SolidInserts

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User guide

Create seats for heat-set threaded inserts in existing holes with SolidCraft Desktop.

SolidInserts uses the circular edge of each hole to locate the seat. Choose a CNC Kitchen insert series and a screw size, then cut several seats in one operation. The sketches and cuts stay editable in the SolidCraft timeline. One undo removes the whole batch.

Try SolidInserts

1. Use SolidCraft Desktop 0.42.0. Get the plugin ZIP from Releases when available. You can also build it with the commands below to produce dist/solidinserts-<version>.zip.

2. Extract the ZIP into the plugins folder for your system. Keep plugin.json and plugin.wasm together in the solidinserts subfolder.

   OS	Plugins folder
   Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/solidcraft/plugins/ (usually ~/.local/share/solidcraft/plugins/)
   Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\SolidCraft\plugins\
   macOS	~/Library/Application Support/SolidCraft/plugins/

3. Open the sample plate with Ø3 and Ø4 mm holes. Select the circular rims on the side where the inserts go. In the ribbon, open Model → Plugins → Insert Seats, or use the Plugins menu. Choose the series and thread size, then press Run and approve the package when SolidCraft prompts you. The finished sample shows the resulting cuts.

Preview the cuts before applying them

The optional desktop patch for SolidCraft 0.42.0 opens a compact panel from the ribbon and Plugins menu. Select holes from the panel, preview the material to remove in 3D and read the seat diameter and depth before applying the cuts. Build and use the patched desktop app.

Preview in the desktop app with the optional patch.

Supported inserts

SolidInserts is an independent plugin with no affiliation with CNC Kitchen. The seat dimensions for the listed inserts are based on the dimension sheet published by CNC Kitchen.

CNC Kitchen series	Screw sizes	M3 seat example (diameter × depth)
Standard	M2, M2.5, M3, M4, M5, M6, M8, M10	Ø4 × 6.7 mm
Short Version	M3, M4, M5	Ø4 × 4 mm
VORON M3 × 5 × 4	M3	Ø4.4 × 5 mm

Automatic sizing matches the hole diameter to a nominal thread diameter within ±0.05 mm. For clearance holes or tap drills, choose the screw size manually. For example, choose M3 for a Ø3.2 mm M3 clearance hole. One insert series applies to the batch. Automatic sizing can choose a different thread size for each hole.

SolidInserts accepts cylindrical holes with a circular entrance on a planar face. It checks the surrounding material and depth, and preserves a section of the original bore in through holes. Seat depth equals insert length plus 1 mm. The diameter compensation defaults to zero and changes only the diameter. Print a test piece to fine-tune the fit. CNC Kitchen dimensions and design guidelines.

Build and test

Install Rust with Cargo, Bash, Python 3 and wasm-tools. From the repository root, run the commands below. The build creates the plugin ZIP and its SHA-256 checksum. Run ./package-preview-kit.sh afterwards to also package the desktop patch, illustrations and guide.

rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
cargo test --locked
./build.sh
python3 tests/solidcraft.py --cli /path/to/solidcraft-cli

The integration test works with the SolidCraft 0.41.0 and 0.42.0 CLIs. For CLI or MCP scripts, call applica through plugin.run with solo_quote: true to get the dimensions without editing the model. SolidInserts uses the SolidCraft plugin runtime.

License and support

SolidInserts is an independent plugin distributed under the MIT License. Third-party credits · Support development on Ko-fi.