Moving element/group of faces in a body?

[monovertex]

Hello,

I am just beginning to use FreeCAD and I am trying to modify an existing model.

I started from a .step file, which has several objects. I separated one of them in a new Part and then created a new Body from it. I plugged two holes using sketches & pad, after which I refined the shape to eliminate the extra paths.

I now want to translate two of the holes in the original model, like described in the picture:



From what I read so far, either this is not something easily doable in CAD software, but it seems that it should be simple to achieve and maybe I am missing something.

System details:
OS: Windows 10
Word size of OS: 64-bit
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.18.4 (GitTag)
Build type: Release
Branch: releases/FreeCAD-0-18
Hash: 980bf9060e28555fecd9e3462f68ca74007b70f8
Python version: 3.6.6
Qt version: 5.6.2
Coin version: 4.0.0a
OCC version: 7.3.0
Locale: English/UnitedStates (en_US)

[chrisb]

but it seems that it should be simple to achieve and maybe I am missing something.

It's not like it seems.
The step file has no history. So you cannot move the holes. You can close them, e.g. by adding material or by using Part->Defeaturing and then create new holes in the appropriate places.

[monovertex]

but it seems that it should be simple to achieve and maybe I am missing something.

It's not like it seems.
The step file has no history. So you cannot move the holes. You can close them, e.g. by adding material or by using Part->Defeaturing and then create new holes in the appropriate places.

Would it be possible to close them and copy one of the other holes exactly with a sketch? I am thinking something that copies them precisely, not doing it manually.

[chrisb]

FreeCAD as a parametric modeler is not like a paint program, where you can copy portions of an image and paste them in some other place.
You can use existing holes for external references in a sketch and thus to create an exact copy, but you still have to create it.

[monovertex]

FreeCAD as a parametric modeler is not like a paint program, where you can copy portions of an image and paste them in some other place.
You can use existing holes for external references in a sketch and thus to create an exact copy, but you still have to create it.

Alright, I suspected that was the case. Thank you very much for your help, time to get to work!

[TheMarkster]

There could be some clever way of doing what you wish. If you upload your model I will have a look. How far do you wish to move those 2 windows in the +x direction?

[papyblaise]

A simple solution: you map a Sketch on the face using the edges of the holes as a reference,
you Pad to close the holes,
you clone the previous sketch that you place in the right place in X and you Pocket

[mrdic]

Faces can be extracted from a dumb solid using draft|offset (select face and T,R, escaping from the tool leaves a zero-thickness face) and extruded along edges, then added or subtracted from the body to move cutouts like those. Cylindrical and ellipsoid faces extracted with draft|offset can be part|offset/filled (different tool) to alter the radius of fillets and ellipsoid features. Not the direct edit tools that some CAD programs have, they're informal feature extraction and transformation methods that don't need a parametrization overhead or broad rebuild strategy.