Plans

[brubakes]

Do you make up your own plans or do you normally purchase them from somewhere. If you do buy the plans where have you bought from and have you been happy with their customer service and more importantly plan quality and detail.

[dbhost]

The answer is yes, and no...

I have come up with my own plans, as well as purchased magazines with plans in them... The detail is usually pretty good. Not sure why I would talk to customer service for magazine article plans though...

[JR]

I'm not as skilled as a lot of woodworkers at doing my own plans, but I have managed a to squeeze out a few projects on my own noodle. I've bought or acquired free plans from a number of sources.

PlansNow is a good resource for a lot of plans, not all of which are excellent. Norm's plans have been very detaild and nicely drawn, but I understand some of the early ones were not.

Wood Magazine articles are good because they come with nice layout pages, which are very helpful for curvy bits.

I have a Fine Woodworking on-line subscription, which makes available a lot of articles. They are kind of fun, because they leave a lot to the woodworker's discretion. Case in point, I have a humidor article from my research for a recent project. It suggests laminating veneer to Spanish cedar, but completely leaves any detail on that topic out of the article. It's as if the article starts "... and once the lamination is set up you can proceed to mill the materials for this project." Instead they spend a number column inches on a joinery technique that has hardwood inserts along all edges of the box, plus an adjacent inlay. Very nice, very informative, come prepared to contribute your own bit to the project.

JR

edit - I should add that every plan should be viewed with a jaundiced eye. Mistakes happen in even the best plans. You should walk through the plan completely to understand whether the dimensions add up. Review any procedures to determine if you have the right tools and expertise, or some alternative needs to be devised. Make sure the cut list all makes sense. If you're a novice you shouldn't start cutting wood until you have a completely understood plan of action. After that things will change, and new plan will develop!

[catta12]

I usually surf the web for pictures of something that I want to build for inspiration and then design what I want in Sketchup. IMO this is the best way to get something that fits ALL of your criteria of what you want.

You can find some free plans on the web as well. I gave up on this because I was spending more time looking for something that I would actually WANT to build than spending time in the shop. The wood magazines have some nice plans, but again you are at the mercy of whatever they decide to feature.

Happy planning to ya!

[drumpriest]

I pretty much come up with my own plans from careful study of furniture and decisions about my needs. I have only ever build a couple of jewelry boxes from plans, all of my major builds are self-designed. I think it adds something to the piece distinctly mine.

Having said that, if I am after a purely functional piece, I'm not against plans, just too cheap and interested in design to use them. U-bild has a lot of plans, some interesting and some ancient.

[cabinetman]

I've never bought plans. I may receive a plan from an architect or a designer that in itself needs to be converted to shop drawings. The general dimensions are used in conjunction with fabrication procedure to establish a good plan. This plan I get approved (signed off) from the client. It will include a floor plan (or plan view), elevation drawings, section drawings, and detail drawings. Perspective drawings may also be done.

I believe the making of your own plan allows a closer understanding to the fabrication process and woodworking in general. The development of a plan can utilize your creative abilities, and help with figuring materials and joinery. Planmaking can also help in keeping track of progress parts that require machining.

For the clients that I work with directly, where they have a conception of what they want, I do the same drawing schedule. They may have a page out of a magazine that they provide that I have to develop into a complete plan, which is the same variety of drawings.

I also do "explosion" drawings which can be invaluable in planning joinery and seeing a preview of possible problems.

If you have never produced a plan and don't have an idea where to start, there are many free plans offered online that could be used for a format and guideline. From one of those you may develop your own style that will work for you.
.

[dbhost]

One thing you might consider, if you are going to do your own designs, learn to use Google Sketchup if you want to get an idea for how things will fit together in 3 dimensions.

If you don't know traditional drafting, then going that route won't work, but sketching things up on Engineer's graph paper helps you get an idea for sizes and fitting things together...

Some of the plans I want most, because I want proven / safe design, are hard to find good ones, which is childrens furniture. Specifically convertible crib plans... Still looking for those, but I have a lot of time to work with that...

[poolhound]

I dont think I have ever bought a plan for anything. I do draw them up for myself but mostly sketches I keep in a book. I get inspiration from multiple places decide what I want to create and the major dimensions and then set to it.

There was a discussion & poll late last year on this topic that you may find useful.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=42491

[Black wallnut]

Besides my brain the two most tools used in my shop are a pencil and paper. I've used only one store bought plan for my son's high chair. I've looked at plans online for inspiration and I've printed some parts diagrams for projects with curves that I've made. By and large I just do fllat work with mostly straight lines. I draw my own, usually just a measured drawing. I then, if the plan is to be made with plywood, with drawing in hand proceed to use Cut list plus to generate cut lists and diagrams.

There has been other projects where I've adapted others plans and drawings such as my sawcart. I mostly used the plans that Sam Conder posted in the articles for his maroon and maple cart. I demensioned the right side to suit my own needs, and added a sliding saw tray.

[Gator95]

I look at all the free plans I can for joinery ideas and design elements, but when it comes down to the final plans I always draw it up myself. That way I can ensue the plans and parts milling lines up with my equipment and skill.

[drumpriest]

dbhost has a good point, I don't use sketch up, but I do make a 3d model all of my projects if they have any complexity to them at all.

[cwithboat]

I have used plans for several projects. Plans that come with hardware, such as the porch glider I built, are important for dimensioning the parts. I did change the cutting instructions because buying wide pieces of wood can be more expensive that an equal amount of board feet with narrower widths.
Another reason to use plans is to learn techniques new to me like drawboring mortise and tendon for a screen door.