00:00 Intro 00:58 (Part Design win on object A) 02:01 Pad / Extrusion process difference between workbenches [Part Design is quicker due to automatically moving between workbenches] 03:29 (Part loss on object A) 04:36 Cutting a sketch out of a part with Extrusion and Boolean Cut [more steps compared to Part Design's Pocket tool] 06:20 (Part Design loss on object B) 06:20 Sketching base object 08:07 Sketching complex struts 12:03 Padding & mirroring struts 12:37 Attempting to change complex sketch 13:35 Attributing Part Design loss to ensuring a sketch is a closed wire with volume, rather than lines that can be given volume later 14:09 (Part win on object B) 14:09 Sketching & extruding base object 14:55 Sketching center strut 15:24 Using Arch workbench to create a "wall" from center strut sketch [Part is more interoperable between workbenches, so more tools are available to you] 16:38 Sketching struts in simple straight lines (not a closed wire, no internal volume) 17:51 Using Arch workbench to create walls from struts again 18:14 Arch->Add Component to fuse center & side struts together 18:38 Editing strut sketches, demonstrating automatic easy changes 20:26 Outro My takeaway: Part is flexible by allowing more workbenches to interoperate with your objects and not locking you into a specific workflow or set of tools, but sticking to Part Design creates a cleaner model while eliminating tedious (and sometimes confusingly nested) Boolean operations.
There are so many ways to create the same model sometimes it can be exhausting trying to figure out how to tackle it. It's a subject i'm going to come back to at some point soon.
Thank you for making this tutorial! You gave countless FreeCAD newbies great help understanding how to mix and use different workbenches. In addition, it addresses FreeCAD users' questions when comparing it to Fusion 360, SolidWorks, etc.
Here's a laugh. I just 3D modeled my kitchen in the Part work bench and never knew there was an arch work bench. I should have figured there was. But I did start with sketches. Now I have a different bench to explore. LOL. Thank you for enlightening me again.
Thank you for this video. I use freecad a lot but this walls should bei the perfect way to define 3mm part to get boolean rips and frames out off my solid model airplanes. I would never have thought of this way..🙂
That is sic MJS ! I think it much faster then dealing with closing up geometry all the time in the PD bench. Imagine if FC had a free hand pen, sketch thingy, just sign you name with it and pad it like this. be kinda cool.
I learn again something. A little feature from another workbench can save a lot of time and give more flexibility. Very good idea to showing such a tricks I would say. I gets me more involved in this piece of software. Sometimes it is like solving puzzles because when you think thats it is optimal way suddenly someone can solve this more quicker🙂
Great to hear you enjoyed the video. Freecad has so many ways to do one thing sometimes it can be hard to decide which path to take. That's why I make these videos 😁😁
While I was creating a lot of bodies with the part design workbench in the beginning, I have now come to using the part workbench a lot more often than part design. I don't know how often I broke a body, because some intermediate steps for a change lead to invalid bodies. And while not as frequent as the breaking of the bodies, FreeCAD's undo function failed in quite a few cases, which was mighty annoying. The part workbench objects are A LOT more "robust" and the they combine a lot better with other workbenches.
I am tempted to ask a question: Can we select a shape, sketch or body and copy-paste it? For example, at 11:04, it would be easier to just copy the polyline and paste a copy a little below the original. (We need to edit it a little, but the overall effort would be far lesser.) I tried to use the Edit> copy and Edit >Paste commands, but i could not create a copy of the element. I selected the element (a circle, hexagon, rectangle, etc), and did a CTR+C and CTRL+V. But that does not work, either.
Yes you can :), there are two sketch tools in the sketcher, clone and copy. One clones the selected geometry with a basic constraints such as equality. The other clones the geometry with its dimension constraint. You can experiment by making a sketch with a circle and add a diameter constraint. Select the circle and go to top menu> sketch > sketch tools and you will see both clone and copy. Take note of the roll over information for these tools which will tell you how to use. Hope that helps.
@@MangoJellySolutions Oh thank you so much for that tip! I just realized that when we switch workbench, the first four menu items do not change at all, although many/most of the sub-options are grayed out. All workbench-related functions are provided only from the fifth menu option onward. As a result, the tools of the current workbench get buried deep in the menu system. But then FreeCAD philosophy is to use keyboard shortcuts, so this may not be considered as an issue at all.
I just followed along, but in the part design workbench. As long as you make the sketch without geometry selected you can put it on a base plan and use arch workbench
It depends on what shapes you create. Certain curves and geometry created in curves can be used in pulled in with shape binders or dragged and dropped into the body as a base feature.
