Making solids

New Sketch S
Starts a flat drawing. Every solid you make from your own shape starts here.
  1. Click New Sketch.
  2. Click a plane or a flat face to draw on.
  3. The view turns flat. Draw your shape, then press Finish Sketch.
Extrude E
Adds depth to a sketch profile to make a solid. This is how most parts start: draw the outline, then extrude it.
  1. Click Extrude.
  2. Click a profile (a closed area of the sketch). A lone profile is already picked.
  3. Drag the arrow to set the distance.
  4. Or type it in Distance.
  5. Press OK.
When the profile sits on a body you already have, Operation decides what happens: Join adds material, Cut removes it, New Body leaves the old one alone. Extent: Distance, Symmetric, Two Sides, Through All or Up to Face. Taper Angle leans the sides in or out. Thin Extrude makes only a wall along the outline: type the Wall Thickness and choose Wall Location (Side 1, Center or Side 2). A sketch of open lines, with no closed profile, extrudes as a thin wall by itself.
Revolve R
Sweeps a sketch profile around an axis to make a round part, like a knob, a wheel or a cup.
  1. Click Revolve.
  2. Click a profile. A lone profile is already picked.
  3. Click the axis to revolve around.
  4. Press OK.
Loft
Blends one profile into another, like a square base that becomes a round neck.
  1. Open Create and click Loft.
  2. Click the first sketch.
  3. Click the next sketch, in the order the part should run.
  4. Press OK.
Sweep
Moves a profile along a path, like a handle or a bent tube.
  1. Open Create and click Sweep.
  2. Click the profile.
  3. Click the path it should follow.
  4. Press OK.
Pipe
Makes a round pipe along a path, without drawing the circle yourself.
  1. Open Create and click Pipe.
  2. Click the path.
  3. Type the Diameter.
  4. Press OK.
Tick Hollow for a tube with a wall.
Rib
A stiffening wall drawn as one sketch line, grown until it meets the part.
  1. Sketch a line where the wall goes, across the inside of the part, and finish the sketch.
  2. Open Create and click Rib.
  3. Click the sketch line.
  4. Type the Thickness.
  5. Direction: Symmetric grows it to both sides of the line, One Side to one. Tick Flip direction if it grows away from the part.
  6. Press OK.
Lip
A raised rim along the top of a hollow box for its lid to sit over, or a groove cut along it.
  1. Open Create and click Lip.
  2. Click an edge of the rim: the inside edge puts the lip on the inside.
  3. Type the Width and Height.
  4. Type Lip and Groove to cut the matching groove into the lid that sits on the rim; Clearance is the gap between them.
  5. Press OK.
The lip runs all the way round the rim. Flip puts it on the other face at that edge.
Boss
Screw posts with their hole, grown from sketch points down to the part.
  1. Sketch a point where each post goes, on a plane at the top of the posts, and finish the sketch.
  2. Open Create and click Boss.
  3. Click the sketch.
  4. Type: Heat-Set Insert, Self-Tapping Screw, Screw Head for the lid side, or Blank. Choose the Size.
  5. Press OK.
The sizes come from the insert maker's chart, the screw maker's rule or the ISO screw head, and can be typed over. Tick Ribs to tie the posts to the walls.
Snap Fit
A hook on a springy arm that clicks into a groove in the other part.
  1. Sketch a point on the face the arm grows from, on the line of the wall it catches, and finish the sketch.
  2. Open Create and click Snap Fit.
  3. Click the sketch.
  4. Set Rotation so the hook faces the wall, and the arm sizes.
  5. Press OK.
Hook and Groove also cuts the groove into the body the hook reaches. The window says how hard the arm bends.
Hole H
Holes in a face: simple, counterbore, countersink or tapped, and the printing kinds: a heat-set insert, a nut trap or a magnet pocket.
  1. Open Create and click Hole.
  2. Click the face where each hole should go.
  3. Choose the Hole type. A simple hole asks for its Diameter; an insert, a nut or a magnet asks for its size and makes the hole to suit it.
  4. Press OK.
Extent is Through All, or Distance with a Depth.
Thread
A screw thread on a round face: a bolt, a bottle neck, a jar lid, or inside a hole or a cap.
  1. Open Create and click Thread.
  2. Click the round face. The size it is nearest to is chosen; pick another Size, or Custom for a pitch of your own.
  3. Untick Full length to give the thread an Offset from the end and a Length.
  4. Type a Print clearance when a printed bolt and nut must screw together.
  5. Press OK.
Modelled cuts the thread into the part, ready to print. Untick it to only draw the thread.
Text
Embosses or engraves lettering on a face.
  1. Open Create and click Text.
  2. Click the face where the lettering starts.
  3. Type the words in Text, then Letter height (how tall a capital letter is), Type (Emboss or Engrave) and Depth.
  4. Press OK.
Pattern
Repeats a hole, a peg or another step in a row or around a circle.
  1. Open Create and click Pattern.
  2. Click a face of the feature to repeat.
  3. Click a straight edge for the direction the row runs.
  4. Type Quantity and Spacing.
  5. Press OK.
Direction 2 makes a grid. Type: Circular repeats around an axis.
Mirror
Copies a body to the other side of a plane.
  1. Open Create and click Mirror.
  2. Click the plane or flat face to mirror across.
  3. Operation: Join makes the copy part of the body; New Body keeps it as a body of its own.
  4. Press OK.
Library part
Puts a real part in to build round: a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino, an ESP32, a fan, a power jack, a switch. Boards come with their ports and holes in the right places, in their own colours.
  1. Open Create and click Library part (or File, Library part).
  2. Choose the Type (Board, Fan, Jack, Switch), then the Part.
  3. To stand it on something, click the flat face it sits on. Left alone, it stands at the zero point.
  4. Press OK.
The Raspberry Pi 5 and the Arduino Uno R4 are their makers' own models; the others are drawn from their makers' drawings.
Board case
Makes a case to print round a board: an opening at every port, posts under its holes, a lid that snaps on or screws through the board, vents in the lid.
  1. Put a board in first (Library part).
  2. Open Create and click Board case. With one board in the file it is picked; with more, click the board.
  3. Type Wall, Clearance (the gap round the board) and Height above the board; choose the Lid.
  4. Press OK.
Wall, clearance and height become sliders under Variable dimensions, and the lid a switch: move one and the case follows. Move the board and the case moves with it.

Primitives

Box
A block. It is a rectangle sketch extruded, so both can be changed later.
  1. Click Box.
  2. The box follows the pointer. Click where it goes, on the grid or on a face.
  3. Type the Width, Depth and Height, or drag the arrows.
  4. Press OK.
Cylinder
A round post. It is a circle sketch extruded.
  1. Click Cylinder.
  2. Click where its centre goes, on the grid or on a face.
  3. Type the Diameter and Height, or drag the arrows.
  4. Press OK.
Sphere
A ball.
  1. Open Primitives and click Sphere.
  2. Click where its centre goes.
  3. Type the Diameter.
  4. Press OK.
Cone
A cone, or a cone with its tip cut off.
  1. Open Primitives and click Cone.
  2. Click where its centre goes.
  3. Type the Base diameter, the Top diameter (0 for a point) and the Height.
  4. Press OK.
Gear
A spur gear with involute teeth, ready to print or to mesh with another in an assembly.
  1. Open Primitives and click Gear.
  2. Click where its centre goes, on the grid or on a face.
  3. Type the Teeth, the Module (tooth size), the Bore and the Width.
  4. Press OK.
Two gears mesh when they have the same Module and Pressure angle.

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