The parts library and shapes

Add standard parts to a scene: 86 bolts, nuts, pipes, profiles and machine parts, each with sizes you can change afterwards.

MeshOptimiser can also add parts. The library holds 86 ready-made parts. Each one is parametric, which means it is built from numbers such as a diameter and a length, and you can change those numbers after you have placed it.

MeshOptimiser: The library drawer: a pillow block and a handwheel placed, and a stepper motor on its way in, shown where it will stand. — The library drawer: a pillow block and a handwheel placed, and a stepper motor on its way in, shown where it will stand.

Open the library

In the top bar, next to Menu, are two small buttons. The first shows the parts tree in the left sidebar. The second shows the library. Click the second.

What is in it

Shapes: Cube, sphere, cylinder, cone, torus, capsule, wedge, rounded box, star and more.
Fasteners: Hex bolt, Allen screw, countersunk and button head screws, carriage bolt, U-bolt, eye bolt, set screw, threaded rod, rivet, washers, retaining ring, standoff.
Nuts: Hex, lock, jam, flange, cap, castle, wing, thumb, square, coupling, eye and T-slot nuts.
Pipes and flanges: Tube, elbow, tee, cross, reducer, pipe cap, flange.
Profiles and plates: I-beam, box tube, angle, C-channel, T and Z profiles, T-slot extrusion, flat bar, round and hex bar, perforated and slotted plate, gusset, hinge.
Machine parts: Gear, rack, sprocket, pulley, bearing, bushing, pillow block, shaft collar, linear rail, spring, handwheel, star knob, pull handle, levelling foot, wheel, enclosure, stepper motor.

The parts you used last wait on a shelf at the top. Search the library… filters the shelves as you type.

Add a part

For a fastener, first choose its thread size and length at the top of the library. M6 and 24 mm to begin with. Every screw, nut and washer you add comes out in that size.
Click a part to add it. It lands on the selected part, or on the floor at the origin when nothing is selected.
Or drag a part into the viewport. A see-through copy follows the pointer and shows where the part will stand: square to the face under the pointer, or upright on the floor.
Let go. The part is there, with a row of its own in the parts tree.

Change it afterwards

Select the part.
Look at Properties in the right sidebar. It now has a section called Shape parameters.
Drag a number sideways to change it, or click it and type. Hold Shift to go ten times faster and Alt to go ten times finer.
The part rebuilds as you go.

A bolt with its own nut

A hex bolt, an Allen screw, a threaded rod or an eye bolt can carry a nut.

Select the bolt.
In Shape parameters, switch on Nut on the bolt.
Choose the kind in Nut: a hex nut, a wing nut, a castle nut and so on.
Set Nut from the head: how far from the head the nut sits.

The nut is part of the bolt’s own shape. It follows the bolt’s size and length, stays one row in the tree, and cannot sit past the end of the thread.

MeshOptimiser: A hex bolt that carries its own nut: size, length and the nut’s distance from the head are all parameters. — A hex bolt that carries its own nut: size, length and the nut’s distance from the head are all parameters.

Other ways to add a shape

The search: press CtrlK, type add flange and press Enter.
The add button on the bottom toolbar, next to the search: a click adds the shape you used last, and holding the button down opens a choice of shapes.
The start screen: pick Cube, Sphere, Cylinder or Torus to start a new scene with that shape.

Undo

Adding a part is an undo step, and so is each change to its parameters.