Hi, Thanks a lot, it is very helpful. I'm using RealThunder's version 2023.01.31., so read below accordingly... I was playing with it a bit and saw that I can integrate the Arch workbench idea into PartDesign: create a new sketch within the PartDesign's body, then erect a wall from it. Now, FreeCAD complains a bit as we are referencing a a PartDesign feature (the sketch) from a non/PartDesign oject (the wall). But it offers to incorporate it into PartDesign using a "wrap feature". It looks a bit ugly in the model browser and might not be a perfect solution, but it is quite easy to reproduce what you demostrated here.
Not quite the same but the comparison reminds me of a discussion a while ago when FreeCad was being compared with other programmes. One approach for engineers : The other approach for artists.
It's funny you should say that. I went to a sculpture garden with my partner and I couldn't help myself think how I would create the pieces in freecad. All most all of them I would of picked the part because of the more organic way of working.
I was thinking about using an Offset2D as a BaseFeature in Part Design but it crashed as soon as I tried with intersecting lines. Currently on 0.19 tho, might work with newer releases. Also makes the document tree messy, but many useful tools already tend to do the same, I guess this is just something we have to live with.. Btw. are you using the mouse for demonstration purposes only? It's totally legitimate for making RUclips videos, but if we aim for efficient workflows, hotkeys/sequences are the true game changer. Except for every single release of FreeCAD I've tried so far comes with slightly different bindings, luckily it's configurable, so no big deal.
Good explanation for a great program, some things I still have to get used to but slowly it is getting better. Before this I worked with onshape and tinkercad, but they work very differently and both have a lot of limitations. Thank you!
00:00 Intro
00:58 (Part Design win on object A)
02:01 Pad / Extrusion process difference between workbenches
[Part Design is quicker due to automatically moving between workbenches]
03:29 (Part loss on object A)
04:36 Cutting a sketch out of a part with Extrusion and Boolean Cut
[more steps compared to Part Design's Pocket tool]
06:20 (Part Design loss on object B)
06:20 Sketching base object
08:07 Sketching complex struts
12:03 Padding & mirroring struts
12:37 Attempting to change complex sketch
13:35 Attributing Part Design loss to ensuring a sketch is a closed wire with volume, rather than lines that can be given volume later
14:09 (Part win on object B)
14:09 Sketching & extruding base object
14:55 Sketching center strut
15:24 Using Arch workbench to create a "wall" from center strut sketch
[Part is more interoperable between workbenches, so more tools are available to you]
16:38 Sketching struts in simple straight lines (not a closed wire, no internal volume)
17:51 Using Arch workbench to create walls from struts again
18:14 Arch->Add Component to fuse center & side struts together
18:38 Editing strut sketches, demonstrating automatic easy changes
20:26 Outro
My takeaway: Part is flexible by allowing more workbenches to interoperate with your objects and not locking you into a specific workflow or set of tools, but sticking to Part Design creates a cleaner model while eliminating tedious (and sometimes confusingly nested) Boolean operations.
Thank you so much, and great that you added your little comment about what you took away. Have pinned to the top
freeCAD is definitely something that puts me in an analysis paralysis more frequently than any other tasks I've had to accomplish.
There are so many ways to create the same model sometimes it can be exhausting trying to figure out how to tackle it. It's a subject i'm going to come back to at some point soon.
Thank you for making this tutorial! You gave countless FreeCAD newbies great help understanding how to mix and use different workbenches. In addition, it addresses FreeCAD users' questions when comparing it to Fusion 360, SolidWorks, etc.
Thank you. Great to see they are appreciated.
Using Arch for mechanical part design is a great idea. Thanks!
Here's a laugh. I just 3D modeled my kitchen in the Part work bench and never knew there was an arch work bench. I should have figured there was. But I did start with sketches. Now I have a different bench to explore. LOL. Thank you for enlightening me again.
No problems (I did that as well when I first started :) )
Incredibly helpful - thank you! New to FreeCAD and learning which workbench should be applied where [and why] is super helpful.
Great to hear your enjoying and finding them useful.
Both workbenches are very good. Thanks for the explanation!
Thank you for this video. I use freecad a lot but this walls should bei the perfect way to define 3mm part to get boolean rips and frames out off my solid model airplanes. I would never have thought of this way..🙂
Thank you so much 👍😁 and thank you for sharing what you are using it for. Great choice.
That is sic MJS ! I think it much faster then dealing with closing up geometry all the time in the PD bench. Imagine if FC had a free hand pen, sketch thingy, just sign you name with it and pad it like this. be kinda cool.
