It's #FreeCADFriday! What are we all working on this week? #FreeCAD

I've updated my LastSTEP #FreeCAD macro to v2025.03.31 with the ResetPlacement functionality requested by @amd

You can check it out here: https://github.com/chrishuck/LastSTEP

Feedback is always welcome.

As I swapped out the winter tyres for summer ones today, I checked out the hubcaps I made last fall and they all were in perfect shape.

I replaced my pinball hauling vehicle last fall and I had gotten used to the Volkswagen T5's minimalistic hub caps. Ford Transit had had those at some point but all that was sold these days was beaten up ones for very high price on eBay.

So I recreated the hubcaps in FreeCAD and printed them out of ASA. They're soft enough to snap on without violence, but they also stick on just as well as the Volkswagen version. I stole the wheel bolt attaching design from them.

Umleitung der Zuluft im #Velomobil – Leite die Zuluft dort hin, wo du sie haben willst.

https://www.printables.com/model/1250867-verlangerung-ausleger-mast-als-umleitung-der-zuluf

Shout out to SpaceNav ( https://spacenav.sourceforge.net/ ). I bought a SpaceMouse wireless to start learning CAD better (FreeCAD on Linux) before realising 3dConnexion's Linux drivers are abandonware.

SpaceNav got me up and running in minutes after I realised.

waddafaaak-- #FreeCAD

So I'm doing a bearing. Have 2-part cage, with common Bodies, inherited with SubShapeBinder, (which also needs to be made solid with Boolean Fuse ok).

HOWEVER, the #SubShapeBinder is not freely editable: it needs to be created/inserted at the tip of the Body hierarchy.

Result: child Bodies cannot be updated, alas, because the topology breaks

WORKAROUND

Create dedicated minimal Bodies for SubShapeBinder+Boolean Fuse only stuff. This eases their recreation on change.

What if #FreeCAD had:

In Sketch right-clickable "copy expression"?

That would reduce click path a lot.

https://sw-development-is.social/@HuK/114251199271259658

First version of Red's eyelids printed out. Surprisingly close to what I wanted. Need to make the part that covers the eye a tad larger so it won't scape on the part that holds the eye in the frame. Also noted there was a lot of free space between the mask and the frame, so I made them a bit thicker for the next version.

I started writing a response on reddit to the question "why do you prefer freecad vs openscad?" and wanted to share it here...

A few #FreeCAD advantages that matter to me:

• Fillets and chamfers. Can be mind-bending to implement in OpenSCAD, and slow when implemented with minkowski sums.
• TechDraw workbench to make drawings; I am a hobby machinist, and use drawings to make parts I have designed
• Part Design workbench workflow is often much easier for me to conceptualize
• Much faster (though the Manifold kernel in OpenSCAD has made a huge difference) even though it's still sometimes slow
• B-rep kernel (among other things, representing curves as curves)
• STEP file support, import and export
• Assemblies (finally are built-in in FreeCAD 1.0)
• Fastener workbench semi-automatically chooses the right fastener for the hole
• Availability of many other workbenches, some of which I don't yet know I need
• More tutorial material in a variety of forms that can guide you through learning lots of specific techniques for solving a wide variety of problems, including many that go beyond what you can do with FreeCAD. (On the other hand, it's really hard to get started without following some!)

1/3

The nightmare inducing mechanism of Road Show pin remake continues. The last piece of the CAD design puzzle is the eyelid mechanism. If this goes how I want it to go, it'll be gear driven like the eyes. I considered reusing the actual part, but so many pins where it's broken, so might as well provide everything to make these two knuckleheads live again.