FreeCAD Lesson 01 - Turners Cube Video Lecture | Mastering FreeCad: Tutorial for Beginners - Design Softwares

hello and welcome to video tutorial
about freecad freecad is notun source 3d
parametric cid system the homepage is
located a WWF rican web org and there
you have access to the documentation in
the wiki you have access to written
tutorials the forum and a lot more
things since freak it is mostly
programmed in Python that's a
programming language it is
cross-platform it is available for
Windows for Ubuntu and for Mac OS X and
fedora and I've also read articles in
the forum but it also runs on a Linux
can - Linux and other Linux systems on
Ubuntu you have possibility to choose
between installation of stable version
from a repositories or you can choose to
install the dedi PPA version we have a
launchpad system with this possibility
you are able to get the latest version
and you are able to get all bug fixes
and enhancements as soon as they enter
the master code
on Windows systems you can choose
between installing the stable version or
a development snapshot of course the
development snapshot is newer when the
stable version and it does not come with
an installer and with help files
let's my main difference if you want to
learn more about these possibilities
please visit the home page of free CAD I
suppose but you are familiar with
downloading programs from the internet
and or installing them on your
operational system this is how free kit
will look like or nearly look like if
you first start the program after
installation this version here is V
version 0.14 three seven zero zero on
the windows 7 64 bit system
working in free cat will require you to
use different workbenches to switch from
one workbench to another workbench use
the pulldown menu located here some of
the work benches have obvious names and
some work benches have names which will
tell you at first glance not really
something new but as you will advance in
the lessons you will learn what we spoke
benches are used for reviews you can see
here are also adjustable if you click on
View views you can see what viewports
can be switched on and off as you can
see I only have activated the combo view
on the left side here this is the combo
view as you can see here from the name
it is divided in the tree view and in
the property view
you have also a possibility like in
other programs to choose your
preferences for instance you can choose
your language in which freak it should
run and please note that some of the
settings are only available if you start
the appropriate workbench for the first
time per session and as you can also see
you have for instance per possibility to
choose which workbench should be
presented at startup and if you want to
view splash screen during startup and
what is also of importance at the
beginning is the navigation style you
can choose here which navigation style
freakin should use but if you don't like
your choice here you have a possibility
to change the navigation style at every
time to your liking we will later on
have a closer look at what navigating in
3d space will mean
so let's have a closer view about how to
navigate in 3d space for this purpose
I'm closing the start page here
I will create a new document I will
change workbench to part workbench and I
will insert a cube solid and the
cylinder just that we have two objects
on the screen and that we have something
to look at as you can see here in the 3d
view we have a cylinder and the cube I
just inserted and they are also here
presented in the tree view as you can
see with these icons here you can change
the way the objects look and the
perspective of the view for instance if
you set to XO metric view you will get a
view like this afridi look and then you
can switch to the different views you
can set to front view top view and so on
you can also do a right-click in the 3d
view and see but you can set the zooming
to fit all or only fit a special
selection you can change drawing styles
standard views you can measure things
and you have also the possibility to
change my navigation style by using this
button here you can change the drawing
style of the objects you click on the
black arrow down symbol here and you can
change for instance to a shaded view as
you can see the edges just have
disappeared and you can also change to a
wireframe mode and this is how a
wireframe mode looks like we can change
back to as is mode and that's how part
normally would look like as you can also
see in the lower right corner we have
here representation of the coordinate
system of the 3d view how the axes are
oriented in positive direction let's
change to wireframe mode and let's click
on you and say toggle axes cross now
this cross here has just appeared
telling us very origin of these objects
is and in which direction the positive
axis will point
we're red Xs is the x-axis the green one
is the y-axis and the blue one is with
the z axis pointing upwards as you can
see we will toggle the X's cross not off
and switch back to SS mode now as for
the navigation style in 3d space I am
using here on my Windows System a normal
Logitech mouse it has two buttons and a
scroll wheel in the middle so if I point
with the curse is somewhere in 3d space
and if I now use the scroll wheel and
turn the scroll wheel towards the screen
I will zoom in and if I use the scroll
wheel and scroll backwards towards
myself I will zoom out if I press my
scroll wheel and keep it pressed and
move the mouse around
I will tilt the objects presented on the
screen as you can see the cursor just
switched to to tilting arrows now I let
go of the scroll wheel and show you
another operation possible in 3d space I
will
since I am in blender mode I will press
down the shift key and keep it pressed
