Adding raw materials
Raw materials live in the catalogue, behind a category of their own. From there you can place a common size in one press, or make a piece of any material and size you have actually bought.
The Raw Materials category
Section titled “The Raw Materials category”What it is. The last chip in the catalogue’s category row, with a hammer on it. Pressing it swaps the grid of components for the raw-materials section: three cards to start a new piece, the materials this design already uses, and the standard sizes.
What it does. The chip’s count is how many materials the section places in one press - the standard sizes plus the materials already in this design. The catalogue’s search box filters those two lists, by name or by the words people use for a material: 12mm, cladding, pine. The three cards at the top stay put whatever you type, so there is always a way to start a new piece.
Options and limits. Raw materials are a different way to build rather than more components, so they are never in the catalogue’s resting grid. They do answer a search from any other category: type ply, sheet or 50x25 under All and the standard sizes appear with the components that match, and under another category they are listed with the results from other categories.
What it affects. Nothing until you place something.
New sheet, batten or extrusion
Section titled “New sheet, batten or extrusion”What it is. The three dashed cards at the top of the section - Sheet, Batten and Extrusion - one for each shape of stock.
What it does. Opens a card where you say what the piece is: its material and the size it is sold in, with a preview of what it will weigh and cost. The controls on that card are the next three entries.
Options and limits. A sheet is plywood, MDF or OSB. A batten is softwood or hardwood. An extrusion is an aluminium T-slot profile.
What it affects. Nothing until you press Add to design.
Material
Section titled “Material”What it is. The first row of chips on the card.
What it does. Chooses what the piece is made of. For a sheet or a batten, the material’s density is shown under the chips, because the weight and cost follow from it - and the preview at the foot of the card changes as you choose. An extrusion says instead that its profiles are hollow: each size weighs what its own profile does, far less than a solid bar the same size.
Options and limits. The materials offered depend on which card you opened.
What it affects. The piece’s weight and cost, and its name. A piece is named after its material, shape and size, such as Plywood sheet 18 mm or Softwood batten 50 x 25 mm.
Thickness, cross-section or profile
Section titled “Thickness, cross-section or profile”What it is. The second part of the card: Thickness for a sheet, Cross-section for a batten, Profile for an extrusion.
What it does. Sets the size the material is sold in. For a sheet, pick one of the common thicknesses - 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 or 25 mm - or type your own. For a batten, pick a common cross-section or type its width and height. For an extrusion there is nothing to type: the profiles are listed in rows by series (20, 30, 40 and 45), each row captioned with the width of the slot its fasteners fit.
Options and limits. Whole millimetres, whichever units you work in: a thickness or a cross-section is part of how every supplier names the material, not a measurement of your piece. A value out of range disables Add to design, and a line in the preview says what is accepted. An extrusion is chosen from the profiles it is sold in and never made up, because a profile is a product with its own published weight.
What it affects. Fixed for good once the piece is placed - see Fixed by the material.
Add to design
Section titled “Add to design”What it is. The button at the foot of the card, under the preview.
What it does. Places the piece in your van and selects it. The preview above says what it will add: the piece’s starting size, its weight and its cost. A sheet starts 600 mm by 1.2 m, a batten 1.2 m long and an extrusion 1 m long - so an extrusion’s preview reads as its weight per metre, the figure suppliers quote.
Options and limits. Disabled until the card holds a material and a size it accepts. Cancel closes the card without adding anything.
What it affects. Your design, the bill of materials and the cut list. The material then appears under In this design.
In this design
Section titled “In this design”What it is. A list under the three cards of every material this design already uses, one row per material and size, with how many pieces of it are placed.
What it does. Places another piece of that material in one press, at the starting size. The row shows that piece’s size, weight and cost.
Options and limits. It is built from what is in your design, so it tidies itself: delete the last piece of a material and its row goes. The search box filters it.
What it affects. The same as Add to design.
Standard sizes
Section titled “Standard sizes”What it is. A list of every material at the sizes it is commonly sold in: each sheet material at each common thickness, each batten material at each common cross-section, and each aluminium profile. The same pieces turn up as cards, with a thumbnail, when you search the catalogue.
What it does. One press places a piece, with no card to fill in. Typing 18mm ply into the catalogue’s search is often the quickest way to a sheet.
Options and limits. Filtered by the search box. For a size that is not listed, use the cards at the top of the section.
What it affects. The same as Add to design.
About raw materials
Section titled “About raw materials”What it is. The small round (i) beside the section’s heading, and in the corner of a standard size’s thumbnail in the catalogue’s search results.
What it does. Opens a short card explaining that a raw material’s weight and cost are worked out from what it is made of and how big it is, so they follow the piece as you resize it; that every piece shows up in the cut list; and that the standard sizes are a shortcut, with any other material, thickness or cross-section made from the cards.
Options and limits. Pressing it places nothing. Got it closes the card.
Fixed by the material
Section titled “Fixed by the material”What it is. When a raw material is selected, the Inspector’s size rows show its thickness or cross-section with a padlock in place of the - and + buttons, and a line beneath them: Locked rows are set by the material - only the cut size can change.
What it does. Nothing to press - it tells you which sizes are yours. A sheet resizes in length and width; a batten and an extrusion in length only. The resize handles in the 3D view follow the same rule.
Options and limits. To change a thickness, place a piece of the thicker material instead. The Object List shows each raw material’s cut size after its name, which is how you tell four sheets of the same ply apart.
What it affects. Every figure the piece carries: its weight and cost are worked out from its size, so they change as you resize it.
Weight, cost and Override
Section titled “Weight, cost and Override”What it is. On the Inspector’s Bill of materials page, a raw material’s Weight and Cost are figures rather than fields, with a note saying they are calculated from the material and an Override button.
What it does. Override unlocks both, so you can type your own. The cost is the one worth setting, to what your supplier actually charges; the weight follows from the material and should rarely need changing. A warning sign marks a figure you have set by hand, and Use the material’s values puts the calculated figures back and locks them again.
Options and limits. A figure you have set by hand no longer follows the piece: resize it and the figure stays what you typed.
Two things change the calculated figures without you typing anything:
- Holes and notches. A sheet with cutouts weighs and costs only the material that is left - see Shaping a sheet.
- Trimming to the van. With Trim to van interior (scribe) ticked, a piece’s weight counts only the part left inside the van, and a note under the figures says so. Its cost still covers the whole piece, because you buy and cut the whole piece before you scribe it to fit. A group of trimmed pieces is counted the same way.
What it affects. The bill of materials, the weight and cost totals, and the cut list’s figures.
Where the Wall Panel went
Section titled “Where the Wall Panel went”The catalogue’s Wall Panel component has gone: a plywood sheet does the same job and, unlike the Wall Panel, weighs what it should at any size. Searching for wall panel or cladding finds the sheets. A design that already has a Wall Panel keeps it, exactly as it was, and it still counts in the bill of materials.
Related
Section titled “Related”- Shaping a sheet - cutting holes and notches in a placed sheet.
- The cut list - what you have placed, as the pieces to cut.
- The catalogue - the drawer these cards live in, and how its search bands work.