r/FreeCAD

Hey, guys. I am pretty new to freecad. Is there any way to mirror i a pattern on a part?

Hi all,

First off, I've been very impressed with FreeCAD, and though it's not perfect, I wholeheartedly support open-source, community driven tech both as an act of resistance and a step towards equanimity and excellence. Thank you to all who contribute to this project.

I've been learning FreeCAD for the past year or so. I don't have much formal experience in CAD and I'm wanting to streamline my design process to be quicker and more stable when I need to make modifications to a part.

Can anyone point me to a list or guide of best practices when creating in FreeCAD?

Thanks!

Hey guys I'm not an expert with CAD and recently switched over to FreeCad. I'm looking to make a toy prop for injection molding and despite all the research on my own I am stuck on how to properly tackle it so I thought it'd be time to ask here.

Top angle

Bottom angle

Here is a top and bottom example of the early stages of my design. this is just a section of it. The outer diameter of the round area is about 300mm and it's about 70mm tall. The final design will ahve more sections along the x-axis and bunch of features on top of it.

I'm looking to have an overall thickness of 2.5mm and completely hollow inside. It has a lot of features on it and so simply using the thicken tool to hollow it out doesn't work. So my question regarding hollowing is is there a way to hollow it out after I've completed the entire project or do I have to be mindful and hollow out the individual parts as I go?

The sides right now are 90degrees as it is meant to be. But I understand I need to add draft to it so 2 main questions:

1. would 0.5 degrees be sufficient?

2. what is the best way of tackling draft angles? should I be ensure draft to every pad that I add onto this or can i complete my project then draft the whole thing somehow afterwards? If I have to draft each individual pad, how would I go about those side plates? to ensure it's drafted and remains attached to the main part while prevent my tree to break if I change the angle of the main part later on?

Hi everyone, I’ve been using the Fusion 360 trial, but I want to migrate to FreeCAD for the long term because of the licensing costs. However, I’m struggling with the learning curve.

The other day, I tried to design a simple USB dongle case. After struggling in FreeCAD for a while, I gave up, hopped back into Fusion 360, and finished it in 15 minutes. It feels like I’m missing a fundamental concept that FreeCAD requires compared to Fusion.

Two main questions:

1. For those who switched from Fusion 360, what is the most critical "mindset shift" or fundamental concept I need to grasp in FreeCAD?
2. I’m really struggling with "Snap to Grid." I can’t seem to find a reliable setting for it, and it doesn't behave like I expect. What are your recommended settings for a snappy, intuitive grid experience?

Any advice or recommended workflows (Part Design vs. Part?) would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, i’ve learned some 3d design basics since some months ago and used fusion as my first software. I use it to design simple parts for track/race cars. Things like ducts, brackets, adapter plates and this type of stuff. Not interested in assemblies at the moment.

Since i use an old mac, fusion stopped working and it’s unsupported on my machine. It’s freecad a good option for my use?

Basically i export for 3d printing, laser cut (dxf) and cnc machining.

I don’t want to learn a new software again and being limited

Hi, I just switch from Solidworks to FreeCAD and was wondering which parameters should I change or at least check ? I already changed the navigation style and the "Esc can leave the sketch edit mode" but what are yours ?

I made a sketch on a plane that was the bottom face of a cylindrical hole. I now changed the hole bottom to reflect a 120° cone (because of the drill tip), and obviously the sketch plane is gone now. I now would like to have the sketch use a plane defined by the circle (the end of the cylindrical part of the hole).

Deleting the sketch ad making a new one in the proper plane is probably faster than typing this, but I want to know if it is possible.

Hey everyone,

If you are a CAD designer/engineer using FreeCAD or other CAD tools, I'm trying to understand something from real users.

When you go from an idea or sketch to a 3D model, what usually take the most time or feels repetitive/annoying?

Also, how often do you end up modifying or reworking models after changes?

Just curious about real workflows and pain points.

Would love to hear your experience in the comments, or feel free to DM me if you prefer.

Thanks a lot.