and I will press the scroll wheel and
keep it pressed and you see that the
cursor just switch to a
to a special cross if I still keep
pressed the shift key and the scroll
wheel and move the object I will Pan the
object around if we are not familiar
with moving in 3d space I suggest that
you do as I just showed you in that one
or two objects and practice a little bit
moving around in 3d space before you
start with the first lesson all
navigation modes except the inventor
navigation mode to also have an
automatic recognition of faces and edges
and so on this means that if I move the
cursor over face it gets highlighted in
the 3d view I can do the same with an
edge as you can see here or point as you
can see here with the inventor
navigation mode you have to press ctrl F
and then click on the element you want
to select please note that the 3ds
navigation and styles are hard-coded
which means you cannot customize them
you just can choose between the three
styles and you stay with one style until
you want to change to another style when
talking about 3d objects we have to
distinguish between mesh objects and
solids mesh objects consists only of
phases while solids have an inner volume
typical file formats for mesh objects
are obj and STL a very well known file
format for solids is the step
as you can see in freecad we have a mesh
workbench for dealing with measures and
when you are working with solids you
will use for most times the part
workbench which is also called part
module workbench and a party zine
workbench in some cases you will also
need the draft workbench for special
operations now if we say he added
preferences and look in the general
section at units you will notice that
you have a chance to change from a
standard metric system to imperial units
but I have to say that the 0.14 version
has very very little support for
imperial units the soon-to-be-released
0.15 version has more support for
imperial units but not full support for
my lessons I will leave the unit system
to metric
so let's begin with our first lesson I
will close this document here and for
our first lesson we are going to model
this object in free CAD this object is
called the Turner's cube it is a very
basic lesson for programming CNC
machines because in real life you would
after do all programming work on the CNC
machine you would get an aluminium cube
you would machine it to have the
appropriate outer dimensions and then
you would machine on every side of the
cube these free circular pockets and
this is how we will do it in freaking as
well we will use the part design
workbench to model with Jonah's cube so
to begin a lesson I will close this
document here and create a new one and
when I will switch here to the part
design workbench I will switch here to a
model tab and now the basic idea of
modeling in the part design workbench is
to draw sketches on my main planes and
then extrude them or revolve them in 3d
objects don't worry
it sounds more complicated when it
really is
so to draw a sketch we need the sketcher
the sketcher is available as a separate
workbench or you can access it we have a
part design workbench since it is needed
as a basis for doing work in the party
zine workbench the sketcher is
represented by these icons here and if
we have an active sketch we have also
access to these icons here as catch can
either be mapped to one of the three
main planes or to a face of an existing
object so I will click on this icon here
to start a new sketch and when I will be
asked about the sketch orientation I
will leave it to the XY plane I don't
want to have a reverse direction on
offset value so I just press ok and so I
will enter the sketcher I could also use
now a grid in the sketcher I myself
prefer not to use a grid but it is of
course up to you to use a grid or not so
the first thing we will do is to draw a
rectangle because we will need the in
the first step the cube in 3d so I click
here on the rectangle icon and then I
click the first point of a rectangle and
when I click here a second time now all
the sketches now need constraining
you can constrain either with a
geometric relationships with dimensional
relationships drawing with the sketcher
needs these icons constraining is these
icons as you can see here as per default
is this set up in the Preferences that
the sketcher should set up automatically
constraint which he does recognize so
the sketcher did recognize that this
line here is horizontal and this line as
well and these two lines are vertical so
these constraints are also applied if I
select the filter to show all
constraints I will also have the
constraints that the endpoint of this
line is the same as we endpoint of this
vertical line and the same applies to
v's here
so this shape is closed as I click on
the line keep the button pressed and
move it around you can see the shape is
closed and will move around as a closed
shape so as you can see here the solver
who tries to solve the sketch reports
back but it is an under constraint
sketch freecad will allow you to have an
under constraint sketch or a fully
constrained sketch freecad will throw
error messages if a sketch has too many
dick constraints and is over constrained
and we have 4 degrees of freedom left
since we want to the origin to be in the
center of the rectangle and therefore in
the center of the cube which is to be
constructed we will now use geometrical
constraining for this purpose I click on
this point as you can see it turns green
so it is selected I will press ctrl and
I will keep control pair pressed and
then I will click on this point here and
I still have control pressed and then I
will click on this X here so I have now
selected with free elements and now I
will use the symmetry constraint to
