Callout to those with some FreeCAD knowledge

[ajoeiam]

Greetings

Will start by wondering if a section on CAD and CAD/CAM and and and might be useful as a separate from Software & Programming (maybe under it but its own separate entity).

I learnt my drafting a LONG time ago - - - not 80 years but long before calculators!
Learned decent sketching skills through apprenticeship training.
Sorta understand and can get 2D CAD to work - - - but I don't really draw using a mouse - - - I calculate points (math is my friend - - - - you know!!).

Now FreeCAD is a different recalcitrant beast (hopefully not offending anyone reading!!!).
So I'm needing to model a small ruminant milking space.
That's not simple and FreeCAD usually has at least 4 ways to do anything and using any one starting element sometimes even precludes using other subsequent ones (I don't always find FreeCAD to be very logical!!!).

I'm stuck in how I even do this.
Doing the space in the Arch WB makes sense.
Subsets of Arch will do piping (even if the authors don't understand the difference between pipe and tubing!!!).
But what do I use for the gates, the dividers, lifts, electrics, portioning equipment and and and.
Its actually a fairly complicated bit of stuff and I would like to get it done a little sooner than 2025. (Actually want to be using something inside of 60 days!!!)

Asking at the FreeCAD forum only got - - - use a sketch to be a master sketch for everything else.

I'm quite tempted to just use paper and pencil.
I'd likely be done in a few days and I could be busy with procurement and other stuff.

Is there any one out there that 'maybe' understands what I'm trying to do AND has enough knowledge to steer my fumbling?

Kudus and a basket of thanks in advance!

 

[ddmckee54]

ajoeiam:

If it were me, and I was in a hurry, I'd use the paper and pencil. Save learning the new software for a project that doesn't have a time crunch built into it. You'd probably spend more time being frustrated by not being able to get the software to do what you want it to do, than it would take to draw it by hand. (At least that's the way learning new CAD software usually works for me.)

You building a goat milking parlor?

Don

 

[TSutrina]

I have used freeCAD since about version 14. You can see my model of an Atlas F lathe in one of the earlier versions that was exported as step so that I could be put on GrabCad. I almost exclusively use these day from the standard modules part designer, part, and sketch. Added A Assembly 4, sheet metal, gears, technical drawings. I have added others but have not used them much. Drafting and image have some nice functions. And there are plenty of tutorials for 18, 19, & 20 which are not compatible with the older versions.

 

[ajoeiam]

I have used freeCAD since about version 14. You can see my model of an Atlas F lathe in one of the earlier versions that was exported as step so that I could be put on GrabCad. I almost exclusively use these day from the standard modules part designer, part, and sketch. Added A Assembly 4, sheet metal, gears, technical drawings. I have added others but have not used them much. Drafting and image have some nice functions. And there are plenty of tutorials for 18, 19, & 20 which are not compatible with the older versions.

Hmmmmmm - - - - - the wonderful mountain of tutorials (NOT!!).
Al;most allt he tutorials are videos, - - - - I have no sound set up on my desktop.
Secondly I find that almost all videos are hugely inefficient re: time (mine - - - I read quickly).

The almost (afaik) lack of written tutorials is one major stumbling block for me - - - - sorry!

 

[ddmckee54]

ajoeiam:

Google "FreeCAD manual".

This is an online manual. It's my understanding that this is a work in progress, so it gets updated and/or added to whenever somebody takes the time to do it. If you root around a little bit on their Wiki page it says that they have an ebook version and a couple of versions that have been translated to a PDF format. I haven't tried either of those manual options yet.

Don

 

[werowance]

i realize you asked for free cad help. my story is i have tried to learn free cad for a few years now to no avail. i recently in the past few months discovered that autodesk fusion 360 is free for home use. i love it and i am creating parts now with it. i can then tell it to create the drawing of said part and it will do most of the drawing print for you. it is in my opinion wonderful. but if you are needing it for business or something then the free version isnt going to help you much. but for me its so much easier to use than free cad. i also learned drafting first, then auto cad on dos and now many years later im learning 3d cad's

 

[ajoeiam]

i realize you asked for free cad help. my story is i have tried to learn free cad for a few years now to no avail. i recently in the past few months discovered that autodesk fusion 360 is free for home use. i love it and i am creating parts now with it. i can then tell it to create the drawing of said part and it will do most of the drawing print for you. it is in my opinion wonderful. but if you are needing it for business or something then the free version isnt going to help you much. but for me its so much easier to use than free cad. i also learned drafting first, then auto cad on dos and now many years later im learning 3d cad's

Hmmmmm - - - - except then I would have to be running M$ windows - - - - I have 4 or maybe even 5 legal copies of Win7 here - - - absolutely uninterested in the security nightmare that is win10 and win 11 can't even be run air gapped.
(Have run into people that run their work stuff air gapped - - - - they're frustrated that they won't be able to update to Win11 - - - - so goes the game when its all about the big controlling the small!)

My desire to not run M$ product means that I'm sorta stuck with FreeCAD.

 

[Daryl_bee]

Hmmmmmm - - - - - the wonderful mountain of tutorials (NOT!!).
Al;most allt he tutorials are videos, - - - - I have no sound set up on my desktop.
Secondly I find that almost all videos are hugely inefficient re: time (mine - - - I read quickly).

The almost (afaik) lack of written tutorials is one major stumbling block for me - - - - sorry!

