FreeCAD v1.1

Recently one of the magnet holders for my window shutters broke, and I thought I'd take a crack at designing a replacement to 3D Print. I'd never designed anything in CAD software before, so I had no real reference.

I found FreeCAD extremely easy to use and intuitive. I watched a couple videos and followed-along with the tutorials, then started on my own item. It's a relatively simple 3-part component. I took measurements with digital calipers, and in a few hours was printing the first prototype.

A couple prototypes later (small measurement adjustments to account for plastic shrinkage, etc), I had the final model. Replaced all of the magnet holders since they were sure to go soon, too.

I had fun, and finally used my 3D printer for something "real". Pretty cool.

I post this in every FreeCAD thread: If you're going to start designing something with it, use the spreadsheet tool to make everything parametric. You'll save yourself a ton of time as your designs get more complicated.

Maybe this isn't anything new to experience CAD users. I don't know if other CAD tools do this as I started using FreeCAD after playing with 3D printing.

Is it any closer to functioning like Solidworks, NX, Creo, and all the other professional CAD software packages?

Edit: After opening it up it seems better than before but still not a replacement. I can use the draw tool to create a rectangle but than immediately cannot apply symmetry or equal length constraints until I delete others which shouldn't overlap. Clicking to create a cut or hole opens up a window that does not make it easy to create a new sketch from within or place something from within (but you can just make a sketch were you want something and then open them up and that they lock onto).

I've generally been a pretty harsh critic of FreeCAD because it represents the only entry in the market of linux CAD and it has frustrated me that it does not just do what is known to work. This seems usable. Still annoying, still not a replacement, but usable. So progress.

I’m a furniture maker (like, for money). I’ve been using it for largely 2-D jig making for a few years and it’s been great in conjunction with a ShopBot for precise templates.

I updated to the 1.1 release candidates, and it’s been great. I do a lot of design for people who are remote, and being able to model things with more complex curves has been a game changer. Sketchup is adequate at the free level and not good enough to convince me to upgrade to paid.

The Assembly workbench has let me use FreeCAD much more closely to how I think about putting a piece together, and the sketcher-based workflow is a godsend for curved work.

1.1 is a huge leap forward. I delivered a table last year that I modeled for the client in FreeCAD. The model was super rough. I’m designing chairs for it now, and for the first time, I feel like my skills are the limit, and not the software.

If you’ve found it clunky before, it still has its rough edges, but it’s legitimately at the point where I think the good parts are good enough for me to overlook the rough edges and move to FreeCAD almost entirely.

Slightly unrelated to this story, but I’m curious if anyone has good resources for learning FreeCAD. I have quite a lot of experience with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, OnShape, and similar software, but FreeCAD has always been hard for me to pick up.

Highlights reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9biWv_M8p8

Release Notes: https://wiki.freecad.org/Release_notes_1.1

FreeCAD is really the only serious contender for CAD on Linux. I love how everything is hackable via Python APIs. Every release seems to fix more and more UX issues. I have very high hopes for it to eventually start attracting more commercial usage, much like KiCad and Blender did in their spaces. We need more open software like that.

I like FreeCAD but I use it so rarely that I forget how to use it by the time I need it again.

So I returned to Fusion 360 (for the time being).

Maybe this new FreeCAD version is easier to use?

Freecad never really clicked with me. Tried it most recently in 2023 and the user experience just didn't make sense to me. My impression was that freecad is one of those projects were things have been a certain way for a long time (UX/UI wise I mean) and it works for those people so it will never change. For my small cad usage I just went with onshape.

I vibecoded a suitcase handle months ago with its Python interface. A pleasant experience.

Looking forward to this update. There are so many hidden gotchas in FreeCAD once you get past the basics. Load of bugs and head scratching issues. However its free and local so can’t complain to much.

This is awesome! Kudos to the developers, they really went above and beyond for this release.

In coming time you can see freecad massively improving.

This space lacks good opensource solution.

I have tried creating my parts, tried tinkercad (which is simple but limited)

Tried fusion. And pretty much other things don't support mac.

I've a hunch lots of vibe coders are going to come and launch stuff like freecad and Gimp (which I never liked, can't even get simple tasks done in gimp)

Future is bright for opensource powered by LLM coding on steroids.

I've designed some basic parts in Tinkercad and openscad but have never really been able to grok Freecad or Fusion. Is there a good resource for making that leap? Just the explosion of menu bar options is a lot

Congrats - the release video is very impressive !

I was not expecting so many improvements in this version alone, I'm impressed. I was already using it for 3d printing but now it seems it's getting actually good, makes me wonder how I was able to use the previous version.

TL;DR: I wish they'd just align with Blender on UX, TBH.

I wish they settled on a nicer UX with less visual clutter. I use Blender and it is a _massively_ more complex application in every regard, yet its right-aligned panel and progressive exposure of toolbars feels infinitely more polished than FreeCad's clunky panel (which is often rendered with huge, oversized fields and buttons) and their legendary five-stacked toolbars.

Feels like that satirical Gillette ad, and is much harder to use and navigate, especially since quite a few UX options need to be turned on in Preferences to be usable...