Boolean but keep tool body

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TurbulentViscosity
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Boolean but keep tool body

Post by TurbulentViscosity »

Hello,

I am relatively new to FreeCAD. I searched around for a question like this and was fairly surprised it hasn't come up before (or my search term wasn't very good..)

Most CAD packages offer a way to keep the tool body after doing a boolean. I don't see this anywhere in FreeCAD, which often means I'm duplicating work to maintain two different parts. Is there any method of doing this or has it not been developed/planned?

Thanks!
chrisb
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by chrisb »

In Part workbench the components of booleans are kept as separate objects, they are just made invisible.
In PartDesign, booleans are used rarely, because the features themselves always include a union or a cut. So there you may change the modeling.

If you need the original object in a different place you can use a Clone from Draft workbench. It inherits the shape but can be moved.
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TedM
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by TedM »

Just to reiterate what @chrisb said about the Part WB: when you do a boolean, the elements disappear but they are still accessible. If you expand the boolean, you'll see the elements and you can select them again for another boolean.

When I first started, I kept re-creating parts to use in different booleans. Then I discovered Draft->clone. Then I realized I could expand the earlier booleans and grab them out of there. (I'm a CAD newbee. I'm sure it shows.)

Clones are still useful if you need to change the placement of the element for the second boolean.
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Cekuhnen
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by Cekuhnen »

So the clone tool is the way to go for doing two boolean cuts with the same tool object on two target bodies?
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TheMarkster
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by TheMarkster »

Cekuhnen wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:18 pm So the clone tool is the way to go for doing two boolean cuts with the same tool object on two target bodies?
If you need to move the cutting tool, then you need to clone it, move the clone, and use the clone as the cutting tool on the other body. Otherwise when you move the tool its placement also gets updated for the first boolean.
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Cekuhnen
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by Cekuhnen »

What if work one tool you want just to keep the tool

Like a Cup cutting its space put of a handle

But you want to keep both
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TheMarkster
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by TheMarkster »

Cekuhnen wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 5:28 pm What if work one tool you want just to keep the tool

Like a Cup cutting its space put of a handle

But you want to keep both
The tool is still there you just need to make it visible again to see it. It can be further used just as if you had never used it as tool, for example in a future fusion operation.
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Cekuhnen
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by Cekuhnen »

ah - ok it was suggested not to reuse tools this way - thank for the extra clarification
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chrisb
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by chrisb »

Cekuhnen wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:34 pm ah - ok it was suggested not to reuse tools this way - thank for the extra clarification
Where was it suggested?
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Cekuhnen
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Re: Boolean but keep tool body

Post by Cekuhnen »

chrisb wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:34 pm
Cekuhnen wrote: Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:34 pm ah - ok it was suggested not to reuse tools this way - thank for the extra clarification
Where was it suggested?
ChrisB You mentioned that it can be used but should not be done this way.

It was in a thread where I talked about how interesting the tree stack system here is with always showing also previous steps in Part Design WB.
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