To work around this problem, the designers of the software came up with a trick: They let you draw the outline of a shape and then give you tools to turn the outline into a volume.įor our wheel, we’ll draw the outline and then rotate it around the wheel’s axis to get a complete wheel. To create one, select the “Part Design” workbench:įreeCAD is a 3D CAD software but editing 3D with a 2D mouse is tedious and error prone. In order to create our wheel, we need a body, first. The result of all those operations on parts is called “body”. Other operations cut holes into parts or arrange then in patterns. After designing it, you can use a 3D operation like “pad” (often called “extrude” in other software) or “revolve” to create a 3D body from the outline. Let’s look at two of them: Sketch and Part.

Working with ConstraintsįreeCAD has several main concepts. To give it a name, save the file using “File” / “Save…”. Click “Create new…” in the “Documents” tab. Please read the part about “Navigating in the 3D Space” so you know how to move (pan) the drawing board and how to rotate it and, more importantly, how to reset it to a sane state 🙂 New Project If you have two monitors, I suggest to open a web browser on the second screen and open this URL: The main work area contains a tab “Documents” where you can start a new project and see your recent ones and a tab “Help” which gives you access to the online help. At the top are the toolbars, on the left side are the current model tree and in the center is the main work area.

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