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Materials

Materials are what your parts and tools are made from. Each material has a price per unit, by area (m²), by volume (m³) or by the litre, which pricing models use to work out material cost. Optional properties refine time estimates, and DFM checks flag features in the CAD that may be hard to make in that material. Set up materials before the pricing models and blueprints that use them: the material chosen on a quote line item drives its material cost and its checks.

How do I add or edit a material?​

  1. Open Materials and choose New Material, or choose Edit (the pencil icon) on an existing material.
  2. Fill in the form: the Name, Material Price and Price Type (Area (m²), Volume (m³) or Volume (L)), a Description, any Attachments such as data sheets, and optional properties (Density, Surface Hardness and Cured Thickness) that pricing models use in their estimates.
  3. Under DFM Checks, switch on the checks you want to run on CAD quoted in this material and set their limits (see below).
  4. Choose Save. If you changed the price, check any open quotes that use this material. A material whose price hasn't been updated for over two weeks shows a warning in the list.

The DFM checks you can switch on are:

  • Count Holes: finds every hole in the part.
  • Unmachinable Holes: flags holes the drill can't reach, using the Drill Head Radius and the depth-to-diameter limits Drill Ratio (Blind) and Drill Ratio (Through).
  • Thin Walls: flags walls outside your Minimum Thickness and Maximum Thickness.
  • Narrow Gaps: flags gaps and slots that may be too narrow to machine, within an Angle Tolerance.
  • Internal Volume: flags enclosed cavities that may be impossible to machine.
  • Blocking Up: works out how the part can be built from stacked sheets of the material and how many sheets it needs. Add at least one sheet size (X, Y and Z in mm) with Add sheet size.

See also: How do I run CAD checks while quoting?; How do I create or edit a pricing model?

Archiving materials​

Archive a material you no longer use. It is hidden from the Materials list and is no longer offered when you choose a material for an item. Quotes and blueprints that already use it are not changed.

To archive a material, choose Archive on it and confirm.

To see archived materials, tick Include Archived Materials. They are marked Archived.

To restore one, choose Unarchive and confirm.