This is the BILLY bookcase, 80 × 28 × 202 cm, built from IKEA's own assembly manual (AA-1823127-9). The manual on the left is the real one, page for page. The 3D build follows it step by step: the same parts, the same hardware counts, in the same order, seen from roughly the angle each drawing uses.

What you are looking at

Two sides, a top, a bottom, a fixed middle shelf, a plinth, four loose shelves and a back panel folded in three. And 82 pieces of hardware: 16 wooden dowels, 12 cam screws, 12 cam locks, 18 nails, 16 shelf pins, 2 wall brackets with 2 screws and 4 washers. The Hardware in count follows each one as it goes in. The cyan outline against the wall is where all of it ends up.

How a cam lock works

BILLY holds together with cam locks. A cam screw goes into the side panel and stands proud of it. When the board goes on, the screw's head drops into a round cup (the cam) set into the board's face. Turning the cam half a turn clockwise drags the head along a spiral ramp inside it and pulls the two panels tight. The dowels only line things up; the cams do the clamping. The back panel, nailed on, is what stops the case racking out of square.

Doing it

Step through with the arrows or the timeline, or press play to watch one step. Open the manual to read it as a book beside the build, and click any drawing on a page to jump there. Drawing shows the 3D in the manual's own black line style. Click a part to have its name and number read out.

LACK, the other piece

Switch the piece to LACK table (or press ⇧K) for IKEA's simplest build: the LACK side table, 55 × 55 × 45 cm, from its own manual (AA-2606170-1). One drawing, four double-ended screws (115980) and four legs, all by hand. The manual stops once the legs are on; turning it over is left to you, and the 3D does it as a third step.

What is exact and what is not

The parts, counts, order and hardware numbers are the manual's. The board sizes come from the bookcase's published 80 × 28 × 202 cm; panel thickness, hole positions and the shelf heights are read off the drawings, so they are close, not measured. The 3D runs much faster than real hands do, and the manual asks for two people wherever the whole case is lifted or turned.

Fix it to the wall. The manual's first warning is that a bookcase that tips over can kill; the brackets in step 12 are there for that. Wall screws and plugs are not included, because the right ones depend on your wall.

Keys

[ ] previous and next step · 0–9 jump to a step · space play · ⇧B the manual · ⇧V room or drawing · ⇧X exploded · C play the whole build · R reset the view · ⇧N labels · drag to orbit · right-drag to pan · scroll to zoom · WASD to move, Q E to turn.

Manual © Inter IKEA Systems B.V. 2024, reproduced unaltered; the original is at ikea.com. BILLY and IKEA are trademarks of Inter IKEA Systems B.V. This piece is not made or endorsed by IKEA.