Folks i just got my table up and running. I ran several small projects using fire share just to make sure everything was dialed in and to get the feel of it. I am now ready to start cutting my own parts, i seen on these forums a guy recommended FreeCad to cut parts. I watched several tutorial videos on youtube explaining how to run the the software and for the life of me i am either too Dumb or the software is too complicated. I tried using the picture to canvas and i got the image to upload but when i go to enter my specs for holes etc thats where the mess starts. Is fusion360 any more user friendly than freeCad? any help would be greatly appreciated.
Are you creating a sketch over the image? That is where you will define things like hole diameter. You use the sketch tools to create a circle and then use the dimension tools to set the diameter or radius.
Fusion is probably a bit more user friendly for people new to CAD, but the learning curve is still going to be steep if you don’t understand the process.
Good morning and welcome to the site!
As DS690 said the learning curve is a little steep. I have played with both, I prefer Fusion 360. But if you are opposed to having your drawings stored on the cloud then FreeCad is a good option.
When I was learning FreeCad I found MangoJelly one of the easiest to follow. When I am watching a video sometimes I lower the speed so it is easier to follow along.
There are lots of good ones on Fusion, I am still learning and catch little things all the time. One of the guys I like to watch is Tyler Beck https://www.youtube.com/@TylerBeckofTECHESPRESSO
Another I watch is Kevin Kennedy https://www.youtube.com/@ProductDesignOnline
Have fun, and again welcome aboard.
Tim
Yes its a simple bracket with multiple holes so I figured it would be a good learning project. I had the picture on the screen but trying to get the hole sizes just right was a challenge. then when trying to move the circles around it just added more circles. It seemed on fusion360 videos after entering hole size diameters it re-scaled the picture/bracket to correct size. I never got the free Cad to do that. I am very new to all this so i would assume i need to do fusion360 and Cut my teeth on that?
A couple things happen when trying to move things around:
- If you click on the origin, many times that locks that first point at the origin with a constraint. If it is a center start circle, the circle center will be locked and if you try pulling on the actual circle, you can make it smaller or larger but in the same spot.
- The other thing is when you are selecting an item, sometimes you need to click, release/pause and click again and then move.
- Last comment, Just so you realize FreeCad or any program that can give you a vector image is only one part of getting the design to FireControl. You will need to process the design with a CAM procedure in either Fusion 360 or SheetCAM. That will create the gcode file that FireControl needs to control the table operation.
Welcome to the forum.
If you still had the circle tool selected, it will continue to draw circles wherever you click next. When you are done drawing the circle, right click to go back to the cursor.
Freecad is not going to auto scale your drawing. You have to scale the drawing before doing your sketch.
I don’t ever use the method of drawing over an image in freecad. I prefer to take measurements and draw the part myself for better accuracy.
On occasion, I use Inkscape if I have to do a drawing from an image. That is only for parts that don’t require a high degree of accuracy.
I don’t use Fusion at all, so someone else will have to help you with that
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It might sound crazy but I think some of the struggles is with the laptop not having a mouse to do the drawings. I have big hands and I find this laptop crammed to use. I was only trying to draw over the image because I assumed that would be the quickest way of making the part. I used a caliper to measure the part and make a sketch so I will try draw the part up again and see what happens. When you talk about the accuracy of inkscape and parts do you mean that you cant be very detailed? Like hole size of .375 or a corner with a .5 radius? or? thanks again
Thank you for the tips. So to clear everything, Fusion 360 is a one stop shop. But if I’m using freeCAD, I will also need to download SheetCAM to turn the design into a gcode for FireControl to read.
You just can’t effectively do any CAD drawing without a mouse.
My comments about accuracy have more to do with absolute positioning of features and scaling.
As far as scaling, you have to measure the part and then import the picture and try to scale the picture to match your measurements. It will get close enough most of the time. On larger parts you might be an 1/8 to 1/4 off, because the picture never has clean lines.
In terms of positional accuracy of features, Inkscape doesn’t have the ability to use constraints to position things. You can’t just put in horizontal and vertical dimensions to position a hole a certain distance from another point or feature. There are ways to make it work, but it’s not as simple as CAD.
By simple, I don’t mean leaving CAD is simple. I mean once you learn how to constrain things in CAD, it is much easier to do.
100% agree .
Trackpads are tools of the Devil
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As are Apples…
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Exactly. There are many people that just use Fusion for the CAM operation since the hobby version is free but if you don’t plan to learn the design aspects of Fusion 360, adding SheetCAM would be a good choice and you wouldn’t regret it.
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I second that… I actually have a 3D SpaceMouse I use along side a wireless mouse.
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Absolutely necessary if you use Fusion. Not so much with 2D CAD…
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Folks I just wanted to take a second and thank everyone on this post for helping me along with this process. It answered a ton of grey area questions I had. I downloaded the free trial of fusion yesterday and played around with that. First impression is there is half the clutter and tools to confuse a guy compared to FreeCAD. I was able to effectively draw up my part and look at it in a 360* motion. I followed the tutorial videos on Langmuir’s website and a fella on youtube. My next challenge today is to get the part to CAM and set up tool paths etc. I started it last night but I seen real quick that the videos made five years ago do not match the newer autodesk software so i may have some more questions later. thanks again!
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I use FreeCad and export a .dxf file for SheetCam to import. Then Sheetcam exports a G-Code .tap file for FireControl to import. There’s no getting around spending time learning to use these tools. It’s not quick and easy. You have to spend hours reading, watching, doing, and repeating. Over time the tools become easier to use and the great results all along the way are very satisfying.
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