How to model Starck’s Bubu Stool in SOLIDWORKS?

It is like a swiss knife of the furniture world, it is a stool, a side table, a bedside table, a storage box, multi-use piece of furniture and not too expensive. The famous Bubu stool of Philippe Starck embodies all the fashion trends of the last fifteen years.

Never out of fashion, included in the biggest modern art and decorative arts museums of the world, the Bubu stool is still selling at a fast pace, because it has never been replaced. So I believe that this is the ideal stool to write a new SOLIDWORKS tutorial for. In this tutorial I will show you exactly how to model this stool in SOLIDWORKS.

Happy modeling!

Jan

P.S. I encourage you to share this tutorial with your network.

Click here to download this tutorial as a free eBook (PDF).

Create a new sketch on the Front Plane

Select the Front Plane in the Feature Manager

Click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Click at the Normal To option to rotate and zoom the model normal to the selected Plane. 

Draw the lines  as shown in the picture

Add the dimensions  as shown in the picture

Create a Revolve

Go to: Insert > Boss/Base > Revolve or click at the revolve icon 

Axis of revolution : Select the vertical blue line as shown in the picture

Click OK 

Select the blue surface and click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Draw the circle as shown in the picture 

Change the dimension of the circle into 200 mm as shown in the picture by clicking at the dimension button 

Create a Split Line

Go to: Insert > Curve > Split Line or click at the Split Line icon 

Select Sketch2 as Sketch to Project 

Select the cyan face as Faces to Split 

Click OK 

Create a Dome

Go to: Insert > Features > Dome or click at the dome icon 

Select the blue surface as Dome Surface 

Set the Dome Distance to 2 mm

Click at the Reverse Direction button to direct the Dome inwards

Click OK 

Create a Fillet

Go to: Insert > Features > Fillet/Round or click at the Fillet icon 

Click at the blue edge as shown in the picture

Change the Radius into 500 mm 

Click OK 

Create a new sketch on the Front Plane

Select the Front Plane in the Feature Manager

Click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Click at the Normal To option to rotate and zoom the model normal to the selected Plane. 

Draw the line  as shown in the picture

Make the line Collinear to the outer edge

Select the outer edge of the revolve, hold down the Control key and select the new line

Click at the Collinear icon to make the line Collinear 

Add the dimensions  as shown in the picture

Close the sketch 

Create a new plane

Go to: Insert > Reference Geometry > Plane or click at the New Plane icon 

First Reference : Select the lower point of the new line as First Reference

Second Reference : Select the Top Plane as Second Reference

Click OK 

Create a new sketch on the new Plane1

Select the Plane1 in the Feature Manager

Click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Draw the centerline as shown in the picture 

Change the dimension clicking at the dimension button 

Draw the circle as shown in the picture and detail 

Close the sketch 

Select the blue surface and click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Draw the circle as shown in the picture 

Draw the vertical centerline as shown in the picture 

Change the dimension clicking at the dimension button 

Trim the left side of the circle

Go to: Tools > Sketch Tools > Trim or click at the Trim icon 

Select the Power Trim option

Zoom in at the left side of the circle

Click and drag the cursor over the circle to remove it

Draw a spline with one midpoint as shown in the picture 

Click at the Spline, hold down the Control key and select the half circle

Click at the Tangency icon to make a tangent relation between the spline and the half circle

Do the same thing for the other side of the spline as shown in the picture.

Close the sketch 

Create a Solid Loft

Go to: Insert > Boss/Base > Loft or click at the Loft icon 

Select Sketch4 and Sketch5 as Profiles 

Click OK 

Create a Fillet

Go to: Insert > Features > Fillet/Round or click at the Fillet icon 

Click at the blue edge as shown in the picture

Change the Radius into 20 mm 

Click OK 

Create a Circular Pattern

Go to: Insert > Pattern/Mirror > Circular Pattern or click at the Circular Pattern icon 

Pattern Axis : Select the blue surface as shown in the picture

Total Angle : 360 deg

Number of instances : 3

Select the “Equal Spacing” option.

Features to Pattern : Loft1 and Fillet2

Click OK 

Create a Fillet

Go to: Insert > Features > Fillet/Round or click at the Fillet icon 

Click at the two blue surfaces as shown in the picture

Change the Radius into 4 mm 

Click OK  

Select the blue surface and click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Draw the circle as shown in the picture 

Change the dimension of the circle into 25 mm as shown in the picture by clicking at the dimension button 

Create an Extruded Cut

Go to: Insert > Cut > Extrude or click at the extrude icon 

Direction 1  : Blind

Change  into 4 mm

Click OK 

Create a Shell

Go to Insert > Features > Shell or click at the Shell icon 

Select the blue surface as shown in the picture

Change D1 into 3 mm 

Click OK 

Create a Fillet

Go to: Insert > Features > Fillet/Round or click at the Fillet icon 

Click at the blue edge as shown in the picture

Change the Radius into 0,5 mm 

Click OK 

Create a new sketch on the Right Plane

Select the Right Plane in the Feature Manager

Click at the 2D Sketch icon to make a new sketch 

Click at the Normal To option to rotate and zoom the model normal to the selected Plane. 

Draw the line as shown in the picture 

Add the dimension as shown in the picture 

Close the sketch 

Create an Extruded Cut

Go to: Insert > Cut > Extrude or click at the extrude icon 

Direction 1  : Trough All

Direction 2  : Trough All

Enable the Thin Feature option

Change  into 3 mm

Click OK 

Select All bodies in the Bodies to Keep menuCongratulations, you’ve just created your own Bubu stool in SOLIDWORKS!

Click here to download this tutorial as a free eBook (PDF).

I hope you liked this LearnSOLIDWORKS tutorial!

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Thanks a million!

Jan