constrain these two points symmetrical
to this X
two visits with exes okay we click on
here and as you can see the shape
changed a little bit
if I click now here and move four shape
you see the symmetry will be kept and we
have three degrees of freedom left okay
so now I will select this point I will
press control and keep control pressed I
will select this point and we see
article access and when I will also
constrain symmetry now we have two
degrees of freedom left these are two
obvious degrees of freedom the length of
the lines since this is a horizontal
line
it is obvious but because this line is
also horizontal at the length of this
line and the length of this line are the
same if I would select these two lines
and apply an equality constraint this
wood over constrain the sketch so I have
to undo this operation and I now can
select this line and apply a horizontal
distance
I will click on here and since I have
set in references a metric system the
system will ask me a what horizontal
distance I will set I will set the
distance to be 200 millimeters I press
ok and the distance here is adjusted if
you made an error or if you just want to
change the distance of constraint or
whatsoever you just double-click on the
200 millimeters and then you are able to
edit the distance now I have an obvious
choice I have one degree of freedom left
for the sketch ie we can say I want to
highlight this line or this line that's
the same and I can apply a vertical
constraint or I can select two lines
here one of the horizontal ones and one
of the vertical ones and apply an
equality constraint which is also the
same operation as you can see now the
sketch turns green and the solvus s
fully constraint sketch no problems
we closed the sketch and as you can see
here in the preview we already created
this sketch here and we have several
information in our data tab about line
valve wide and about point colors and
and things like that they don't mean
something import of importance at the
moment so for our first 3d operation we
make sure that first sketch is selected
we can click on one sketch to select it
if it is unselected if I click in empty
3d space as you can see the sketch gets
unselected and the data tab now is empty
so I click on the sketch to mark it to
highlight it and then I click on the pad
icon the pet icon will ask me now how
about the length to be petted since we
want to have a complete cube I will Pat
the sketch about 200 millimeters and I
will Pat it symmetrically to the sketch
plane I take this box here and I say
okay we made now a pad and if I go to
EXA metric view and if I say fit all
congratulations we have just made our
first 3d object so now we continue with
the pockets
to do our first pocket we click on the
top face here to select it we one choose
to create a new sketch and since we have
selected a face the sketch will be met
to this face as you can see the origin
and these two axes are drawn
automatically so I will now draw a
circle I will click on the icon and for
our first dry I will click here in let's
say empty space one and one time I will
move the mouse and I will click a second
time here in empty space this is to
demonstrate you something at the moment
I have three degrees of freedom left in
this sketch
what are these free degrees of freedom
of course it is if we look at the lower
right corner here it is the X and the y
coordinate of a mid point of the circle
and if I would also specify a radius of
a diameter of the circle we would have
all information needed to fully
constrain the circle okay so I will just
do that I will select the midpoint of
the circle
it turns green so it is now selected I
will press ctrl and hold it pressed and
I will also select here the origin and
then I will constrain these two points
here we'll call incidence constrained as
you can see these two points are now the
same and I just removed two degrees of
freedom here in the sketch so I will now
highlight this circle and I will
constrain it with a radius constraint
the radius constrain I will use is
thirty one point two five millimeters I
will press Enter and as you can see the
sketch turns green and resolved assess
fully constraint sketch everything ready
to go I will close the sketch and then I
will use the pocket
icon to create a pocket in the cube the
pocket the direction of a pocket will be
normal to the place my sketches on and
so I click on the icon and then I have
the possibility to choose if I want to
insert a dimension how deep the pocket
will be should it also be symmetric to
plain reversed or things like that and
if I say oh I want to have a pocket
through a complete object I would choose
s
as well something like constrained you
can call it for pocket through all or
you can say no to the first phase you
meet or up to a certain phase I will
select but we will leave it to dimension
we will select this five millimeter
length which is default value and we
will replace it with 75 millimeters we
say okay and if we return to XM 8ue you
we can see that we already did our first
pocket we can change here to wireframe
mode and you see we did our first pocket
that's how it looks like we switch back
to SS mode we click on the face here the
top faced is selected and now we'll draw
a next sketch now this time I will click
on the circle icon here and I will show
you something if you move the cursor
over an X here just look at below right
corner where your cursor is it will show
you a small symbol because as I said
earlier we had set up in the preferences
and Auto constraining saying where there
is an algorithm in the background
running all the time
whatever the algorithm does recognize it
should display so we could here make the
center of the circle sit on the axis
or if we move close enough to the origin
