The Parts paletteCopy Anchor Link

The Parts sidebar on the left lists every catalog part you can place: trays, shelves, mounts, panels, devices, printed parts, power, accessories, frame parts, rails and fasteners. Each group has a header with its count. Click the header to open or close the group, and your browser remembers what you chose.

By default the palette only shows parts that something in this project can hold. Tick show parts that don't fit this project to list the rest too. They show greyed out and you can't place them.

When a part is selected, a group's count is highlighted if it has parts that go on the selected part, or on the nearest part holding it that takes anything. For example, a selected device points you to parts for its shelf.

SearchCopy Anchor Link

Type in search parts to filter by name, catalog id, description or tag. Every group with a match opens while you search. If nothing matches, try another word, tick show parts that don't fit this project, or model your device.

Adding a partCopy Anchor Link

There are four ways to add a part from the palette:

• Drag it onto the 3D view or the Front elevation. While you drag, the places it can go light up (see Drop targets).
• Click it, then click a place. Clicking a part arms it: it gets outlined, the header reads "tap a place · Esc cancels", and the places it can go light up. Then click a place in the 3D view or on the elevation. Click the part again or press Esc to disarm it.
• Press the + button on the part's card (it shows when you hover). The part goes in the first free place, preferring a place on the selected part.
• Use the keyboard. Focus a part and press Enter to add it at the first free place, or Space to arm it.

On a phone or tablet, dragging from the palette doesn't work: tap the part, then tap a place in the rack.

After a part lands, it's selected, so you can change it straight away in the inspector.

Where a part may goCopy Anchor Link

A part only lands where the place accepts it: its plug has to fit the socket, and the place has to have room. While you aim, a line at the bottom of the 3D view says where the part would land (the position, and the socket of the part that would hold it) and what's wrong there, if anything. It turns green when the place is fine and red when it isn't. If a place refuses the part, nothing is placed and a message says why, starting with "Not placed:". The part stays in your hand, so you can try somewhere else.

Other problems don't stop the drop. For example, a part that collides with its neighbour can still land. The problem then shows in Checks and problems until you fix it.

Drop targetsCopy Anchor Link

While you drag or arm a new part, the editor marks every place in the project that takes it and has room:

• In the 3D view, those places are tinted and each has a round pin. The pins show only while you drag, not while a part is armed.
• On the elevation, the free runs of rail positions the part fits in are outlined with a dashed line, and so are the mounts whose deck takes it.

A green or red ghost of the part follows your pointer. Green means it fits there, red means it would cause a problem.

If nothing lights up, nothing in the project takes that part. The line at the bottom of the 3D view says so.

The 3D viewCopy Anchor Link

The 3D view shows the rack and everything in it.

To move a part, select it first, then drag it. A part you move may land anywhere its plug can go. If it lands somewhere with a problem, the problem shows in the checks.

The view's controlsCopy Anchor Link

Along the bottom of the 3D view:

• View picks a camera angle: Iso, Front, Side, Rear or Top.
• Explode pulls the parts apart so you can see inside. Slide it back to 0 to put them together again.
• Everything shows every part again and fits the view.
• Fit view frames what's shown.
• The last button, Full viewport, grows the 3D view to fill the browser window. Press it again, or Esc, to go back.

Showing and hiding partsCopy Anchor Link

The top-left corner of the 3D view lists what's in the project, one row per catalog part, with a count such as "×4" when it's used more than once. Untick one to hide those parts, for example to see a device under its tray. The view refits to what's shown. On a phone, the list folds under the view behind a Parts button that shows how many are shown, such as "Parts 5/7".

Hiding a part only changes the view. The part stays in the project, the checks and the BOM.

The front elevationCopy Anchor Link

The Front elevation card shows the rack's rails from the front, position by position, with rack-unit labels down the side. Its header says how tall the rails are:

• most racks count in whole U, for example "12 U"
• the DeskPi RackMate T0 counts in half-U steps, for example "4 U in half-U steps"
• the DeskPi RackMate TL1 counts in thirds of a U, for example "30 thirds"
• racks that count in their own unit, such as wire shelving posts drilled every inch, show that unit, for example 54″

Position labels read like "U3" or, between whole units, "U3+½" or "U2+⅓".

Each mount on the rails is a box with its name, and the device on it if there is one. On the elevation you can:

• Drop parts from the palette onto a rail position or onto a mount's deck.
• Click a mount to select it.
• Drag a mount up or down to move it. A click without a move leaves it where it was.

Mounts that overlap are drawn in red. The card only appears when the rack has rails.

The Rack layout cardCopy Anchor Link

Rack layout lists every mount on the rails, from the bottom up. Its header counts the mounts by kind and says how much of the rails is used, for example "3 trays · 18/30 thirds". For each mount you can:

• type its position, counted from the bottom (0 is the lowest position, U1)
• pick a different mount kind from the parts that fit the rails. The device on it moves onto the new deck.
• pick the device on its deck, or (empty)
• remove it with ×

Under each row, a note gives its span, how much room it takes and, where the mount knows it, how many millimetres its device needs of the room it has. Rows that collide are marked COLLIDES.

Add mount adds the first part that fits the rails (a tray if there is one) just above everything that's mounted. Reset layout puts the mounts back as the RackMate TL1 template has them and leaves everything else alone.

Moving and removing partsCopy Anchor Link

Once a part is placed you can:

• move it by dragging it in the 3D view or on the elevation, by typing a new position in the inspector or the Rack layout card, or with the arrow keys (one position on rails, 5 mm on a deck)
• duplicate it with Duplicate in the inspector or Ctrl+D. The copy goes into the next free position, or 20 mm over on a deck.
• remove it with Remove in the inspector or Delete

Parts that came built into another part, such as the posts of a rack, can't be moved or removed on their own. Select the part they belong to instead.

Every change is one undo step: Ctrl+Z takes it back.