Newbie question

[meme2704]

Ok, I understand, there is the same question on the french site, is there a contest to rebuild Aleppo?
I propose the same solution:
Draw a path using the image of a simple text, draw the profile in a perpendicular sketch and do a sweep

[Roy_043]

The docs of Part Extrude says

Aha, thanks for pointing this out. Should have checked the docs myself of course...

[jayhova]

That looks pretty close. Is there an easy way to constrain the angles on the ends (the beginning and end of the sweep) so they are the same as on the sides? Also it's best to assume I am completely clueless as to how to do any of this or where to look to find out how. I have version .18 installed but I'm clueless as to the best approach. I had somewhat assumed that I could start with a 2D sketch and get my font to fully defined, but that's as far as I have gone. I have not even really played with the tools yet. I suppose I should figure out how to work in fractional inches first.

This is what I am trying to make

[chrisb]

It's always good to see what you are after. This font doesn't seem really to require bsplines. I would model it as sketch - that's what you did / intend to do - and use only arcs and lines. The Sketcher Polyline with its great M key is what I would recommend. Then you can extrude it using taper angle in Part workbench.

[jmaustpc]

Ok, I understand, there is the same question on the french site, is there a contest to rebuild Aleppo?
I propose the same solution:
Draw a path using the image of a simple text, draw the profile in a perpendicular sketch and do a sweep

That will work in some cases however you need to be careful as you might get invalid solids due to self intersections. This sort of more complex example is likely to also depend greatly on your FreeCAD version and particularly the OpenCasCade version it was compiled against.

I had somewhat assumed that I could start with a 2D sketch and get my font to fully defined, but that's as far as I have gone.

The first question is, do you know what the font is called? If so is there a computer font file available for that font? If so look at Draft shape string. If not then modelling the font in sketcher could work as well.

The exact answer may also depend on what you are going to make or use the FreeCAD file for, and how the item is going to be manufactured. For example it could in some case conceivably be easier to make a model and then just file a corner rather than spending time getting it perfect in the model. fillets and chamfers may be adequate.

can you post and example file for us to experiment with?

I suppose I should figure out how to work in fractional inches first.

look up "units" in the FreeCAD wiki. Units are set in your edit menu...preferences. But this is just the displayed units, FreeCAD always uses mm underneath. This in fact makes FreeCAD very powerful, you can view the same model in any units system or language. In terms of input, even with default settings, mm, you can still enter inches, FreeCAD just automatically calculates and displays mm. Be aware that combinations of units like feet and inches can cause complications where you want to apply maths to the values in FreeCAD, for example the behaviour of negative values may not be what you would expect.

[jayhova]

It's always good to see what you are after. This font doesn't seem really to require bsplines. I would model it as sketch - that's what you did / intend to do - and use only arcs and lines. The Sketcher CreatePolyline with its great M key is what I would recommend. Then you can extrude it using taper angle in Part workbench.

I'm pretty sure I can get away with just lines and arcs. I don't think I will have any issues doing that. After that is where I become clueless. The wiki link you included looks pretty desolate. Not sure what the M key does. Where can I look these things up?

[jayhova]

I had somewhat assumed that I could start with a 2D sketch and get my font to fully defined, but that's as far as I have gone.

The first question is, do you know what the font is called? If so is there a computer font file available for that font? If so look at Draft shape string. If not then modelling the font in sketcher could work as well.

The exact answer may also depend on what you are going to make or use the FreeCAD file for, and how the item is going to be manufactured. For example it could in some case conceivably be easier to make a model and then just file a corner rather than spending time getting it perfect in the model. fillets and chamfers may be adequate.

can you post and example file for us to experiment with?

I suppose I should figure out how to work in fractional inches first.

look up "units" in the FreeCAD wiki. Units are set in your edit menu...preferences. But this is just the displayed units, FreeCAD always uses mm underneath. This in fact makes FreeCAD very powerful, you can view the same model in any units system or language. In terms of input, even with default settings, mm, you can still enter inches, FreeCAD just automatically calculates and displays mm. Be aware that combinations of units like feet and inches can cause complications where you want to apply maths to the values in FreeCAD, for example the behaviour of negative values may not be what you would expect.

Who knows what the font is called if anything. The things I am looking to reconstruct are 70+ years old and the letters were likely purpose built for the job. Recreating the font should not be a challenge since I have dimensions to work from.

My plan is to 3D print the letters and use them to make molds to sandcast aluminum in.

I have not really even started as I didn't want to go down a dead end path because I didn't know what I was doing. I can probably get some 2D drafts tomorrow. Heck I don't even know if I can or should put multiple letters/parts in one file.

Fortunately all my measurements are in 1/8" increments and I don't really need to worry about any measurements larger than 3 1/2". I'm curious about positive a negative values as many letters are symmetrical and I will want to constrain things to be equidistant of a center line. A,M,W,V would be examples of this. I'll play around with creating a couple of correctly sized letters.

[chrisb]

I'm pretty sure I can get away with just lines and arcs. I don't think I will have any issues doing that. After that is where I become clueless. The wiki link you included looks pretty desolate. Not sure what the M key does. Where can I look these things up?

The link is Sketcher CreatePolyline. It's nothing complicated, try yourself: Use the polyline tool and click two points to get a straight line. Now press repeatedly the M key and whatch how the line is extended with smooth or rectangular connections.

If you want to dig further into Sketcher you may want to work through my tutorial: https://owncloud.gwdg.de/index.php/s/HS ... I/download

[meme2704]

Is there an easy way to constrain the angles on the ends

After having tested several cards to play, I only have a handcrafted solution: place at the ends of the letters a cutting prism
Sorry I have not better

[jayhova]

Okay after a few tries I managed to get a basic 2D shape that turned green. I started with "I" because it seemed the easiest. I used the polyline tool never figured out what the M key was supposed to do. I just made a rough shape and constrained points until it turned green.