basic drilling template

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Bogu7
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Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 6:50 am

basic drilling template

Post by Bogu7 »

This is driving me absolutely nuts :(

I have figured out how to make a basic shape. Even put a hole in it! This is the core of what I am trying to make for my first 3D printed object - a basic drilling template to help out on my drill press, where precision is important. But I cannot piece together how to get the dimensions exactly what they need to be.

As a bonus, I could put an double-height ring around the outside of the template, to help hold the items I am drilling. But I would be more than happy with simply having the holes in the exact place for now.

Could someone try to walk me through this? It is the easiest thing in the world to do with librecad and friends, but I guess I simply do not understand what constraints are and how to make the dimensions what I want.
kisolre
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Re: basic drilling template

Post by kisolre »

If you could post your progress so far and a simple hand sketch/drawing/example image/... somebody will try to help you. Give us something to work with :)
Also dont forget your FreeCAD info as per IMPORTANT link above.
Bogu7
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Joined: Thu May 30, 2019 6:50 am

Re: basic drilling template

Post by Bogu7 »

Thanks for the response. Sorry for the vagueness, I think I did that because I am so unsure that I am anywhere near the right path. I felt like I was best off throwing it all out and asking someone where to even begin.

So I sketched out a disk, padded to a decent Z size for this use. But I have extremely important dimensions that must be followed, and I am not understanding how to get those into the model. I am used to cad programs where I can select, drag, snap to grid, maybe even count a little bit, and boom I get what I want. But here I am, lost, believing that "constraints" are somehow what I am supposed to be using, but not even understanding what that means.

FYI i want a 98mm disk, with 4x 2mm holes equally spaced in a circle 12mm inset from the edge.
Attachments
drilldisk.FCStd
(11.24 KiB) Downloaded 49 times
kisolre
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Re: basic drilling template

Post by kisolre »

kisolre
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Re: basic drilling template

Post by kisolre »

Here is a simple way to model your drill disk. For the holes there is construction rectangle with equality constraint between the sides to make it square and symetry between points and center of coordinate system to position it properly.
drilldisk_kiss.JPG
drilldisk_kiss.JPG (57.1 KiB) Viewed 1998 times
Attachments
drilldisk_kiss.FCStd
(15.33 KiB) Downloaded 39 times
Bance
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Location: London

Re: basic drilling template

Post by Bance »

A simple way to do it.....
drilldiskbance.FCStd
(13.62 KiB) Downloaded 54 times
kisolre
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Re: basic drilling template

Post by kisolre »

Bance wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:59 pm A simple way to do it.....
Bogu7 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:15 pm a basic drilling template to help out on my drill press, where precision is important.
Your first sketch is no fully constrained ;)
drilldiskbance.JPG
drilldiskbance.JPG (61.23 KiB) Viewed 1991 times
TheMarkster
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Re: basic drilling template

Post by TheMarkster »

One of the great things about FreeCAD is there are usually many ways to accomplish the same task. Here I show a sketchless way using boolean operations on primitive objects created in Part workbench, along with a polar array from Draft workbench. And to make it more parametric, I used the DynamicData workbench. (You don't need the DynamicData workbench installed in order to be able to make use of the dd object in the attached file.) Setting up the DynamicData parameters initially can be a chore, but is worth the effort later when you wish to modify the model, such as making a 3-hole pattern instead of 4, etc.

phpBB [video]
Attachments
drilldisk-dynamic-data-example.FCStd
(8.12 KiB) Downloaded 31 times
Bance
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Location: London

Re: basic drilling template

Post by Bance »

There's always room for improvement I guess
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bejant
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Re: basic drilling template

Post by bejant »

Bogu7 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:15 pm It is the easiest thing in the world to do with librecad and friends, but I guess I simply do not understand what constraints are and how to make the dimensions what I want.
Bogu7 wrote: Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:10 pm I am used to cad programs where I can select, drag, snap to grid, maybe even count a little bit, and boom I get what I want. But here I am, lost, believing that "constraints" are somehow what I am supposed to be using, but not even understanding what that means.
Constraints are the things we use in a Sketch to define lengths / relationships (parallelism, perpendicularity, tangency, equality, symmetry, and more) of / between the edges in a Sketch. We can create geometry inside a Sketch, and we can use Snapping while creating the geometry, but that geometry isn't truly defined just because the cursor snapped to the grid (or maybe the cursor snapped to something else) while we created the geometry. To properly define Sketch geometry we use Constraints.

I also wholeheartedly recommend that you read chrisb's Sketcher tutorial. While replying to your post I looked back through your other two topics, and will mention that I experienced similar difficulties trying to grasp the work flow while learning FreeCAD. After I had gained some reasonable level of proficiency I put some video tutorials on YouTube. FreeCAD (and pertinently the Part Design WB) has since evolved, while the video content has remained unchanged, so the videos have become obsolete. But even so, I think it will be helpful for you to watch them; the playlist is here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... KAnEjJGe8q
The Part Design work flow is now significantly different, but the Sketcher concepts and work flow are largely the same. My suggestion is that you simply watch them to get a better understanding of how we use Constraints, and (because the Part Design work flow has since changed) that you do not try to follow along step-by-step. I think that if you simply watch the videos, then read chrisb's tutorial, using Sketcher and Part Design won't be so unclear for you.

Regardless of whatever advice you follow don't hesitate to post back if you might need more help, or if something is still confusing or unclear.
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