Currently got 2 #3Dprinters running... one printing a battery hatched back panel for the Uconsole and one doing a little functional thingumybob I whipped up in #FreeCAD.

Nice little low-key arvo distraction... knocked this design up in #FreeCAD pretty quickly, first prototype print done... probably needs some minor improvements but feels like it is going to do the intended job.

This is an #allotment print! The purpose is to top a cane which will be inserted next to the centre of things like tomatillo and chilli plants and allow strings to be run down to support branches. We find that tomatillos are especially problematic for the weight of their fruit causing branches to snap off.

Now off to the allotment test it out in practice!

It's #FreeCADFriday once again! Show us what you've been working on with #FreeCAD

Yesterday some folks here on Fedi were talking about modern architecture and I went and browsed through some photos of the Gropius House. I noticed a unique little pencil tray on the desk in Ati's Room.

It's a simple design based on a repeating pattern of segmented circles, but I thought it was neat and I hadn't seen one like it.

Here's my version. @FreeCAD file included, libre license.

https://www.printables.com/model/1350814-pencil-tray-gropius-inspired

@3dprinting

First non-van-part I've designed and printed in a minute. This little friend holds a cheap 7" touchscreen with a Pi4 on its backside with room inside for a SSD and eventually a tiny UPS. I printed in PETG HF so hopefully it won't melt this Summer.
#3Dprinting #FreeCAD #vanLAN

#FreeCAD meets the real world: #3Dprinting #HomeLab enclosures for #USFF (ultra-small form factor) PCs https://dimitrije.website/posts/2024-01-02-homelab-hardware.html

The @FreeCAD 2025 North American Meetup Returns to #Illinois #FreeCAD

https://blog.freecad.org/2025/07/04/the-freecad-2025-north-american-meetup-returns-to-illinois/

The FreeCAD 2025 North American Meetup Returns to Illinois
Sign up now!

The annual FreeCAD North American Meetup is taking place in Springfield, Illinois, on August 8-10, 2025.

The meetup will again be hosted by Innovate Springfield, but the venue is changing from last year's to the Horace Mann headquarters.

https://blog.freecad.org/2025/07/04/the-freecad-2025-north-american-meetup-returns-to-illinois/
#Events #FreeCAD #Opensource #CAD #CAM

It's #FreeCADFriday! Congratulations on getting through another week! What are you brilliant lot working on with #FreeCAD? #CAD #CAM

Testing... #FreeCAD 2025 North American Meeting interest form: https://cloud.freecad.org/apps/forms/s/SKB9wfjMYEeiSwZYA6PksRzY

Hosted in #Springfield #Illinois!

Am stuck on the #freecad tutorial. These points are meant to snap together as I add the last one. They're not, leaving an open sketch that won't close

Hallelujah! AutoCAD's DWG is a closed format that Linux CAD apps can't properly read. Well, there's apparently now a freeware Linux utility, ODA File Converter, that allows you to convert from DWG to DXF. Get the .appimage from here: https://www.opendesign.com/guestfiles/oda_file_converter

LibreCAD and other Linux apps I tested can now read these common files fine as DXF! A great solution for my brother too, who I recently converted to Linux too.

Great video showing how to make parametric Lego bricks with @FreeCAD

Picked up a load of tips and the varset stuff looks much easier than the spreadsheet workbench.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm2Vu8sgCT4

Absolutely brilliant video by Darren (MangoJelly) about #varsets and conditions in #FreeCAD. Did you know that you can switch parts of a design off and on with a variable? He builds a toy brick generator (you know the 4 letter ones from Denmark) which can do 1x1 to nxn‘ blocks with the correct underside. And it is really easy!
https://youtu.be/bm2Vu8sgCT4?si=u8jvMP70EymJxJf7

Maybe this will reach a Fusion 360 expert.
Trying to parameterize a bike strap model to motr easily make different lengths. It starts off with a coil (which determines length, thickness) which is extruded. Then an oval hole is made added with pattern on path used to replicate it down rest of the band. Overall most of it works when changing length, but pattern on path gets messed up. I think it boils down to start point needing to be dragged back to original hole, then distance and quantity manually adjusted. Just wondering if there's a programmatic way of doing this instead of manually editing features each time. I suppose learning Freecad might be long term an option.

Based on how pleasant using the FOSS PrePoMax FEA software was I thought I'd give the FOSS FreeCAD a go.

I'm skilled at 3D CAD, been using SolidWorks for years and before that ProEngineer (Shout out to an OG..renamed Wildfire now CREO). I can use other stuff and I don't think I'm desperately set in my ways but this sad effort took me 1.5hrs following a sketchy tutorial....

I'm not gonna bag it yet but I have found it unintuitive, finicky and with lots of things to trip you up. The hardwork of making the software seems to have been done well but the UX isn't nice and (to me, a user not a developer) could easily be improved.

That said, maybe I'll get used to it, its early days yet. And it is FOSS instead of contributing to large corps (Solidworks & CATIA is Dassault, known for their killing machines)

I don't understand why #QCad is not very popular in the Linux community. It has a free, GPL version that is way more put together than LibreCAD. In fact, LibreCAD is a fork of QCad from the late 2000s. QCad has way more features now, and most are free.

Sure, there's FreeCAD too, but that's more about 3D CAD, and it's more difficult to learn & use. QCad is a good starter 2D Cad/Cam, especially if you're coming from #AutoCAD 's UI.