FreeCAD Lesson 07 - Propeller Video Lecture | Mastering FreeCad: Tutorial for Beginners - Design Softwares

hello and welcome to another video
tutorial about freecad in this video
tutorial we're going to model this
propeller like it is shown here on the
screen it is a propeller like it is used
for ships or for airplanes and we will
do the modeling by using once more the
insert hallux operation and we will do a
sweep along the helix and we will also
talk about the draft array tool once
more and we will learn how to reuse
sketches for more operations and we will
learn how to use the dependency graph
tool to get more information about a
solid model within freecad the version
of freecad I'm using here is the 0.15
stable release on a Windows 7 64 bit
system so let's get started the first
thing is I'm closing this document here
I'm going to create a new empty document
let's switch to the part module
workbench and the first thing we do is
to insert a cylinder we will select the
cylinder in the tree view here we will
switch to a data tab and we will apply a
radius of 20 millimeters and 1/8 of 30
millimeters to avoid cylinder we will
switch to EXO metric view we're going to
right click in the 3d view and select
fit all to get a full view of inserted
cylinder
the next thing we are going to do is to
insert our Alex to be able to model the
first offer free blades of the propeller
so we click on this icon here to create
a parametric geometric primitive we will
select from a pulldown menu the hallux
we will apply a pitch of 30 millimeters
and 8 of 10 millimeters and a radius of
25 millimeters the other two values are
left to default values by applying an
aid of 10 millimeters and a pitch of 30
millimeters we achieve that a hallux
will only go for one third of a total
turn because we want to have three
blades so we want a model to be swept
only around 120 degrees so we click on
create the Alex is inserted here we
click on close
switch back to excel metric you and say
select fit all and the next thing is
that we will draw a sketch of our blade
we will draw a sketch on the XZ plane so
let's switch to the sketcher workbench
let's create a new sketch by clicking on
the appropriate icon we select the X Z
line we click on OK
and be draw a rectangle just around here
since the cylinder is obstructing our
view we closed the sketch we do
right-click on the cylinder here we
choose toggle visibility to hide the
cylinder we do right click on the sketch
and say edit sketch and here we will
continue with our work as you will
remember the cylinder we inserted got
applied the radius of 20 millimeter as I
have said before under free cut it is
better to have overlapping solids when
doing a boolean operation because we
want to fuse all the blades to the
cylinder in the end to get one a solid
so we will apply here a horizontal
distance of a little bit less then 20
millimeters so let's choose 15
millimeters we will select these two
points again and apply a vertical
constraint a vertical distance of 10
millimeters we will apply here our
result distance of 50 millimeters and we
will apply here a vertical distance of 5
millimeters and we have finished with
sketch for a blade we will close the
sketch
we'll click an empty space of freedom
you to be sure that nothing is selected
we will switch back to the part module
workbench and now we will do our sweep
so we click on the icon to sweep we can
either do a double click on my sketch
here or we can click on the sketch to
select it and click on this arrow - to
edit - a sweep profile so I do a double
click here now we will select the sweep
path so we click on the button to select
the sweep path we will select now with
hallux we click on the button again to
be done we check create solid and we
check the friended option because we
want the beginning phase and the end
phase of the sweep operation to be
coplanar I click on OK and here we go
must be operation is complete so we just
have created now our first blade so now
click click in empty space in the 3d
view to deselect everything and maybe
you have noticed that there is a small
difference from a certain how the
operation is being performed in the part
module workbench and into a pot design
workbench in the part design workbench
if we do a sketch and apply a pet or
pocket operation the sketch is turned
invisible
after the operation is completed and
here the sketch
and the hallux are still toggled visible
after the operation is finished this is
a difference in the workflow of these
two work benches so if we would use now
the draft array tool to get free blades
we would select the sweep we would
switch to the draft workbench you would
select the array tool we will click on
alter here and we will click on this
arrow downwards to change the array type
to Pola
we will leave all these values at the
default value we will just change the
number Pola the number of copies to be
free we will change the number X to be 1
and the number Y to be 1 this would be
the operation by using the draft array
tool but in this case we don't want to
do this operation here we wanted to do
in another way we want to reuse the
sketches and Vialis s two times more so
I'm going to select here one step back
I'm going to toggle the visibility of a
sweep here once more so I select the
hallux here one moment I will switch
back to part module workbench so the
hallux is selected and now I select edit
from the top menu and I select applicate
selection where this was same as copying
it to the clipboard and pasting it
so I select duplicate selection I have
now created another Alex as as a copy of
the first one I click on edit duplicate
selection once more to get a second Alex
so if I select now Alex
0:01 I have to change its a location in
3d space so I click on a placement cell
here and when I click on these three