That's my pet peeve. Here's Bob's YouTube video of how a file works.......47min long!!!!.......the grand unveiling is at 37:28......but I know all about Bob's family history, everything he's done in the shop, all his likes & dislikes, how he came to own his dog, how his trip to Disneyland was, what his plans for the future are.......oh, and at 35:02 he found where his file was.

 

[TSutrina]

I agree that the videos take time. Start with the basis can you use sketcher and part design? Everything adds to these. Of the half dozen CAD programs I have use these all work the same so learn it on any other cad program. All the other modules basics are also similar but the process is different. I seldom use part since they added the boolean operations to part design. I still use tutors to pick up things I have not done or long time ago. To build assemblies I chose assembly 4. I know how long it takes to learn cad. I haven't found any program that is easier to learn.

Hmmmmmm - - - - - the wonderful mountain of tutorials (NOT!!).
Al;most allt he tutorials are videos, - - - - I have no sound set up on my desktop.
Secondly I find that almost all videos are hugely inefficient re: time (mine - - - I read quickly).

The almost (afaik) lack of written tutorials is one major stumbling block for me - - - - sorry!

 

[ddmckee54]

MangoJelly Solutions' tutorials are usually pretty good. Mango Jelly The ARE about 20-30 minutes long, but there's usually not TOO much extraneous BS in them. (Of course these tutorials do you absolutely NO good if you don't have sound on your desktop.) There are a couple of other people that do FreeCAD tutorials that I like, but I can't remember their names right now.

 

[RM-MN]

"Adventures in Creation". Sliptonic, "Joko Engineering" are all tutorials that I like along with "Mango Jelly Solutions". They seem straight to the point and will lead you from the basics to more advanced topics.

 

[SteamChEng]

Greetings

Will start by wondering if a section on CAD and CAD/CAM and and and might be useful as a separate from Software & Programming (maybe under it but its own separate entity).

I learnt my drafting a LONG time ago - - - not 80 years but long before calculators!
Learned decent sketching skills through apprenticeship training.
Sorta understand and can get 2D CAD to work - - - but I don't really draw using a mouse - - - I calculate points (math is my friend - - - - you know!!).
advance! [...snip...]

If you like to draw using points, I highly recommend OpenSCAD. That's exactly how it works. 100% math and geometry based. I find it to be the easiest 3d modeling software I have used. It is completely intuitive to anyone who designs the way you described.

The down side is you need to use another program to create the 2d drawings and plans for the shop. For that, I import the model into FreeCAD and create my drawings. That part isn't too hard and I got it figured out in about half an hour of watching some YouTube tutorials.

Edit:. Forgot to mention it is also free and works on Windows or Linux.

 

[ajoeiam]

If you like to draw using points, I highly recommend OpenSCAD. That's exactly how it works. 100% math and geometry based. I find it to be the easiest 3d modeling software I have used. It is completely intuitive to anyone who designs the way you described.

The down side is you need to use another program to create the 2d drawings and plans for the shop. For that, I import the model into FreeCAD and create my drawings. That part isn't too hard and I got it figured out in about half an hour of watching some YouTube tutorials.

Edit:. Forgot to mention it is also free and works on Windows or Linux.

Which tutorials - - - please?

 

[SteamChEng]

Which tutorials - - - please?

This one is the one I used to learn about importing OpenSCAD into FreeCAD:
Import OpenSCAD Files In FreeCAD - OpenSCAD FreeCAD

I can't remember which ones I used to learn about the TechDraw workbench anymore because it was so long ago, but this one covers the basics. Start at about 1:45 in, since the first bit is about creating the 3d object to make drawings of. Look around if this one doesn't do it for you, but I think it's pretty decent.
FreeCAD for Beginners #27 Tech Draw

Basic workflow is, import the modeled part into FreeCAD, then use the TechDraw workbench to create the 2d drawings of the model for use in the shop. I have never modified the imported model in FreeCAD, so the dimensions you used in OpenSCAD are what you have, but in creating the 2d drawings you can add the dimension callouts and any other text notes.

I will say, I started out with FreeCAD after experimenting with Google Sketchup (years ago) and Tinkercad. I found it more useable to a new CAD user and made it work for me until a programmer friend strongly suggested I try OpenSCAD. Once I tried it, I was hooked, and only used FreeCAD for generating the 2D drawings.

 

[ajoeiam]

This one is the one I used to learn about importing OpenSCAD into FreeCAD:
Import OpenSCAD Files In FreeCAD - OpenSCAD FreeCAD

I can't remember which ones I used to learn about the TechDraw workbench anymore because it was so long ago, but this one covers the basics. Start at about 1:45 in, since the first bit is about creating the 3d object to make drawings of. Look around if this one doesn't do it for you, but I think it's pretty decent.
FreeCAD for Beginners #27 Tech Draw

Basic workflow is, import the modeled part into FreeCAD, then use the TechDraw workbench to create the 2d drawings of the model for use in the shop. I have never modified the imported model in FreeCAD, so the dimensions you used in OpenSCAD are what you have, but in creating the 2d drawings you can add the dimension callouts and any other text notes.

I will say, I started out with FreeCAD after experimenting with Google Sketchup (years ago) and Tinkercad. I found it more useable to a new CAD user and made it work for me until a programmer friend strongly suggested I try OpenSCAD. Once I tried it, I was hooked, and only used FreeCAD for generating the 2D drawings.

Thanks - - - - time to do some 'sperimenting'.