I learn again something. A little feature from another workbench can save a lot of time and give more flexibility. Very good idea to showing such a tricks I would say. I gets me more involved in this piece of software. Sometimes it is like solving puzzles because when you think thats it is optimal way suddenly someone can solve this more quicker🙂
Great to hear you enjoyed the video. Freecad has so many ways to do one thing sometimes it can be hard to decide which path to take. That's why I make these videos 😁😁
While I was creating a lot of bodies with the part design workbench in the beginning, I have now come to using the part workbench a lot more often than part design. I don't know how often I broke a body, because some intermediate steps for a change lead to invalid bodies. And while not as frequent as the breaking of the bodies, FreeCAD's undo function failed in quite a few cases, which was mighty annoying. The part workbench objects are A LOT more "robust" and the they combine a lot better with other workbenches.
Thank you!
I was wondering what the difference was between these two. I used the Part Design workbench for most projects.
clever to use the wall feature. not design for these kind of part, but usefully to keep it in mind.😉
Thanks for all the content, it's been the lifeline to my #freecad journey! You're awesome!
Your more than welcome 😊
I am tempted to ask a question: Can we select a shape, sketch or body and copy-paste it?
For example, at 11:04, it would be easier to just copy the polyline and paste a copy a little below the original.
(We need to edit it a little, but the overall effort would be far lesser.)
I tried to use the Edit> copy and Edit >Paste commands, but i could not create a copy of the element.
I selected the element (a circle, hexagon, rectangle, etc), and did a CTR+C and CTRL+V. But that does not work, either.
Yes you can :), there are two sketch tools in the sketcher, clone and copy. One clones the selected geometry with a basic constraints such as equality. The other clones the geometry with its dimension constraint. You can experiment by making a sketch with a circle and add a diameter constraint. Select the circle and go to top menu> sketch > sketch tools and you will see both clone and copy. Take note of the roll over information for these tools which will tell you how to use. Hope that helps.
@@MangoJellySolutions Oh thank you so much for that tip!
I just realized that when we switch workbench, the first four menu items do not change at all, although many/most of the sub-options are grayed out.
All workbench-related functions are provided only from the fifth menu option onward.
As a result, the tools of the current workbench get buried deep in the menu system.
But then FreeCAD philosophy is to use keyboard shortcuts, so this may not be considered as an issue at all.
I just followed along, but in the part design workbench. As long as you make the sketch without geometry selected you can put it on a base plan and use arch workbench
I want the most post editable version. Which is better for another user to pick up and finish or use as a basis for new design?
Good tutorial.
Thank you
From practical engineering drawing point of view I feel part design seems more suitable simply because of the relative ease of dimensioning.
Excellent video, thanks!
Your welcome
If I'm use the Part Design WB then I am unable to use other WB's like Curves and Arch WB's?
It depends on what shapes you create. Certain curves and geometry created in curves can be used in pulled in with shape binders or dragged and dropped into the body as a base feature.
Hi,
Thanks a lot, it is very helpful.
I'm using RealThunder's version 2023.01.31., so read below accordingly...
I was playing with it a bit and saw that I can integrate the Arch workbench idea into PartDesign: create a new sketch within the PartDesign's body, then erect a wall from it. Now, FreeCAD complains a bit as we are referencing a a PartDesign feature (the sketch) from a non/PartDesign oject (the wall). But it offers to incorporate it into PartDesign using a "wrap feature".
It looks a bit ugly in the model browser and might not be a perfect solution, but it is quite easy to reproduce what you demostrated here.
That sounds really cool. I have to say I haven't tried this with a sub object shape binder yet. I am not sure how it would cope with merging walls.
Not quite the same but the comparison reminds me of a discussion a while ago when FreeCad was being compared with other programmes. One approach for engineers : The other approach for artists.
It's funny you should say that. I went to a sculpture garden with my partner and I couldn't help myself think how I would create the pieces in freecad. All most all of them I would of picked the part because of the more organic way of working.
I was thinking about using an Offset2D as a BaseFeature in Part Design but it crashed as soon as I tried with intersecting lines. Currently on 0.19 tho, might work with newer releases. Also makes the document tree messy, but many useful tools already tend to do the same, I guess this is just something we have to live with..
Btw. are you using the mouse for demonstration purposes only? It's totally legitimate for making RUclips videos, but if we aim for efficient workflows, hotkeys/sequences are the true game changer. Except for every single release of FreeCAD I've tried so far comes with slightly different bindings, luckily it's configurable, so no big deal.
👍
Good explanation for a great program, some things I still have to get used to but slowly it is getting better. Before this I worked with onshape and tinkercad, but they work very differently and both have a lot of limitations.
Thank you!
Great that you are finding the tutorials useful and it's easing your transition 😊👍