From first calculation to a useful build record.

Start here

Visiting? Use the calculators without an account, browse public projects, and explore builder profiles. Registration availability is shown on the account page. While it is closed, you can confirm an email signup for launch news.

Already a member? Log in, open your dashboard, and choose a project or saved tool profile. Public calculators and saved account profiles serve different purposes: save a profile when you want to return to a plan later.

Plan with Builder Tools

1. Assembly Studio: configure a complete assembly, review generated parts, then finalize a reusable personal version.
2. My Garage & Rig Layout: arrange finished assemblies and generic components in your rig.
3. Electrical Studio: build AC/DC component connections, circuits and room zones; review loads and circuit schedules.
4. Plumbing Studio: connect plumbing components in zones, review materials and compare tank-fill scenarios.
5. Weight & Payload: combine recorded weights and approximate locations. Studio handoffs require a target rig, counting choices, zone anchors and explicit review/confirmation. Repeating a transfer replaces that diagram’s previous snapshot.

Calculators and optional physical planning

Battery Bank Sizing estimates energy demand and battery capacity. Solar Sizing estimates array capacity. Wire Size & Voltage Drop Calculator compares copper cable choices from entered lengths and currents; it does not create a wiring diagram.

Physical Run Planner is optional: sketch measured cable/pipe runs, bends and elevations when installed lengths matter. It does not connect components or synchronize studio lengths. Studio schematics stay flexible; you do not need to map every fixture to its physical position.

Use My saved work to return to the appropriate plan library. Tools keep separate saves; updates are not automatically applied to every other plan. Missing weights remain unknown. A completed diagram is not an installation or safety approval.

Read the Weight & Payload guide.

Save and reuse a power plan

Battery plans can account for AC and DC loads separately. Enter real input watts for AC energy use and review inverter efficiency. Daily recharge demand is separate from the reserve used to size the battery bank. Older saved plans retain their original accounting until you choose to change it.

A Solar plan linked to Battery uses a saved snapshot. If the Battery source changes, review the notice and choose Refresh source when you want to adopt its current recharge estimate. Solar also offers Size a new array, shared sun hours and derate, and individual panel-row overrides.

For project imports, preview eligible components, select the rows you need, then choose to append, refresh matching specifications while retaining usage assumptions, or replace the rows. Missing specifications need your review; a product name alone is not enough to calculate a load.

Voltage-drop calculator profiles can start from saved Battery loads or Solar panel names. Importing replaces the circuit rows, so review the result and enter cable lengths, circuit voltage and operating current for your actual wiring. The copper voltage-drop estimate does not establish allowable conductor current, fuse size or code compliance.

Use Manage profiles to filter by tool, project or status, and rename, duplicate, archive, restore or delete a saved plan. You can associate a profile with your project and reopen linked active profiles from the owner's project overview. If another tab has saved a newer version, reopen the current profile before applying your edits.

Build and arrange with the 3D Builder

Make editable walls and cabinets in My garage, finalize versions, and arrange finished copies in My rigs. You can also start with generic models from the NPPSC catalog. Garage items and rig layouts are private to your account; read-only sharing uses a separately reviewed snapshot.

New rigs start with editable interior measurements of 192 × 84 × 96 inches and offer flat, V-nose or rounded fronts. Use camera controls to inspect a perspective view, and switch Pointer action when you want to move an item rather than the camera.

3D Builder: complete use guide and first-layout exercise — creation, measurements, mouse and touch controls, selection and group movement, garage construction, finalizing, reusable copies, saving, recovery, size warnings and sharing.

Open the 3D Builder

Create a project that makes sense

1. Open My Projects and create your project.
2. Choose its kind and type, describe the starting point and intended build, and set a realistic build status.
3. Review its audience before sharing. Add the build areas you will use and begin documenting one area at a time.
4. Use the project workspace to return to components, costs, journal entries, photos, and progress.

A title and a short description help visitors understand your goal. A journal entry explaining a decision can be useful even before the physical work begins.

Select the Build Areas your project needs

Choose Build Areas from the catalog to define your current build. An area can be included, excluded from the current build, or archived. Excluding an area changes the progress calculation; archiving retains its record for later review or restoration. These choices are separate from the area's work status.

Record a work status and a percentage for each selected area. Overall progress is the rounded average of included, unarchived Build Areas, with each area counted equally. If none are selected, the project shows No Build Areas selected. Saving an area as Complete sets it to 100%; saving 100% sets it to Complete.

Use Build Area relationships to explain connections with Related To, Interfaces With, or Planning Dependency, and add planning notes. These describe your decisions; they do not automatically change progress or schedule work.

Document a little, then get back to building

Use Add update from your project, build area or item. Write a short note with an optional title. Your current area and item are already selected. After saving an update about an item, use Update item status to open its routine installation controls. Save item changes without opening the optional measurements and material settings. Save the note, then add several photos with shared context. Review previews, remove unwanted photos, and upload the queue. Each completed photo stays saved if another needs retrying. Files must be JPEG, PNG or WebP; unsupported phone formats need conversion first.

Optional purchase links take you to documented costs or the separate Private Cost Journal. Choose the audience deliberately; private entries do not add to documented totals. One installation can have a primary location plus references to other build areas, without duplicating the item.

