Just started learning Freecad (ver.21.2) this morning. This video was instrumental in giving me the insight I needed to move forward with my first project. Thank you for such a methodical, well constructed video.(no previous experience with CAD packages)
I love the way you do not rush through the video and assume we are all up to speed with what you are showing us. Definitely some of the best tuition around. Thank you.
Hi again. I am using Freecad 0.20.0 and everything went fine until I encountered a problem. At 20:54 you defined the dimension of the pocket by referencing to the - Wallthckness-alias in your spreadsheet. When I enter the formular in the Z-position entry field the Formular entrybox tells me already the result is -4.00 mm. However, the box still had no bottom. I changed the formular by deleting the minus infront of the Wallthickness Alias and now my box has a parametric bottom. Strange. I thnk the reason is that all my sketches are layed in they same xy plane, the pocket and lugs as well. Thus I had to modify the parameters fpr the pocket and lugheigth accordingly. Nevertheless, it works great. What a joy! Next step-> the lid. Thank you very much agian. Great tutorial with reak benefit for my electronic projects. 👏🙏
@@Adventuresincreation Just finsihed garden watering system on a Pi W. Doing a door lock for my graddaughters drawer for a laugh based on Pico. Have a Pi5 now running my Anet EX5 Pro printer from a PC before. Will use the box design to add a camera bracket to improve that. Being playing with Freecad for a while but I was brought up with T square a not mouse although electronics has always been my trade. I am also a radio ham. Thanks for asking lovely for you to bother.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I just started using FreeCAD and some of the tutorials out there just are too advanced for me to understand, I suppose. But this one was clear, concise, and easy to understand (imo). The Spreadsheet workbench and EasyAlias macro I had no idea about before, but I'm glad to have learned about it because it will make designing an enclosure a lot more efficient in the future. Definitely going to use the simple enclosure as a basis for future projects.
This is my first try at using FreeCAD. Lots of rewinds (to figure out where I needed to add the next sketch), and also realized that I needed to use your startup macro to create the Part (remember this was my first attempt) - however it was well worth it. I was able to reproduce your *excellent* design. Thank you very much.
@@Adventuresincreation hi thanks for video. I managed to do the spreadsheet but my model does not change when putting in values and got exclamation mark at my sketch. Sorry is my 3rd day at using this software only used corel x4 for laser cutting (No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view. 10:33:40 Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.') : No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view. 10:34:20 Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.') : No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view. 10:34:38 Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.') : No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view. 10:35:01 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B13: Property 'B2' not found in 'B2' 10:35:01 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'int' in expression: B13 / 2 10:35:01 Recompute failed! Please check report view. 10:35:05 Transactions.cpp(359): exception while restoring Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B13: Bad dynamic_cast! 10:35:05 Transactions.cpp(359): exception while restoring Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Bad dynamic_cast! 10:35:11 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14' 10:35:11 Recompute failed! Please check report view. 10:35:12 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14' 10:35:12 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Property 'B13' not found in 'B13' 10:35:12 Recompute failed! Please check report view. 10:35:13 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Property 'B13' not found in 'B13' 10:35:13 Recompute failed! Please check report view. 10:35:15 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14' 10:35:15 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Property 'B13' not found in 'B13' 10:35:15 Recompute failed! Please check report view. 10:35:16 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14' 10:35:16 Recompute failed! Please check report view. 10:35:54 Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.') : No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view. 10:39:24 Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.') : No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view. 10:39:36 Traceback (most recent call last):)
Jan 13 2022 Revisited to 'relearn' all the bits I had forgotten. Easy to follow and simple to see what you are doing, mostly, he he. Going on to see the 'lid' now as my lid looks NOTHING like what yours looks like. Brilliant.
This is an excellent tutorial, got me up and running on my own electronics enclosure very quickly. Before I found it wasted a many hours messing about trying to use the manual, to no avail!
Great tutorial! I did this on version 1.0. I did the sketch for the inside pocket and the lugs differently, by adding the sketches on the top surface of the box. Then for the pocket length I used a new spreadsheet entry called box_inside_height. The only thing that I did not manage to do was the multi transform. I worked around it by using symmetry in the lug sketch, but then I had to apply the spreadsheet constraints to all four corners, which was a but tedious.
