CNC/FreeCAD

FreeCAD is a nice piece of software, but it is in development and there are many nasty bugs!

General hints on using FreeCAD

• Use the latest version 0.18 (even if it is in development!). There are daily builds, use those!
• Check the forum: https://forum.freecadweb.org and also report bugs you find, if they are not already reported
  • They have a very good German language forum too!
• The Wiki might not be reliable, better check in the forum
• Tutorials (sometimes for old versions, check always if the workflow is still the same!)
  • http://www.dailymotion.com/freecad
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m49z0weonog&list=PLsrwVwvqYb8G4Ri0iz1JIebsOXkgoytAY
  • https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9HwDkwxllq5lFGkYBIH9g
• Enable DAGView, if you do a lot of refactoring. It saves the day!
  • Go to Tools --> Edit parameters... --> BaseApp --> Preferences --> DAGView --> set Enabled to true.
  • Now restart FreeCAD
  • You will have DAGView now in View --> Panels
• There is also the Dependency Graph! It shows the DAG as well, and also show you cycles. But it is not as good as the DAGView
  • Open it by using Tools --> Dependency Graph...

hints for using FreeCAD with the CNC (Path Workbench)

• Go to Preferences --> General --> Units and choose "Metric Small Parts & CNC". It will use mm/min instead of mm/s which is a huge improvement
• Beware of bugs in the Path Module. There are tons of errors related to edge cases in trigonometry. So if you see something crazy, just change the numbers slightly helps sometimes.
  • Be kind and report such bugs
• Before you mill something, test it extensivly in the LinuxCNC Simulator!!! The Path module might generate code which is not useable, as the module itself is not stable.
• The Path dressup tools are not in the normal toolbar. You have to go to Path --> Path Dressup in the menu bar!
• When using holding tags, the postprocessor switches to vertical feed rate! be aware of that.
• You can reorder operations in the CAM Module by double clicking on the Stock and go to the Workplan tab OR by double clicking on Operations itself. you get a menu to reorder
• For Pockets, the Operation "ZigZagOffset" looks promising. "ZigZag" leaves parts of the border, thus you would always need another contour path.
• If you want to create paths for features which are already altered by another feature (e.g. a pocket inside a pocket), you can create a clone of the original feature and create the Path on that one (Requires a new Job)

hints using the TechDraw Workbench

• you can use %.5g as format string instead of %.2f% to remove trailing zeros
• Note that the linegroups are only applied at the time a new object is created. Then the weights are stored in the object itself. (2018-02-27)

Workbenches that are very good and you should install

• Curves
• Fasteners
• Assembly 2+ (might be obsolete soon?)
• SheetMetal
• Macro for cross section, better than clipping view