3D

FreeCAD

I am a Fusion 360 user. It is a CAD program mainly used for industrial product development but also for prototyping. It offers many plugins for CNC machines, 3D printers, and more.

I like that it provides the perfect balance for me as both a maker and a product designer working with technical sketches. I also use it for laser cutting, rendering, and video editing.

However, to step out of my comfort zone and expand my knowledge, I decided to try a new program in this tutorial. I’ve heard a lot about FreeCAD and appreciate open-source systems. So here are my first steps with FreeCAD:

1. Download the program here.

2. Start the program.

3. Create a new file on the right side.

4. Click on “New Sketch” (this workflow is similar to Fusion 360).

Then, choose a plane (XYZ) for your sketch.

5. There are several shape tools available. I chose the polygon tool because it’s what I need for my final project.

Now, this part became tricky for me—I was searching for the dimensioning tool but couldn’t find it at first.
It took some time, but here it is: Open this menu and select:

Click on the points you want to define the size for:

Now you can adjust the size.

6. My polygon needs a wall, and to get a perfectly aligned inner polygon, I used this button to copy the line:

To do this, you need to select the entire sketch. Hold the right mouse button, move from left to right, and once everything is selected, click again.

Now you have a second polygon line and can set the desired distance.

7. Now, we need to create a 3D body from the sketch.
To do this, switch from Sketch mode to 3D Parts and change from “Model” to “Tasks.”

Select the sketch part you want to extrude and click the “Pad” button:

You can also set the extrusion height. I chose 50.00mm for my wall.

To see what’s happening, you can navigate in two ways:
a) Press CTRL and left-click, then move the body.
b) Use the navigation cube on the right side—click on the desired view.

8. At this stage, we only have a frame, but we need a base. To add one, go to “Model” and make the sketch visible.

Select the inner polygon sketch lines and click “Pad” again. Set the extrusion height to 20.00mm and confirm.

Navigate around the body to check if everything looks correct:

And the first 3D body in FreeCAD is complete!

Now you can save it as a FreeCAD file. If you need another format, select the entire body and click “Export.”
I saved it in FreeCAD format and as a STEP file.

You can download the STEP file here: STEP File

You can download the Fusion file here: Fusion File