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Drill Guides

Design custom drill guides for precise hole placement on flat or curved surfaces.

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The challenge

Getting drill positions right by hand is slow and unreliable. Each hole requires careful measurement, alignment, and verification — and even small errors can mean scrapped parts, rework, or misaligned assemblies.  

Design automation

 Design automation captures your workpiece geometry and generates a guide body that conforms to the exact surface — flat or curved — without any manual CAD work. Hole positions can be defined by clicking directly on the surface or imported from a CSV file with coordinates and normals, so placement is always based on real data. 

The result

The Drill Guides App in the Additive App Suite is a fast, browser-based tool that turns your workpiece geometry into a ready-to-print drill guide — with precise hole placement, standard bushing support, and consistent alignment built in from the start.

7 simple steps and your design is ready

Design workflow

Step 1

Import your workpiece

 Start by uploading the part you want to create a drill guide for. 

Launch app
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Step 1
Step 2

Select your holes

Automatically detect and choose the holes you want to drill. 

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Step 2
Step 3

Add locator pins

Add locator pins to ensure the guide sits correctly on your workpiece. 

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Step 3
Step 4

Create the guide body 

Generate a guide body that fits the shape of your part. 

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Step 4
Step 5

Add bushings

Add seats for standard drill bushings for accurate, repeatable drilling.

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Step 5
Step 6

Add features

Add handles, chip clearance, and other features to suit your application.

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Step 6
Step 7

Export and print

Export your finished drill guide, ready for 3D printing. 

Launch app
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Step 7

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