# Placing parts

Add parts from the Parts palette by dragging or tapping, and move or remove them in the 3D view, the front elevation and the Rack layout card.

Source: https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/editor/placing-parts

## The Parts palette

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.

![The Parts palette: the search box, the checkbox to show parts that do not fit, and the Devices group with a picture of each part](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/shots/editor/palette-light.webp)

*The Parts palette, with its search and its groups.*

### Search

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](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/catalog/model).

## Adding a part

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](#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](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/editor/inspector).

### Where a part may go

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](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/editor/checks) until you fix it.

### Drop targets

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.

![A shelf being dragged: on the elevation the free rail positions are outlined with a dashed line and the one under the pointer is green, and in the 3D view the shelf sits where it would land, with a line at the bottom saying 10″ shelf U4 on the Rails of Open-frame rack](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/shots/editor/drop-targets-light.webp)

*While you drag, the places the part fits are outlined, and the line at the bottom of the 3D view says where it would land.*

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

## The 3D view

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

| To                   | With a mouse                                        | On a touch screen           |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| Orbit                | drag                                                | drag with one finger        |
| Pan                  | right-drag, middle-drag, or hold **Space** and drag | drag with two fingers       |
| Zoom                 | scroll (or pinch on a trackpad)                     | pinch                       |
| Fit the rack in view | double-click, or **Fit view**                       | double-tap, or **Fit view** |
| Select a part        | click it                                            | tap 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 controls

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.

![The 3D view with the parts pulled apart by Explode, the list of parts to show or hide at the top left, and View, Explode, Everything, Fit view and Full viewport along the bottom](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/shots/editor/view-controls-light.webp)

*The 3D view, exploded. The list at the top left shows and hides parts.*

### Showing and hiding parts

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 elevation

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 Front elevation card of a RackMate TL1: rail positions counted in thirds of a U, with each tray and the device on it](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/shots/editor/elevation-light.webp)

*The front elevation of a RackMate TL1, which counts in thirds of a U.*

## The Rack layout card

**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.

![The Rack layout card: a row per mount with its position, its kind, the device on its deck and a remove button, and a note under each](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/shots/editor/rack-layout-light.webp)

*Rack layout: every mount on the rails, as rows you can edit.*

## Moving and removing parts

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](https://rack-maker.cbnsndwch.dev/docs/editor/inspector#placement) 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.