Thickness question and general help

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Stephen3
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2020 8:47 am

Thickness question and general help

Post by Stephen3 »

Hi all
I finally have time to just playi around with Freecad. I'm drawing a simple box with a lid using spreadsheets and shape binders. The first question is my drawing methodology. I'm trying to; 1, new part ( lid~) new "body" however if for example, I place screw "studs" in each corner I end up with 4 x bodies, do I need a separate body for each screw "stud" ( round post into which a screw will go in each corner of the box).

2, Im re-naming each body as I draw it

3, is the use of "datum" planes helpful? when placing these "separate" bodies or holes on faces

2nd question; when using "Thicknesses" , drawing a box add a thickness 5mm , however, the "base" needs to be 10mm as there is a pocket in it. Is there a way to define a different thickness to the base different to the walls?

All advice gratefully received ...

Stephen

OS: Ubuntu 21.10 (KDE)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.29177 (Git) AppImage
Build type: Release

Locale: English/United Kingdom (en_GB)
Installed mods:
* Estimate 0.1.2
* sheetmetal 0.2.55
* A2plus 0.4.56a
* MOOC 2022.4.21
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chrisb
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Re: Thickness question and general help

Post by chrisb »

Stephen3 wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 2:02 pm 1, new part ( lid~) new "body"
You don't need the Part object, here. You need them if your model has several of them and in each are several bodies, and each of these Part containers should be handled as a unit, e.g. for moving all bodies together.
however if for example, I place screw "studs" in each corner I end up with 4 x bodies, do I need a separate body for each screw "stud" ( round post into which a screw will go in each corner of the box).
Such studs should go into the body where they belong to (unless you machine the box, and the studs are in fact small separate tubes.
2, Im re-naming each body as I draw it
Good idea!
3, is the use of "datum" planes helpful? when placing these "separate" bodies or holes on faces
DatumPlanes are helpful, if you have several sketches to be drawn on them. Otherwise it is often better to attach the sketches directly to what you intended the DatumPlane to be attached to.
2nd question; when using "Thicknesses" , drawing a box add a thickness 5mm , however, the "base" needs to be 10mm as there is a pocket in it. Is there a way to define a different thickness to the base different to the walls?
No, thickness cannot do that. I'm very hesitant to tell you an easy workaround, because it will make your model prone to break due to the topological naming problem.
You can, if you really want to, apply thickness and then select a face you want to be different and make directly a pad or pocket.

I don't recommend at your current level of knowledge to mix Part and PartDesign functions. Stay in PartDesign until you reach its limits and then use Part functions.
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
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papyblaise
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Location: France

Re: Thickness question and general help

Post by papyblaise »

to have thicker material around the hole, just add the thickness of the walls of the hole on the bottom,
a few days ago we already had the question to have a bottom of variable thickness, the answer is; Nope
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Stephen3
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2020 8:47 am

Re: Thickness question and general help

Post by Stephen3 »

Thank you all for the replies
With the cost of 3d printers becoming cheaper. It has allowed me to print rather than "make" things out of steel. For example, I needed a speedometer bracket to pass a local vehicle check,, Draw print done ! So Im finding that Im drawing more and more. Before it was a 2d cad and off to the local machine shop, then a long sit down after hearing the price! ,,
Freecad has become very useable for me. So I thank you all for the efforts and replies.

and I still find it amazing that Freecad words on this old machine ,, not a problem !

Kind Regards stephen
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