Supported writing forms keep a local recovery copy in that browser for your account and context. Choose Restore to continue it; saving clears the confirmed copy. Files and passwords are not stored in the recovery copy. A recovery copy is not an uploaded photo or a published update.

Use Search build to find items, notes, captions and questions that you currently have permission to view. Private cost entries are excluded. Use My saved work to resume rig layouts, garage items, payload plans and power plans. A private project link helps you find your work; it does not share a design with teammates or combine tool data.

Delete or archive: The builder can permanently delete an unused Planned project component from its Edit Component page after confirming its name. Linked documentation and saved planning references block deletion; purchased, installed or documented entries use Archive. Deletion affects the project assignment and its overrides, retains an audit record, and leaves the global registry component and project slug intact.

Keep components, costs, and decisions together

The Component Registry contains generic templates. Adding one creates an independent item in your project. You can also create a custom project item without a Registry template. Record its own name, actual brand/model if relevant, measurements and weight. Project items follow the project’s audience and never become public Registry submissions. Review quantities, Build Area, status, and installation details rather than assuming a catalog entry describes your installation. Keep separate installation records when the same type of item is used in different places. Changes to one installation do not change the template or another installation.

Use project cost entries for the amounts you want to document and review each entry's visibility before sharing. Visible totals depend on the viewer's access. The Private Cost Journal is a separate place for financial notes, available to the Builder and active Co-Builder. Its expenses, refunds and credits do not change documented project cost totals, activity or follower notifications.

Use the journal to explain choices and the gallery to show progress. Activity, progress and history help you return to recent work and review recorded changes. Archived records remain available through the applicable management and restoration controls.

Work with a project team

A project has one Builder, up to one Co-Builder and three Assistant Builders. The Builder invites existing verified accounts through Manage Project Team. Pending invitations reserve a slot for seven days and grant no project access until accepted. Members can review invitations and current memberships on My Team.

The Builder controls project details, visibility, Build Area selection, completion, project archiving and team membership. An active Co-Builder can help with Build Area work and progress, components, journal entries, costs, media and relationship notes, and can access the Private Cost Journal. Assistant Builders can add and edit components, add journal and cost entries, and edit their own journal and cost entries. Their role does not grant access to the Private Cost Journal.

Use Proposed Project Corrections for changes that need the Builder's decision. Accepting a proposal records approval. For supported text fields, the Builder can preview the current and proposed values and explicitly apply the change. Other edits use the normal editor, then the Builder records that application separately. Accepted and Applied are distinct; a recorded field change does not claim every part of a free-text request is complete. Leaving or being removed ends team access while retaining earlier contributions and membership history.

Choose what other people can see

Project visibility and profile visibility are separate controls. New projects offer Public, Members and Private. Public projects can be viewed by visitors; Members projects can be viewed by active signed-in members without following first; Private projects are limited to the Builder and currently authorized access. Existing Followers projects retain their audience and require following for ordinary member access.

Following Public or Members projects subscribes you to updates. It does not grant access to a Private project. Changing the audience takes effect on existing project links, including shared links, while the project's slug stays the same.

Profile settings let you choose Public, Members only, or Private, with directory and search-engine preferences where applicable. A public skill checkbox does not override your profile's audience. Project cost entries have their own visibility controls.

New project photos use protected delivery that checks the current project audience. Previously public photo-provider links and content already downloaded cannot be recalled by changing NPPSC visibility. Embedded YouTube videos follow the video's own provider settings, so review those separately.

Use a signed-out window to check Public access and a separate ordinary member account to check Members access after changing privacy settings.

Make your builder profile useful

In My Profile, use the separate About, Photos, Skills, Privacy, and Account sections. Each form saves separately, so save before switching sections.

Search the skills catalog, select relevant skills, choose a self-described experience level, and explicitly choose which ones to show. New selections start hidden. Move visible skills into your preferred order and check the preview before saving. Additional visible skills appear under More skills on your builder page.

Experience labels are self-described. A project on your profile does not automatically verify a particular skill.

Find builders and builds worth revisiting

Explore projects to compare shared builds. Members can use the available follow and saved-search tools to return to relevant projects and updates.

In the Builder Directory, search by name, handle, or public project title. Expand the skill browser, choose a category or minimum experience, and inspect matching skills on the result cards. Back to search results keeps your filters and page.

For a public project, use its share controls to prepare a link and introduction. Always review what is public before posting elsewhere.

Keep progress honest

The Starter checklist records the first documentation steps: a project summary, a started Build Area, a component, a journal entry and active media. Questions and milestone media are optional. Completing the Starter checklist does not mean your build record is finished. This checklist is separate from the average Build Area progress and the project's phase.

Use the explicit completion workflow when your build is ready and record your summary and lessons learned. Reaching 100% across Build Areas does not complete the project automatically, and completing a project does not rewrite the area's percentages. A completed project can still receive documentation; use Reopen when you return to the building phase.

Archiving makes project documentation read only until restored. It preserves the record and does not automatically make the project private. Review the audience when archiving; the available visibility choices prevent widening an archived project's audience. Restore it before resuming documentation or expanding access.

Public profiles show public project examples and let visitors page through them. Private work is not included in those public counts.

Get help or suggest an improvement

Contact support to report an issue or share feedback. Include the page, what you expected, and what happened. You will receive a private conversation link so replies can stay in the support inbox.

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