Connecting multiple lines into single object

[sanbornc]

Hopefully this will be an easy answer, but I have not been able to find the answer in the online resources.

I have an object which I imported and it is made up of multiple lines. Is there a way to combine the multiple lines into a single object.
Thanks
Chris


OS: Windows 10
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.16.6706 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-16
Hash: f86a4e411ff7848dea98d7242f43b7774bee8fa0
Python version: 2.7.8
Qt version: 4.8.7
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 6.8.0.oce-0.17

[NormandC]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forum.

Is there a way to combine the multiple lines into a single object.

Yes and no, it depends. What is your intent with this shape? Do you want to extrude it into a solid?

In theory, the outer contour formed of the three lines and the arc should be upgradable to a closed Wire using the Draft Upgrade tool (a Wire is a set of contiguous edges). But it is not working. I'm guessing it's a precision issue, the end points of the objects may not be perfectly coincident to some very small amount.

Here's a workaround:

1. Select all objects
2. Switch to the Draft Workbench, and click on the Draft Draft2Sketch tool
3. All objects are converted into separate sketches. Select them in the Model tree.
4. Switch to either the PartDesign workbench, or the Sketcher workbench.
5. Go to the Part Design or Sketch menu, and select Merge sketches. This merges all sketches into one.
6. Hide the previous elements and keep only Sketch005 visible (select them in the tree and hit the spacebar to toggle their visibility).
7. Now that we have a sketch, we can fix the precision issue with the end points. Still in either the Part Design or Sketcher workbench, select Sketch005 then open the Part Design/Sketch menu and select Validate sketch.
8. Under Missing coincidences, set the tolerance to 0.01 and click on the "Find" button. A dialog will report 4 missing coincidences found. Click OK to close, then click on "Fix" button in the sidebar.

The sketch is now ready to extrude into a solid using the PartDesign Pad feature.

FC_sanbornc_Front HID Bracket_01.png (4.6 KiB) Viewed 16405 times

[cox]

@NormandC

Nice post and explanation.

[NormandC]

Thanks!

[sanbornc]

My plan is to extrude it into a solid piece. This will be an aluminum plate to weld onto a roof rack to mount flood lights on. I have rebuild this piece using multiple lines and filled it in, but the process seems less than efficient. I'm very new to this program so I'm sure there is an easy way to do this.

Thanks for the information.
Chris

[NormandC]

I have rebuild this piece using multiple lines and filled it in, but the process seems less than efficient. I'm very new to this program so I'm sure there is an easy way to do this.

Yes, what you did is rather involved and you still do not have a solid body, but a collection of faces. My explanation will give you a solid in far fewer steps. Just let me know if you require more details. Learning FreeCAD can seem daunting at first, but stick with it and do not hesitate to ask questions here, quite a few of us will be eager to help.

Norm

[degarb]

In 19 isnt there a single tool to do this yet?

I am trying to get a cnc router of my drawing, but he needs a single object, 2d. I haven't plans to use 3d at this time.

[Bance]

Yeah it's called sketcher....

[degarb]

Yeah it's called sketcher....

I am not sure why you Bance even bother reading the board (this is the first attempt I see from you to be helpful, unfortunately, not very because finally discovered that not closing certain dialogs allowed me to use part design and sketcher after a week of freecad use. No one told me to keep these dialogs open. And on no video did they pop up on other people's machines.), but here is where I am at.

I found a guy with a cnc router, but can only do one part at a time. He cannot use a dfx of lines and circles and arcs.

So far, I have tried the upgrade draft tool. I was able to use this thread to make a single sketch, then had to copy it to a body, not able to find attach.

did the validation, which did nothing that I could see. Closed it.

I am still not able to export it as a single image, even after trying to fiddle with all the export preferences.

[Bance]

You have been offered help in all of your dozen or so threads about the same thing, unfortunately you obstinately refuse to accept the advice.

I understand that you are reluctant to share your highly valuable trade secrets, but that wouldn't stop you from showing some simple idea of what you might need. From there you might be able to actually do the task you have set yourself, instead of repeatedly claiming that the software has failed you.

Here is a pizza slice with peperoni, took less than 5mins, maybe 5 more for a drawing.

You may figure out how to do it by opening the file, selecting the last feature(polar pattern) and pressing the space-bar, everything will then be invisible, select sketch in the tree and press the space-bar, the sketch will appear, then select Pad(space-bar,) then sketch001(see where i'm going with this?)

pizza.png (13.36 KiB) Viewed 6018 times

OS: Linux Mint 20.1 (XFCE/xfce)
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.19.
Build type: Release
Branch: unknown
Hash: e8566f22bbeb0b7204e3c45519d0963e8881100b
Python version: 3.8.5
Qt version: 5.12.8
Coin version: 4.0.0
OCC version: 7.5.1
Locale: English/United Kingdom (en_GB)
03/04/21