Creating custom vents

Here are two quick and foolproof ways to make a standard vent slot with rounded ends. If you use the grid method, you can place (and evenly space) many of them quickly.

To make a vent slot using the grid

1. In the Face Editor, turn on the grid.
2. Draw a rectangle and make it the size you want it to be. It will snap to the grid lines.

   

3. Draw a circle at each end of the rectangle, and let them snap to the top and bottom of the rectangle.

   

4. Click Edit, select the three objects, right-click within the selection box and choose Merge.

   

   The vent cutout is complete.

To make a vent slot without using the grid

1. Draw a rectangle and specify its Width and Height in the Properties panel. Here, the slot is 0.5" wide and 0.25" high.

   

2. Draw a circle at each end of the rectangle, and change each Diameter to be the same as the Height of the rectangle (in this exercise, 0.25").

   

3. Click the Measure tool, and select first the center point on the left edge of the rectangle and then the center of one circle.

   

4. Change the distance to 0.0.

   

   Notice that the y difference and x difference change automatically.

5. Repeat this for the second circle. Select first the center point on the right edge of the rectangle:

   

   and then the center of the second circle:

   

6. Merge the three objects. (Click Edit, select the three objects, right-click inside the selection box and choose Merge.)

   

   The vent cutout is complete, as shown here in the Face Editor and the 3D View.

   

Note: You can make a vent cutout of any shape using the Path tool.