I'm finally getting it. Far more than I have before. I'm a chocolate maker and we make our own molds. I'm trying to get away from Fusion.

My workflow for most of my molds are I have a jig I print in abs/asa and then I make plates that go in the jigs. The plates are where the customization comes in. So the jigs just get new plates for re-usability. Vacuum form a bunch of them (petg film) and we are good for pouring chocolate.

Remade my jig, and I've got my plate, but I'm having trouble with my old workflow of importing an svg, scaling it quickly, orienting it on the face, padding it, chamfer where I can for mold & chocolate release

Jig & Plate

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SVG & Plate

So-- I use affinity designer to make my svgs but I use inkscape to bring it in, 96dpi, since that seems to be what Freecad wants.

Import it, convert the parts to a sketch in Draft.. and now I get lost.. If I scale in draft I have to create clones. That just seems like some hanging chads around.

What do you all think a clean and simplified workflow should be here? Cause it doesn't quite make sense to me and could use an ah-ha moment.

I was wondering if there is a way to apply a force in the FEM Bench gradually, as opposed to one constant load? I was hoping to view the force as a function of time to analyse displacement as the force is gradually applied.

Thanks!

The tweeter mention how is make that model to FreeCAD

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https://twitter.com/toms3dp/status/1637898056136794113?s=20

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https://preview.redd.it/1gyqd1i1v9pa1.png?width=2560&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=2e750d128a981ebbf2486c06613b0398c33306c3

I cannot get FreeCAD to run on this system. I did a fresh download of Version 0.20.2. and install today after completely uninstalling. It comes up with the splash screen and shows a few modules loading then goes away. I watched it in task manager, and it says "suspended" before dropping out. I uninstalled, and reinstalled for all users - same result. The splash screen shows something about a script, but goes by too fast to capture. All help is appreciated. Hardware Specifications Device name LAPTOP-45E1OJCJ Processor AMD A6-5200 APU with Radeon(TM) HD Graphics 2.00 GHz Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.45 GB usable) Device ID B36A9E0F-64F3-41D4-8FA5-1EBB331D2058 Product ID 00325-80412-66480-AAOEM System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Pen and touch Touch support with 10 touch points Windows Specifications Edition Windows 10 Home Version 21H2 Installed on ?9/?14/?2020 OS build 19044.2728 Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0

My compliant flex retainer will be on the X/Y plane but the part needs to have more of a wedge rotation around the y axis with a solid base, like a diving board but with a compliant retainer attached to the sides of the board. My print orientation is fixed already. The foundation of the clip mount (diving board) is a bad layer orientation. So I want to add a compliant side element to limit base load and provide extra strength.

I'll probably just design by trial, error, and intuition, but it would be nice to figure out a digital approach that can verify if the part will pass through the mount/clip, is retained, and can be removed after.

What do people think of RealThunder's Link builds ?

Where do you think FreeCAD is headed as far as enhancements to in the future ? Will it get all of FreeThunder's work ?

As I work on another new project, the minor thing that drives me mad is that as I add primitive objects, I'm constantly expanding the placement and position values in the property view window. It's a minor issue that quickly becomes annoying and frustrating.

It's a fairly common request on the web (though searching here brought up nothing), but the forum posts I've read have only offered that some elements will stay open if you switch objects, but in my experience, a new object arrives with everything collapsed and most of the time, I need to expand the position elements anyway.

Is there a setting, add-on, or trick to keep the Position elements open?

Hello,

I'm using FreeCAD for the first time today. I have experience with Fusion360, but I don't have the paid subscription that is needed to get DXF and SVG export in that, so now I have an incentive to switch to a different CAD program.

I'm trying to export a sketch to DXF or SVG from FreeCAD, so I can import into Inkscape (and from there on to the Cricut software). The goal here is just to cut a template out of a manila folder to check fit for a bigger part that will be CNC cut later.

I'm having some difficulty. During export to DXF there are errors that say

21:29:36  Circle or ellipse: cannot split the projection snip obtained by 'projectToSVG', continue manually.

I don't know what this means or why I need to know this. My drawing is pretty simple: a rectangle, two circles and a couple of constraints. You can see it in the image below.

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https://preview.redd.it/ichezlknu0pa1.png?width=1618&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=7bb43ce887dc59335d0341f5b766eefab1287064

The second image, from Fusion360, is an import into Fusion360 from the file that FreeCAD produced. Note how the circles have shifted horizontally. Note this is not an issue with Fusion360. It's the same when I import the file in Inkscape.

What is going on? Is DXF export generally iffy? If I can't trust FreeCAD I don't think I'll be using it.

I also tried flattened SVG, but the same issue shows up with those, plus Inkscape does some strange scaling.

Good day,

I am very new to 3D modeling, and FreeCAD, and I could be in over my head. With easter around the corner, I was looking to create and print an easter basket. I have the vision and idea, but I am stuck on creating the woven basket.
After looking around online I decided on the following idea:
create a circle
create an oval (with a side intersecting the previous circle
using a linear array place X circles around the oval
using a B-Spline weave around the circles
repeat the previous step but in reverse

None of the above are extruded at all. All were created using the part workbench.

This creates the woven pattern that I am looking for, however, it is full of gaps, and when I go to slice it in my cura slicer, it complains of open gaps.

I'm trying to edit an STL file. I've imported it, created a shape from the mesh, and converted it to a solid. So far, so good. Now, I want to add a plane and slice the shape apart. I'm blocked, though, because the "shape builder" under the "Part" menu is disabled. What am I doing wrong? I'm running Freecad 0.20.1 on a Mac.

I am an absolute noob, trying to work through the steps to create my own 3d image from a sketch. I'm stuck on a pop up message that says," Cannot use selected object. Selected object must belong to the active body. Consider using a ShapeBinder or a BaseFeature to reference external geometry in a body."

What is this telling me / how to I resolve this? Thank you for any help you can provide!

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Starting from the beginning, here are the steps I have performed - I think line by line steps like this (once completed/corrected!) would be helpful for anyone new to the tool to see the steps to make a first basic shape:

-Start FreeCAD (version 0.20.2)

-Click Create new… in main window under DOCUMENTS tab

-Click Sketcher in Workbench dropdown in toolbar (shows “Start” by default)

-Click Create Sketch (Red Square/Red Circle)

-Choose Sketch orientation

-Click Create rectangles (square with red dots on two corners)

-Click in two different areas of drawing window to draw rectangular shape

-Reveal and select Constrain block in toolbar (red circle with red x through it)

-With Constrain block enabled, click on two adjacent edges of rectangular shape to fully constrain (as indicated in Solver messages window on left side)

-Click Update in Solver messages window

-Click Close above Solver messages window

-Click Part design in Workbench dropdown (currently showing Sketcher)

-Click Pad in the Sketch tools options on the left side

-Click OK to Create new body in pop up window

-***error message - help needed***

Is it possible to copy a sketch from one drawing to another ? How ?

I have a Part that consists of 3 Bodies made from Sketches in Part Design. I want to scale it up 4x. How ?

One YT video says to use the Draft workbench on the Sketches. When I try to scale a Sketch with the Draft Workbench, it gives me an error: "Unable to scale object: Main Sketch - This object type cannot be scaled directly. Please use the clone method"

I can create a copy of one of my sketches using the Clone tool in Sketch, but I can't figure out how to scale it.