# Follow the assembly guide

Build a piece in the order a maker builds it, one step at a time, with the parts of each step pulled out in 3D.

The guide puts the work in build order: all the parts first, each machining job once, and the same sub-assemblies together. Check every dimension against your own measurements before cutting.

![The guide on its own page: the steps by phase, two drawer boxes glued up as one batch, the step under it.](/docs/img/how-to/assembly-guide-page.jpg)

## Open the guide

1. In the tab bar under the 3D view, click **Whole project**. For one assembly, select it and click **Selection**.
2. Click the **Guide** tab.
3. To use the guide at the bench, click **Open in a new tab**.

The page has the same steps and the same 3D view, and it fits a tablet or a phone. After a change to the model, open the page again.

## The order of the steps

The steps come from the model, in phases:

1. **Prepare the parts**: cut and label every part, and band the edges that the model bands.
2. **Machine and finish the parts**: one step for each operation, then the surface finish.
3. **Make up the sub-assemblies**: the drawer boxes, door frames and other glue-ups.
4. **Assemble in the workshop**: glue up each carcass, then fit its back, kick board and runners.
5. **Install on site**: place and join the carcasses, scribe the fillers, fix to the wall, fit the shelves.
6. **Fit the fronts**: the drawer boxes on their runners, the drawer fronts, the doors.
7. **Finish**: the handles, then adjust the doors and drawer fronts.

A table or other piece with no carcass has no **Install on site** phase, unless the stability check says to fix it to the wall.

## Parts that are the same

Parts with the same cut-list letter are the same: the same size, material and machining. A step gives each letter once, with how many the step uses. For example, **A ×10 left drawer side, 450 × 150 × 15**.

Sub-assemblies and carcasses made of the same letters are one batch. The guide gives one step for all of them, for example **Glue up 5 drawer boxes**. Do each step on all of them before you go to the next step.

## Step through the guide

The parts of the step are orange, with their cut-list letters, pulled out from where they go.

1. Read the step and its **Check**.
2. Click **▶ Play**, or press P, to slide the parts into place.
3. Drag in the 3D view to look from another side. Click **Reset view** to go back.
4. When the step is complete, select **Done**.
5. Click **Next →**, or press the right arrow key.

On the page, click a step in the list to go to it. The ticks stay in this browser, and a tick on the page also shows in the **Guide** tab.

![On a phone: the 3D view above the step, with Play and Done under it.](/docs/img/how-to/assembly-guide-phone.jpg)

## Choose CNC or by hand

A machining step has two buttons, in the **Guide** tab and on the page. The project keeps the choice.

- **By hand**: the step gives the tools. Mark out cuts from the cut-list notes or the part drawing in the **Pack PDF**.
- **CNC**: machine the parts from a DXF file. See [Export a DXF file for a CNC or laser](/docs/how-to/workshop/export-dxf-for-a-cnc-or-laser/).

A drilling step shows each joint and draws the holes of each part face, to 0.5 mm.

## When the model does not say

The model does not give every fixing, for example for a back panel or between two carcasses. The step then says so, and tells you what to choose or mark.

## Print the guide

Click **Guide PDF** in the **Guide** tab, or **Export PDF** on the page. Each phase starts on a new sheet, with one or two steps and their pictures on each sheet. The hole positions come at the end.

Next: the [workshop pack](/docs/how-to/workshop/export-a-workshop-pack/) has the same steps, with the cut list and the drawings.