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Your first part

This walks through the path Shack CAD is built around: a rectangular plate, a hole cut straight through it, and a file ready for your slicer. It takes a few minutes.

Start a project​

Choose File ▸ New. A new project first asks which printer it is for and which units you want to work in. Both are saved with the project and can be changed later in File ▸ Project Settings… If you are unsure, keep the defaults and press Create Project.

The empty project offers Sketch a profile. You can also press ⌘K, or choose Sketch at the top of the tool rail on the left.

1. Sketch the plate​

Sketch opens a sketch on the XY plane, which is the ground plane the build plate sits on.

  1. In the sketch bar along the top of the viewport, choose the Rectangle tool.
  2. Click two opposite corners in the viewport, or drag between them. Points snap to the grid as you draw.
  3. While you draw, dimension chips show the rectangle's width and height. Click a chip and type an exact value: 40 for each side.

Draw roughly first, then set the exact sizes. You do not need to place the corners precisely.

2. Extrude it​

  1. In the sketch bar, switch what clicking does from Draw to Areas.
  2. Click inside the rectangle. It is picked as a closed area and the extrusion bar appears.
  3. Set Result to New body.
  4. Type 10 in Distance, or drag the grip on the canvas.
  5. Press Extrude, then press Exit to leave the sketch.

You now have a 40 × 40 × 10 mm plate. Both the sketch and the extrusion stay editable: the sketch is listed under the bodies, and changing it rebuilds the plate.

3. Sketch on the top face​

  1. Click the plate's top face. It highlights, and a bar appears over the viewport naming the selection and giving its size.
  2. Press Sketch on face in that bar, or press ⇧⌘K.

The new sketch lies on that face, and the plate becomes the target for any cut or join you make from it.

4. Draw the hole​

  1. Choose the Circle tool.
  2. Click the centre, then a point on the circle, or drag out from the centre.
  3. Click the circle's dimension chip and type the diameter you want, for example 5.

Keep the circle inside the face.

5. Cut it through​

  1. Switch to Areas and click inside the circle.
  2. Set Result to Cut.
  3. Turn on Through all. The distance is worked out from the plate's own thickness, so the cut clears both faces.
  4. Press Extrude, then Exit.

The hole is cut with an exact boolean. If you later change the plate's thickness or the circle's diameter, the hole rebuilds.

6. Export​

  1. Press Export in the tool rail, or ⇧⌘E.
  2. Choose STL (binary) or 3MF, and keep Standard — free resolution.
  3. Check the summary: file units, triangle count, file size and any mesh problem measured.
  4. Press Export… and choose where to save the file.

Save the project itself as well, with ⌘S. The exported mesh carries the finished shape but not the sketches and features behind it, so it cannot be re-dimensioned the way the .shack file can.

tip

The first two guided lessons cover the same ground with a 30 × 20 × 6 mm plate and a ⌀5 mm hole, and check each step for you.