we could constrain the center of the
circle to be identical with your origin
if I click now and move my mouse
outwards you see the center of a circle
is identical with the origin so I click
one more time here and have only one
degree of freedom left because the
center is already constrained to the
origin the center of a circle here so we
do the same as we did before we
highlight the circle and we constrain it
with the radius this time our radius is
sixty two point five millimeters we say
okay let's catch is fully constrained we
close the sketch we apply the pocket
operation and we will replace what
length of a depth of the pocket with 50
millimeters we say okay we will
highlight this face again we will choose
the sketcher once more we will create a
circuit we will move the cursor as close
to the origin as we can get so but in
the lower right corner over is this a
small dot appearing so now if we click
here and we click one more time here we
made another circle with one degree of
freedom we highlight the circle we
constrain a radius of 93 comma seven
five millimeters
okay we closed the sketch we apply the
pocket operation and we will replace
with five millimeters length value with
25 millimeters of length we say okay and
if we change to EXA metric you you say
fit all
let's also switch to wireframe mode we
can see all three pockets are not done
on the first face of the cube these
three pockets we must now also apply to
all other faces of the cube to get a
complete turn this cube so now for the
three pockets on the next side let's say
we will choose this face here we select
it and then we choose the sketcher we
draw a circle we make sure that we are
chin is a cord and then we will draw our
circle we will highlight the circle
apply a radius of 31 point or in my case
comma 25 millimeters we close the sketch
we apply pocket operation and a depth of
75 millimeters we choose my face once
more open up sketcher draw a circle
here to the origin constraint we
highlight for circling we apply a radius
of sixty two point five millimeters it
closed with sketch and length of a
pocket here is 50 millimeters we do it a
third time let's draw a circle center of
a circle should be sighted at the origin
now we will highlight the circle apply a
radius and radius should be ninety three
point seven five millimeters we close
the sketch we apply the pocket operation
the length should be 25 millimeters and
that's it we just completed the three
pockets on the second side now I know
that this is a little bit tedious
you can try to speed up things by using
keyboard shortcuts you have a
possibility in freecad to assign
keyboard shortcuts to commands you will
use very often to do this you select
tools customize and then you can say
keyboard and then you choose which menu
you want for instance we want to have a
look at the sketcher and create circle
is currently assigned no
a keyboard shortcut this create circle
here with the icon with s let's the
correct command in my case I assigned a
K let's send a privation for the German
word case in English circle so I choose
keyboard shortcuts you can also use of
course the Alt key and the control key
and Shift key and some combinations and
things like that I try to assign
shortcuts which are easy to remember
okay so now on the next phase we will
call the sketcher we will now draw a
circle here we will assign a radius to
the circling of 31 comma 25 millimeters
okay a pocket of 75 millimeters now we
will do another sketch with the next
circle here we will apply a radius of
sixty two point five millimeters close
click sketch apply pocket operation with
a depth of 50 millimeters okay highlight
the face call the sketcher create a
circle make sure the center of the
circle will be identical with the origin
of a sketch and then let's highlight the
circle here apply a radius of 90 3.75 we
close the sketch we apply pocket
operation
the left of 25 millimeters and here we
go now with the next phase sketch circle
here now radius of 30 1.25 close here
pocket operation 75 millimeters very
good now the next sketch circle midpoint
here midpoint here now let's give it a
radius of sixty two point five
millimeters close for sketch apply
pocket 50 length now select this face
select the sketcher circle here we go
apply radius of 90 3.75 close pocket 25
millimeter length now let's do this face
here we have our circling we have a
radius of 31 comma 25 millimeters we
close the sketch apply pocket 75
millimeters choose face create sketch
create certain constraint circle 62
comma 5 millimeters we close the sketch
we apply pocket length should be 50
millimeter and now for the last pocket
in this side we draw up for circling
remark the circle
and we say 93 comma seven five
millimeters we close the sketch the
apply pocket operation 25 should be the
depth and that's it now for the last
phase we call up the sketcher say pocket
here we will have 30 1.25 excuse me for
saying point in meaning comma we will
have pocket operation of 75 millimeter
length and now one more time let's mark
a circle here by radius of 60 2 comma 5
millimeters apply pocket operation the
length should be 50 millimeter now the
last time let's mark a face call the
sketcher draw a circle apply radius to
the circling of 93 comma 7 five-window
meter and apply a pocket the length of
25 millimeter now go back to X a metric
you save it all and congratulations we
have just completed the Turner's cube
don't forget to save your file and I can
only cite the manual of video game
Commander Keen it's quite an old game
from DOS 8 well Manuel said save your
game often you'll be glad you did
so we have reached now we end off a
first lesson and I would say feel free
to comment and thanks for watching and
well maybe see you in an hour video bye