So, I’m trying to print some older models from thingiverse and I have discovered that basically all the files I want to print have glaring flaws in them.
Internal free floating structures, connector pieces and holes that are the exact same size… So on and so forth…
Do I need to learn a software like CAD or Blender to fix these? I seem to be able to do some basic stuff in Orca Slicer but it honestly seems like as much of a pain to modify the parts there as it would be to use a real software.
Is there one that’s easier? I think I messed around with SketchUp once upon a time.
I am worried this feels like opening a can of worms just so that I can make a thing that already exists in a dozen forms better.
Tinkercad (free, closed source, in browser) is what I use. It’s very basic, but easy to learn.
So many CADs.
I grabbed FreeCAD but it made no sense to me.
So, FreeCAD. It’s a beautiful hot mess. There’s a 1.0 in beta right now that’s bringing some much needed changes.
FreeCAD has a lot of parallel capabilities; it has an architectural workbench for drawing buildings, a Drafting workbench for more traditional 2D drawing, the Part workbench for a weird kind of boolean approach, and the Part Design workbench for a more typical sketch-and-extrude parametric modeling workflow like Fusion360, Inventor or OnShape.
The workflow is you create a sketch and draw a 2D shape, and then extrude (FreeCAD uses the word Pad) it into 3D space, then you can draw further features on that to design the shape you want.
The basis of how it works is somewhat unintuitive at first. “Parametric” means you draw using rules. There’s a piece of software out there called OpenSCAD that is a very pure implementation of this because you “draw” by typing code in a kind of programming language. FreeCAD lets you represent rules by drawing things with the mouse. Rules like “this is a straight line. It is parallel to the X axis. It is 5cm long. The leftmost endpoint is 3cm from the X axis and 4cm from the Y axis.” There’s only one way to draw that line. Those rules may be called Constraints or Dimensions. The powerful part is you can later change one of the rules, like “Did I say 3cm from the X axis? I meant 4cm” and it’ll redraw the whole part for you. Get your head around that concept and CAD software will unlock.
The UIs are different, but the general concepts are similar for FreeCAD, OnShape and Fusion360, sometimes tutorials for one will be useful for learning the others.
Oh man I wanted to mention Ondsel but I just saw that they’ve shut down and it really bummed me out…
They did? I’ve been using it
They just announced it a week or two ago, but they’re keeping the server up for “a reasonable period” to allow users to migrate. From my understanding, many of their tweaks have been integrated into 1.0 and the team all plans to continue working with FreeCAD and submitting improvements.
All of their changes will be merged to freecad 1.0 apparently outside of a few UI changes that will be add-in options.
I was kind of wondering how long that project would last.
Damn, that’s really sad
Yeah abandon FreeCAD for now. It’s a powerful FOSS option, and the new v1.0 looks promising, but I second TinkerCAD to learn. It’s intuitive, and most of the principles you learn will translate fairly easily to other CAD software. Unless you’re trying to sculpt organic shapes, I’d focus off TinkerCAD
I second tinkercad for super basic parts. Need to print a knob for a radio that isn’t on thing-verse? 20min in tinkercad.
For blender basic things to learn could be plugging a hole in a part and adding a smaller or bigger one to match the screws you have on hand.
Or cutting a part in half to extend it, fill in the gap.
I’m both used CAD software professionally to do engineering and developed CAD software professionally, and TBH I, too, find FreeCAD difficult to use.
(I haven’t tried the latest versions that are supposed to be better yet, though.)
That’s all CAD software. You can’t just jump in and intuitively learn it by just doing it. It’s like trying to learn a programming language. You need a solid tutorial to explain the basics, at a minimum. Even with something simple like TinkerCAD.
FreeCAD was probably the worst choice. Give TinkerCAD a try. I know the FOSS community will hate me for saying this, but I like Autodesk Fusion for a full featured CAD package. It has a very steep learning curve, like all CAD software, and you need to watch some videos first. You will make a ton of mistakes and do even simple things wrong at first, but once you get going, it’s great to use.
Tinkercad is in the browser, super easy to use.
Tinkercad is just combining basic shapes, so there’s basically no learning curve.
Yeah I noticed that. Kinda feels like doing it in the slicer but with brighter colors.