dots here and I change the angle around
the z-axis to be 120 degrees this is the
result of the operation so I'm selecting
the Alex zero zero to do I click on the
three dots in the placement tab and
change the Z value to be minus 120
degrees I click OK and we have all three
Alice's
oriented correctly in free space so the
next thing is that we must duplicate the
sweep as well in free kit I have noticed
that a free cat is able to do two
instances the application but not more
when two instances it is my personal
opinion not to copy too many data to the
clipboard because then maybe you will
get into trouble with some if the data
has relations to our faces or other
edges or things like that so to be on
the safe side and your end you can copy
without problems
sketches link to one of the main planes
if the sketches are mapped to faces it
will be a little bit more difficult to
a copy and to duplicate them so here I'm
going to select the sketch I click on
edit duplicate selection and I click on
edit duplicate selection again to get
Duke score copies of the sketch so I
select now let's catch 0 0 1
I'm clicking here on these three black
dots I take the box apply incremental
changes I change this pulldown menu to
visit access and I apply an angle of 120
degrees as you can see here the green
highlighted sketch move to the
appropriate position in 3d space I click
on OK and I select sketch 0 0 2 I repeat
this operation i tick apply incremental
change I change the access to that and I
apply an angle of minus 120 degrees I
click on OK and now we have to do 2
times a sweep operation so I click in
empty space in this case but it is not
really necessary it's just a habit from
me to be sure to to select or deselect
everything correctly and now we will use
the utility to sweep we will do a double
click on sketch 0 0 1 this is for
profile we want to sweep we select my
sweep path
by clicking on this helix here we click
on done remember to take create solid
and to take friend and you say ok and
the second plate is now ready and now we
have to do the last operation so I click
in empty space here once again I click
on the utility to sweep icon i double
click on sketch 0:02 I select the sweep
path with Alex here I click on done i
tick create solid and I take frame it I
say ok and now I will toggle the
visibility of these sketches
I will talk about visibility of a
cylinder and I will hide the free alysus
so now we have four independent solids
we have the cylinder and it's free
blades create it in 3d space and the
next thing we are going to talk about is
how can we tell that these four are
independent solids and not one complete
solid to get that sort of information
from a solid within free CAD we will use
the dependency graph this is by clicking
tools and then choosing dependency graph
but in order to have the dependency
graph available we need to install an
additional library we need to install a
graph this library it is hosted as a
separate library on the internet on the
home page WWF this org I'll leave the
link in the description of video and
YouTube no you don't need to worry and
it is used to draw something like a
flowchart you know this for graphical
visualization with DPN based systems and
maybe with other Linux distros as well I
verified this with Linux Mint you can
install directly from a repositories
without any problem if you search for
graph this graph is will come up and you
are able to install the library windows
users do have to visit the home page go
to the download page and choose
after agreeing to a license agreement
their package for Windows the Mac users
are I'm not quite sure since I don't own
a make please visit for home page and
have a closer look at the installation
instructors there so if we have
installed libraries from graph is we can
click on Tools dependency graph and here
we see that we have a hallux and sketch
and a sweep based on these 2 elements
based on hallux 0 0 1 and sketch 0 0 1
we have sweep 0 0 1 and we have inserted
for cylinder so 1 2 3 4 separate solids
we close the dependency graph we do a
multi-select on were free sweeps and
with cylinder and we apply the Union
and after having everything fused we run
the dependency graph once more by
clicking on Tools dependency graph and
here you see everything runs to fusion
and so we have one solid now this is
especially useful when working in part
design because if you have already
noticed part module has an hierarchical
structure it has a hierarchy here and
the top a solid is displayed here and
all its instances are one instance
downwards they are inserted here s
dependencies part design has a
sequential workflow order so it is not
clearly visible in part design at first
glance if you have several solids or one
solid or what and if you are unsure
because Jeff may be downloaded a model
from the internet or from a forum or
wherever from you can run the dependency
graph which will tell you how many
solids and which solids belong to which
operation and which sketch and and so on
to get this information out of the solid
within freecad okay so the next step
will be to do a multi-select on these
edges so i select with edge here
I click on windows control on the
keyboard to do a multi selection and
when I click on this edge here I select
with that here this one here this one
here and this one here and then I will
apply fill at two V's edges as you can
see the edges I selected are already
ticked and if I apply in this cell here
a radius of 15 millimeter and click on
OK all these edges are rounded like this
and we have a prop element model
finished well we have reached the end of
today's lesson I hope it is useful for
you and I did show some good thing and
some new things and as usual you can
leave your comments in the on the
YouTube channel and well maybe see you
in another video bye