will be built just like a regular 5-piece door. The internal stiles will be half the width so when I join the parts they will be the same width as the center stiles.The cabinets on the business side of the desk will be nearly standard. I may curve the deck and top to follow the curve of the panel or maybe just make some curved braces. She wants a small shelf at the lower back part of the knee space for her wireless network box. It will be curved to follow the back of the panel.

So the program isn't a drawing program, huh? Maybe I should have bought AutoCad.

[DanEpps]

Don't misunderstand, you can certainly create this in eCabinets. It is just that to get an accurate cut list or CNC output that will work requires different approaches. Remember, the primary purpose of eCabinets is to generate CNC code for Thermwood CNC routers. Many (most?) users though, me included, don't use eCabinets for CNC code generation...just design and accurate cut lists.

What I was getting at is that it would be a lot of work just to produce a design that is only for the image. You would, however, get a lot of experience (and an accurate cut list ) from creating the design in eCabinets.

[Alan Robert Blough]

Dan,
I checked out your video on making the curved panel. You must do this often...you went pretty fast. I'll have to look at it a couple more times, but I think I gathered enough info to get started. I do have several more questions.
Did you develop your tooling before your drew the panel, or is this someting that is available on the program?
Once all the display cubes are made, How do I assemble them into the panel, and how do I assemble the panels into the desk?

[DanEpps]

Yeah, I do this about 200 times a day

Actually, I rehearse a procedure many times before recordinng the video so I can eliminate errors and keep the file as small as possible. As you can tell, video files get huge quickly--12MB for 3 minutes!

Yes, I did develop the tools a well as the closed contour before starting. This was just a rough demo of the possibilities with the Part Editor so the tools and contour are far from anything to use in real life other than for presentations only.

If you are going to use only display cubes/panels/boards to create your desk, save each one as you create it. Once you have them all created you combine them in the Cabinet Editor, align them to get the look you want and save the whole shebang as an assembly.

If you create the desk by starting with a standard cabinet, you just add the display objects to the desk and associate them to it before saving it as a cabinet.

I know, you are saying "but how do I do that"...with the first object (cabinet or display object) in the Cabinet Editor, click the Load Item icon to open the Item Selection dialog again. Select the item you want to add to the workspace and click OK. With the item in the workspace, select the object you want to move and use CTRL-left mouse button to place it where you want it. You will probably need to rotate the object as well...just click the "Rotate" icon.

[Mike Brannon]

This layout was easy to do in AutoCAD. But AutoCAD is not very good for presentation drawings, unless you mean 2 D plans, sections and elvations as might be required as submission to an Architect on a commercial job.