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Guide

Move a hole or a cut you placed

The test print came back and the hole is 10 mm too far left. In a mesh editor that means filling the old hole and drilling a new one. In SpeakCAD a hole you placed is a feature with a position, and moving it is a number, a tap or a drag. Three ways, and when to use each.
Updated 5 October 2026 · 2 min read

Three ways to move it

Retype a distance. The exact way. A hole, a cut or an added tab placed on a flat face has two Position rows on its card, each a distance from an edge of that face to its centre: Centre 6 mm from the left edge, Centre 6 mm from the front edge. Type 16 in the first and the hole moves 10 mm to the right. The part rebuilds after a short pause, as a new version, with a line in the chat ("Moved Hole 1: centre 16 mm from the left edge, 6 mm from the front edge"). Measured on the editor: 1 tap and 1 typed number (tap the hole, type 16).

Tap Move, then the new spot. The quick way when the drawing says "about here". Tap Move on the edit's card, and the next tap on the model is its new place. The Position rows then show the distances it landed at, so you can round them to clean numbers.

Drag its handle. With the edit selected, a handle sits on the model; drag it and the Position rows follow, read-only while you drag. Let go and the move lands as one version.

Selecting the edit again

A hole is selected by tapping its wall, a tab by tapping the tab, a cut by tapping inside it. When it is small or hidden, Hand edits in the toolbar lists every hole, cut, tab, text, extrude and rounding on the model; pick one and its card opens. On a phone the card opens as a sheet from the bottom.

What moves with it, and what does not

The edit moves on its face: its size, depth and angle stay as they were. A cut or a tab turned with an Angle keeps its angle, and its position is still its centre. Copies made with Duplicate in a row or a grid move with it and keep their spacing; a mirror image moves the opposite way, and copies in a circle keep their centre. Making the part under it longer does not drag the hole along: after resizing the part, check the hole with Measure and retype its Position if it should have moved too. If the AI later rebuilds the part an edit sits on under another name, the edit comes loose, and Hand edits offers Place again for it.

Edits added before 5 October

An edit placed before Position rows existed has no distances from the edges on its card, so retyping them is not one of its ways to move.

Put a hole at an exact distance from the edge covers the first placement, and Rotate a slot or a rectangle the other number a cut or a tab can change.

What it costs

Shaping a part by hand (a hole and its screw head, a cut, an added tab, raised or engraved text, an extruded face, rounded corners, and copies in a row, a grid or a circle) and downloading what you shaped are free. Each AI request spends 2 credits, a download of AI work 4 credits, and G-code 5 more. Moving an edit is a hand edit like placing it: free, as often as you like.

  1. 1
    Select the hole, the cut or the tabTap it on the model (for a hole, tap its wall), or open Hand edits in the toolbar and pick it from the list. Its card opens with its Position rows above its sizes.
  2. 2
    To move it by an exact amount, retype a distanceChange Centre 6 mm from the left edge to 16 and it moves 10 mm. After a short pause the part rebuilds as a new version, and the chat says Moved Hole 1: centre 16 mm from the left edge, 6 mm from the front edge.
  3. 3
    To move it by eye, tap Move and then the new spotTap Move on its card, then tap the model where it should go. Its Position rows show where it landed, ready to round to a clean number.
  4. 4
    Or drag its handleWith the edit selected, drag the handle on the model; the Position rows follow the handle while you drag, and the move lands when you let go.
  5. 5
    Undo if it was better beforeEvery move is a numbered version. Undo puts the edit back where it was; Remove on its card takes it away altogether.

Related guides

A hole at an exact distancePlace a screw hole with its centre an exact number of millimetres from a part's edges: tap Hole, tap the face, pick M3 or M4, type the two distances, Apply. On a phone or a computer, free; measured at 4 taps and 2 typed numbers.Rotate a slot or a rectangleA rectangle or a slot you cut into a face or add onto it turns with its Angle in SpeakCAD: quick 15°, 30°, 45° and 90° chips, or any angle typed, before Apply or later on its card. Free, on a phone or a computer.Hand toolsSeven hand tools for people who print: tap a face of a part, add a hole sized for a screw (with a countersink or a counterbore) and type how far it sits from the edges, cut a pocket, add a tab, write raised or engraved text, pull a flat face out or push it in, round the corners or measure, and duplicate a hole into a row, a grid or a circle, with the numbers in millimetres. Free, on your phone, no account needed to try.Add a hole to an STLPut a screw hole in an STL you downloaded, right where you tap, with the diameter in millimetres: the Hole tool in SpeakCAD, on your phone. How to upload the file, where the AI steps in to resize an existing hole, and what each step costs.

Shape a part by hand, right now

Start from a box, a plate, a cylinder or a tray, tap a face, and add a hole, a cut, a tab, text, an extruded face or rounded corners, sized and placed with the numbers you type, then copy a hole into a row or a circle. Shaping a part by hand (a hole and its screw head, a cut, an added tab, raised or engraved text, an extruded face, rounded corners, and copies in a row, a grid or a circle) and downloading what you shaped are free. Each AI request spends 2 credits, a download of AI work 4 credits, and G-code 5 more.

Open the editor, no account neededSee pricing