Extrude
Push a closed sketch straight out into 3D to make a new part, or to add to, cut or intersect a part.
- Extrude EPart Studio toolbar
| SchoolCAD | Onshape | Fusion | SOLIDWORKS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extrude | Extrude | Extrude | Extruded Boss/Base Extruded Cut |
Extrude is how most parts start. You draw a closed shape in a sketch, and Extrude pushes it straight out to give it thickness: a rectangle becomes a board, a circle becomes a dowel, an outline becomes the side of a phone stand.
The same tool also cuts. Extrude a shape into a part with Remove to make a slot, a pocket, a finger hole or a hole right through.
How to use it#
- Draw a closed shape in a sketch and click ✓ Finish sketch. Closed means there are no gaps: every line meets the next one end to end.
- Click Extrude, or press E. The newest sketch is chosen for you.
- Choose what it does: New, Add, Remove or Intersect.
- Drag the arrow on the model, or type the Depth.
- Check the preview, then click ✓ or press Enter.
Options#
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| New | Makes a new part. Type a Part name (such as Left side) and choose its Material, for the parts list and the cut list. |
| Add | Joins the shape onto the part it touches. |
| Remove | Cuts the shape away from the parts it goes into. |
| Intersect | Keeps only the space where the shape and the part overlap. |
| Sketch | Which sketch to use. If it has more than one closed shape, click a shape in the view to leave it out or put it back. |
| End type | Blind (one way) goes as far as the depth. Symmetric (both ways) goes half each way from the sketch. Through all goes right through the parts. Up to face stops at a flat face you click, and follows that face if it moves later. |
| Depth | How far it goes, in mm. |
| ⇅ Flip direction | Sends it the other way. |
| Second direction | Goes the other way from the sketch as well, by its own Depth 2. |
| Merge scope | For Add, Remove and Intersect: tick the parts it should change. With nothing ticked, Remove cuts every part it touches. |
Tips#
- When you drag the arrow, the steps get smaller as you zoom in. Hold Shift for finer steps, or press Esc to put the depth back.
- Drag a New extrude into a part and it turns into a cut for you.
- You can type a sum for the depth, such as
600-2*19, or the name of a parameter such ast. - To change an extrude later, double-click it in the feature tree. Everything made after it updates too. Or click it once in the tree and drag its arrow on the model.
- For timber parts, make the depth the board thickness (such as 12 or 19 mm), so the cut list shows real board sizes.
- To cut along a face without drawing a sketch first, try Push/Pull.
If it does not work#
- This sketch has a gap, so it has no closed shape yet. Edit the sketch and look for a line end that does not meet another line. Select that end and the point it should meet, then click Coincident to join them.
- The cut goes the wrong way, or misses the part: click ⇅ Flip direction, or choose Through all.
- Remove does nothing: the shape does not reach the part. Make the depth bigger, or check the parts ticked in Merge scope.