Microfactory Boot Camp - FreeCAD Workflow

A lecture on the basic workflow in FreeCAD that allows you to produce any 3D design - while using a restricted set of functions so that the functionality is easy to learn - by avoiding many other functions possible in FreeCAD. The goal of such an approach is to involve a large number of people in basic design - under the assumption that large-scale collaborative design works better when many people are coordinated to perform simple tasks - as opposed to a small number of expert users doing more advanced tasks as a smaller group. The workflow involves the Sketcher, followed by extrusions and pockets - followed by more sketches on faces for creating complex geometries. At 14:04 we also discuss the use of Sketcher for motion analysis of articulated joints.

Along with FreeCAD, we recommend BlocksCAD as a graphical interface on top of OpenSCAD - where OpenSCAD is more for power users. Also shown is the concept of importing real CAD from manufacturer websites as a way to create accurate CAD models and as a way to generate part libraries that can be reused in different machines of the OSE product ecologies.

We made 2 more very compact introductory videos on FreeCAD - which are referenced in the video below. These are the OSE FreeCAD Tutorial 1 and OSE FreeCAD Tutorial 2 videos, each about 5 minutes long. These must be paused every few seconds or rewatched several times to understand all the content found in them. This is because there is zero dead space in these videos - and these videos are for those people who are fast learners and who do not want to watch a more lengthy instructional. Lengthy instructionals also must be rewatched - so we believe that zero-dead space videos are the most effective way to transfer knowledge effectively.

Presented at the Open Source Microfactory 2018 Boot Camp.