How to move Additive Blocks or Cylinder in Part Design?

[Fran_iii]

I've been trying to figure his out most of the afternoon so it's time to ask for some help.

In its simplest form here is what I'm having trouble with...

In Part Design, on the XY plane I create an Additive Block. The default is 10x10x10. That's fine.
Next I create a second Additive Block. Same size but the 2nd additive Block is at the same position as the first.

How do I get the 2nd one to move... say 20mm away on the X axis... or whatever?

I tried messing with the the "Attachment Mode" and also attempted to use the Move Command in Draft Mode... but after banging on it most of the afternoon I'm ready to hang it up and go drink beer.

Hopefully some kind soul will help me navigate this as I just can't believe it is that hard... I'm just missing something simple I think.

PS, I've read, searched, and watched video's but no joy.

Thanks for any help.

FreeCAD 19 on Windows 10 Intel I7 machine.

[chrisb]

You were very right to change the Attachment mode: Unfold it and change the x-value of the position; or use the Placement dialog to edit the AttachmentOffset.

[Fran_iii]

Thanks for the help Chris... however, Placement doesn't move the Additive Block no matter what I do.

Regarding Attachment Mode, since I don't have another object to "attach" it to... I haven't been able to just change the X value for either one side or one vertex.

I'm sure I'm making this harder than it should be so I really appreciate assistance.

[TheMarkster]

Select the Origin object and make it visible, then attach the box to the xy_plane (or one of the others if you prefer). You can then move the box by editing the attachment offset properties.

[edwilliams16]

Since with Part Design the paradigm is to make a single primitive object (like a box/cube) and the modify it with a series of feature operations, I presume that your second box is a new body to be turned into its own part.
When you make them, you get an attachment menu. I attached mine to the XY-plane. You can the move the boxes around with Attachment/Position in the data section of the combo-box.
If you were thinking of combining cubes with Boolean operations, you should be working with the Part Workbench not Part Design.

[TheMarkster]

Or he might wish something like this:

Snip macro screenshot-71ce78.png (50.38 KiB) Viewed 1330 times

which would be in a single Body.

[freedman]

OP, if your just starting in FreeCAD I think it's better to use sketches, it gives a better understanding of moving basic objects.

[chrisb]

If you add a primitive in PartDesign you see a blue coordinate system. If you click e.g. on the XY frame, the object is attached to the XY plane. You should do this as it is recommended to always attach things properly.

However, it is not strictly required. If you don't attach things, then, of course, you cannot move them by changing their AttachmentOffset. In that case you have to change their Placement directly.

[Fran_iii]

Thanks to all for the great response.

I was able to attach the Additive Box to the XY Plane and move it.

(Note, I changed from moving a 2nd Additive Box to moving any Additive Box...
So experiments are attempts to move a single Additive Box in Part Design.)

However if I attached the Additive Box to any other plane... say the XZ Plane...
and attempted to move the Additive Box 10 units up the Z Plane...
Well it didn't yield the expected results.
So I had to tell it to move 10 units on the Y Plane to get it to move 10 units on the Z plane.

And the Attachments Mode showed "XY on Plane" no matter which plane I attached the Additive Box to.

Selected XY Plane
Attachment Mode shows XY

Selected YZ Plane
Attachment Mode still shows XY

Selected YZ Plane
Attachment Mode still shows XY

Is this me misunderstanding things or a bug?

[papyblaise]

if you create a first additive object, it is fixed at the origin, if you want to add (or subtract) another one, do it in the same body, you will have an "attachment line or you can modify X Y Z