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Configurable aluminum profile shelving with frames?
nocry3
Member Posts: 30 ✭✭
I want to create a freely configurable shelving unit from aluminum profiles. I’d like to use the Frames tool for this, but I immediately run into a problem. The shelf should work with 20×20, 30×30, 40×40, … aluminum profiles.
I’m already stuck with the uprights: the idea is to create a rectangular prism using the shelf’s outer dimensions and place the uprights along the four side edges. Of course, I could define four separate frames—one for each upright—but there has to be an easier way, right?
If I define all four uprights in a single frame, three of them end up with the wrong orientation!
I do have ideas for solutions, but in my opinion they’re all too complicate
Comments
It's annoying that you can't override individual frame positions…
The easiest way to deal with this is to define your "volume" so it matches the frame centerlines (rather than outer corners), you can use an offset from your "real" one that varies depending on the frame profile.
Another method is to select the entire face, which forces the frames to align the same way, and then delete the unwanted (i.e. top and bottom ones), but it's not as "clean"…
You can also vote here for this improvement request:
Simon Gatrall | Product Development Specialist | Open For Work
I also had the idea to set it to center and calculate the offset. But then I have another question or problem. I select the frame type, for example, my own 20×20 profile in the frame dialog. How can I do this in the configuration panel? Or the other way. How do I get the size of the profile I selected in the frame dialog into a configuration variable to calculate the offset?
Assuming you have a configuration input for the frame profile, you could add a variable and configure it in that same table to match the profile, but that would be done manually…
The only other option is to split it into multiple frame features…