"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Jim coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S wrote:
Having a 3D model would be useful, so I can add the components, spin it
around and see if everything fits nicely - and less tediously, alter a
tapping once rather than in 2 or 3 elevation drawings.

So, now you know what I want to do, could Sketchup manage this fairly
easily?

Yes, it should do that fine. It's certainly very useful for being able
to view things in 3D, put in section cuts and see how components fit
together.

It's worth mentioning that the only way to represent "thickness" of a
material in Sketchup is to draw two planes separated slightly apart.
There's no concept of "solid" - a cube is just 6 faces with no gaps.
This has implications: is the copper shell of your HW cylinder worth
drawing as the inside and the outside surfaces separately? How about
copper pipes?

Aye - there's no need for thickness. Outside surfaces are all that are
needed.

You will need to read the documentation for the follow-me tool to figure
out how to draw things like the dome on top of the cylinder and piping.

I did have a go - limited success. Now you've told me that I'm not barking
up the wrong tree I'll persevere Every "cad" (proper or otherwise)
system I've used has had a different method of thinking and it is hard
work
to learn another.

I know an architect who uses Archicad for proper architectural drawings, but
uses Sketchup if he just wants to put together a quick diagram of how a
building fits together.

In terms of drawing 'shapes in space' there's nothing quite like it.