Shaker Style Rectangular Tapered Leg

This tutorial deals with modeling a rectangular shaker leg that is tapered on only two sides, with the taper starting a distance from one end. Loft will be used to create the tapered portion of the leg.

Extrude Cut with a taper could be used to create the tapered portion of the leg, but the taper angle is so shallow that it is impractical to set a template to manufacture the leg using the angle. Instead it is easier to manufacture the actual leg when using a distance to determine the dimensions of the bottom of the leg. Hence, this tutorial will create the leg using a dimension for the bottom of the leg.

Step 1 Create New Part and Select Sketch Plane

Create a New Part, and Orient the View to Isometric.

Hover over the outline of the ZX Plane, and left click on the outline when it highlights in order to select the ZX-Plane on which to create the sketch. You could also select the ZX-Plane from the Design Explorer.

Comments

[jltt]

I'm new to this but I was wondering if this tapered leg could be made all at once with the loft feature. This would svae some steps if it could.. Thanks

[gigman]

Thannk you very much for all the info woodknot! I will do that.

[woodknot]

Visit the Alibre Xpress website www.alibre.com/xpress and click on the link to the QuickStart Guide for an excellent set of introductory video tutorials. I recommend new users start here for the best introduction to Alibre. Download and install the free software, and written tutorials are available from the "Home" window that are designed to help new users become familiar with the software. Review the Alibre Help file for specific questions, and the Users Guide is available in PDF format for free download from the website via the support link. The Users Guide is a quick summary of features that is useful when trying to learn a specific topic. I learned by reading up on specific aspects when I needed to expand my knowledge. I still refer to the Users Guide periodically to become more familiar with specific capabilities. Just take it one topic at a time, as you need to learn how to accomplish a specific task. Work through the topic while reading and experiment with techniques to become familiar with their operation. I still build simple cubic parts to test new techniques and develop new uses for Alibre. Alibre_rob's tutorials are excellent basic topics, and others are posting more every day. My tutorials are aimed toward woodworkers, but the techniques are applicable to other fields as well. I am trying to provide a set of complimentary tutorials that build on the basics techniques covered by the QuickStart Guide video and Alibre's own basic technique tutorials. While the Users Guide address how a particular operation is performed, my tutorials are intended to deal a bit more with the application of those techniques and usage considerations. Use a web search engine and look for Alibre websites for additional information and tutorials. Please visit our website www.kelseywoodworks.com and download the free video tutorials and reference information. We are enthusiastic Alibre users and want to share what we have learned with others to make their entry into the software easier. And visit the Alibre Xpress forum at www.alibre.com/xpress/forum to post your questions and read the answers to the questions of other users. There are quite a few experienced users that take the time to answer to questions posted. We try to give back to the forum for all the good advice we received (and continue to receive) from other Alibre users. Just take it a bit at a time and be patient, as it can be a little frustrating at first until that "light" comes on the fog starts to clear. The good news is that Alibre is probably the most straight forward and logical parametric modeling program out there, and a good one to cut your teeth on.

[gigman]

I am intrested in learning this type of CAD, is there anywhere where I can get the basics or is there an order to the instructables in the CAD group? Do these tutorials build on each other? Thanks Gigman

[woodknot]

I was unable to delete a step during editing, so Step 1 & 2 are identical and the tutorial really has 9 steps. I will delete the extra step as soon as the system lets me. I have reported this as a bug. For a more exhaustive explaination of individual techniques, refer to my tutorial on Modeling a Standard Board or Sheet part. I have streamlined this tutorial to just cover the important elements of specific part creation. This tutorial assumes basic understanding of Alibre techniques.

[ewilhelm]

I think I fixed it. Let me know if something is still incorrect.