Site logo

My journey learning FreeCAD 

Mon Jul 18 2022 

My journey learning FreeCAD 

black and white floral frame with brown wooden sticks

FreeCAD is a free and open-source solution for building virtual things and making them real. It can do way more than this (such build complex assemblies, edit existing files from other sources, and even help with doing cool stuff with lasers); but for me, it does all I want it to do.

That said, getting up to speed with FreeCAD has a lot of friction involved. It's definitely not an easy software, and the user interface requires a lot of understanding before jumping in and getting full use out of it. Even now, 7 months later - I'm not entirely convinced I'm very proficient at it.

Hopefully with this post, I'll share some challenges, resources and workarounds I've learned along to way to become proficient at getting things done, including mistakes and how I've worked through them.

But first...

Why FreeCAD? 

I don't like investing in software until I know it can effectively do what I need it to do. The more complicated a piece of software is to operate, the amount of investment also goes up. And if I want to "git gud" at whatever software I'm learning, I have to ultimately prepare myself for the largest investment: my time.

FreeCAD sits in an odd, but favorable place in terms of investment cost.

Unlike a traditional vendor model like a storeowner lending the front of their shop to a merchant, but also receiving a percentage of the profit (which is a transparent and mutually beneficial agreement); I don't have to deal with a storeowner who tells me I can freely use their storefront until the items I am displaying are valuable enough to warrant a paying them back (which is a lot less transparent, and slightly parasitic).

Click here if you'd like to opt-into reading a rant about why I didn't go with another CAD packages...

And I agree, most good and well-marketed software does this as well. But that's the thing. As a beginner, why would I spend time pleading for my right to use your software (to evaluate), but also not given enough time to become good enough to justify paying into a subscription model. And once I am proficient enough at using your software, why then punish me by giving me a lifetime "tax" for actually doing worthwhile things with your tools.

Getting started 

Faceless woman using laptop while sitting on bed
Learning does not require a fancy computer, but if you learn well enough you'll probably afford one - eventually 

If I told you that grasping FreeCAD, let alone CAD design principles was something that came immediately to me and that you could also learn just like I did; I'd probably be lying through my teeth. I won't do that.

I will tell you that if you dedicate some of your time, and a good amount of effort to trying your best, and looking up the hard-parts if you get lost (like I did), you'll probably be okay. I learned best from visually watching people explain the interface of FreeCAD, and learning how to to differentiate the different settings how when/how they are used into different ways, or different "flows."

Video courses 

I took my time finding content that I could easily digest and wasn't filled with unhelpful information - instead of watching the first videos I could find. I even avoided some larger-known creators, namely because from the few videos I saw - they already invested too much time and/or money into other CAD packages, so their opinions of FreeCAD were really all-over-the-place, and some of their content on FreeCAD was punitive towards it's free nature. Admittedly, a lot of them tried the software years ago - which meant that their rationale and ability to reflect on the usefulness of the software was very much tied to when they used it.

I needed to find people who weren't as closed-minded, and even moreso, people who were actively creating content on FreeCAD.

Introduction to CAD modeling with FreeCAD 

To first series that I found helpful was a small (but long) series from a youtuber called thehardwareguy. This man took time out of his normal content, which involved showing how to do CAD flows in other software, to do a really information rich, unbiased and CAD-uninitiated friendly walkthrough of how to create basic models in FreeCAD.

This man even was kind enough to bestow the importance of parametric design into my brain while learning CAD. This likely saved me hours of having to learn this after doing things the more brutalist way. He explains parametrization much better than I ever could.

I stopped on his 4th video, as at that point I was already too busy entrenched during my weekends figuring out how to throw together CAD models.

Intermediate and advanced CAD modeling with FreeCAD 

Once I started doing CAD, I challenged myself to make each project a little more advantageous than the last. Eventually, the projects I started to plan for required me to step out of my comfort zones, and start approaching tools in FreeCAD I hadn't used before, let alone had any understanding how to deeply configure them and make them do the things I wanted.

On a stroke of luck, I found a gold nugget on YouTube while scrolling down through multiple pages of YouTube's search: MangoJelly Solutions.

Despite the name, the channel does not in-fact delve into solving problems using Mango-flavored Jelly, but instead has an immensely rich catalog of self-documented FreeCAD projects. He enjoys going into detail about how each tool he's using works in terms of modeling, going through multiple permutations of his models to show different ways to approach the same problems, and talks with the approachability and demeanor of a high-school professor.

I can't even begin to describe how helpful this channel was to helping me bridge the gap between beginner concepts in CAD and solving more difficult, real-life problems. Like how to map curved surfaces, how to correctly loft between multiple surfaces, best practices when export models and how to correctly account-for and knowing how to switch between Workbenches in FreeCAD. Those are just some, of the many topics he covers in his FREE videos on YouTube.

If you find his videos helpful, please follow the prompts he has on his videos to go to his Patreon or Ko-fi site. I'm not quite sure why he makes these videos, but my guess is he's really passionate about it - and he's one of the few individuals on the planet who's openly documenting FreeCAD is such a detailed and approachable manner. Please support him if you can.

Finally, things I've learned 

While working in FreeCAD, I've picked up on tons of useful things that have made designs more easier to work through. Here's a small handful of them:

Return