Weak Across Layers: How Much, and What Moves It
Printed parts are weaker across layers. Folklore says by half; tests say a tenth to nine tenths. What a bond is, what moves it, and a coupon to measure it.
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How Far Can a 3D Printer Bridge?
Vendor guides say 5 mm, torture tests say 100. What a bridging strand is doing, why slower is not safer, and the coupon that measures your machine's limit.
Clearances for 3D-Printed Parts That Have to Move
Clearance belongs to the printer, not the design. Why printed holes come out tight, how to read diametral against radial, and the test coupon that settles it.
The 45° Overhang Rule, and When It Is Wrong
The 45 degree rule measures how much of each layer the one below supports. The geometry behind it, why layer height moves the limit, and how to design past it.
How Thick Should 3D-Printed Walls Be?
Wall thickness is set by the nozzle, not by a rule of thumb. Why two perimeters is the real minimum, where strength comes from, and what to calibrate.
Publishing a Configurator: Releases and Embeds
Turn a Rig Cad project into a shareable configurator: tidy variables, set visibility and downloads, enable embedding, and pick live, released or pinned embeds.
Shell, Hollowing, and Wall Thickness for Printing
Hollow a part two ways in Rig Cad: a 2D inward offset plus floor, or the Shell post-processing step opened with a cutter. Then size the wall for FDM and resin.
Repeats and Arrays: Linear, Radial, and Parametric
Linear, Radial, Parametric and Path Repeat: tile profiles in 2D and extrude once, derive pitch from the host, vary copies with instance.i, avoid Mirror traps.
Sketches to Solids: Extrude, Revolve, and Offset
Draw an outline three ways, compose it with 2D booleans and repeats, then extrude, revolve or offset it once. Constant walls, Y-up revolves, sketch constraints.
Export for the Slicer: STL, 3MF, and Mesh Weight
Which export format a slicer wants, where a Rig Cad mesh's triangles come from, measured counts for precision and segments, and how to lighten a model first.
Personalized Prints That Sell
Name tags, photo lamps, photo figurines, desk plates: the four personalized 3D-print families that sell, and what each one has to hold in the model.
Rig Cad for Tinkercad Users
If you know group and hole in Tinkercad, you already know the operations. Here is where they live in Rig Cad.
Rig Cad for Fusion 360 Users
If you already use a timeline, Combine, and user parameters, you already know this editor. Here is where those habits live.
Rig Cad for OpenSCAD Users
If you already write union, difference, and modules, you already know this editor. The tree is the program.
Parametric Goods: From Customer Choice to Printable Product
How parametric Rig Cad projects turn personalized orders into validated, priced, repeatable 3D-printed products, from listing options to fulfillment.
Rig Cad Editor Guide: The Five Core Panels
A concise guide to Rig Cad’s Add Object, Objects, Viewport, Properties, and Variables panels—and how selection connects them.
Constructive Solid Geometry in Rig Cad
Learn how primitives, Boolean operations, transforms, and a readable scene tree combine into robust, editable parametric models in Rig Cad.