Exactly what I was searching for. I want to build the 'classic' version of the Forumslader, mount the stuff on top of a 'klick fix' mounting and give it a housing with some 3-d printed box. I'm shure I'll get it done with your tutorial. Thank you!
That spreadsheet tool is so useful. Saves so much time and makes it easier to come back a alter your creation. Very noob friendly tutorial. Spent the whole day trying to learn this program and you made it so simple for me in the future. Thank you!
I was following Roland's tutorials, but as you know they are out of date now, and found your tutorial. Excellent. I'm will be using the spreadsheet in many future projects. The only thing missing are PCB mounts, but I'm sure I can figure that out on my own.
@@Adventuresincreation I have a picture of what I made but simply, what I did was I created a sketch, made two circles (pcb_hole_dia, and pcb_hole_dia+1.5*wall_thickness), and padded the outside circle at a height I defined in the spreadsheet has pcb_mount_height (5mm). I also defined a pcb_mount_center_length and width to place it. It worked, but now I'm trying to figure out how to double it horizontally at a specific distance (distance between pcb mounting holes) and the same for the width so that I have a mount for all 4 holes in the pcb.
Great video. Very elegant use of the spreadsheet feature, which to me, was the most enjoyable section. I’m looking now at ways to make the spreadsheet update all parameters automatically just by altering the box length, for various standard sizes. Thanks for this lesson.
Brilliant! I'm not dumb by any means, but boy how do some video tutors not know how to teach (30 Seconds in: "Step 103... do this..." - WHOA! Where is step 2?!!). So I wanted to design a project box for an amateur radio unit, and have parameters that I could alter later on as I expect a LOT of boxes in my future. I came across this tutorial. I'm following well! Thank you.
@@Adventuresincreation yes, I'm saying (badly!) that your instructions are clear, you don't rush, I can see the screen you're clicking on and the settings you're making, plus even the odd error you make is a relief because I made the same error by following you accurately 🤣 I currently have my first box-with-lid printing on my AnyCube printer 👍
Coming from the CG realm and trying to get into FreeCAD as a hobby was hard. Tutorials are either a 15-minute hyper advanced technique or 28 Hour tutorials that cover the Ui (part 1). Your tutorials are precise, on point and cover exactly the necessary Utilities. I work mostly with Houdini and Blender, so I am aware of most techniques, but figuring out the Ui, Workflows and individual quirks of FreeCAD was hard until I found your channel. So Cheers for that
Glad to hear. I love to "play" with Blender, I wish I was better at it. I have the same UI issues with Blender. I use it for all my video editing, but I often can't find the techniques for the modeling.
I had been making PCB layouts but just got into 3D printing and was struggling in getting my head wrapped around with how to make 3d part. Your tutorial got me to make my first drawing in couple of hours.
Thanks. That was a great introduction to FreeCAD, and produced something I have a lot of uses for. Now I just need to make the lid, and get a 3D printer working!
Thanks a lot for your tutorial, I'm replicating what you're doing and learning a lot ! I noticed you have one free contraint left on the lug - it's the angle of the pie. You freedrew it as a right angle but it might not be perfectly 90°. Selecting the two segments from the corner, press the angle button and write in 90° will fix that. Perfect parametric box!
I was looking for just such a tutorial video. It has become very informative in terms of content as well as useful to me, as a beginner! I designed my own electronics box, but it's "take-all". I think I'm going to plagiarize the making. ;-) Thank you very much!
This is one of the most useful FC videos I have watched, so thanks! I do lots of electronics and microcontroller projects, so 3d printed enclosures are a must. I have not scanned the comments, so my two cents may be a repetition of previous comments. I prefer to set up the spreadsheet aliases at the start. That way calculated spreadsheet values can use meaningful names instead of cell numbers. Also I rename the spreadsheet to something short ("sp") to save some keystrokes. Finally (and this is just my way) I did the inner pocket by putting a datum plane at box_height and pocketing downward.
Thank you for the guide. I damaged the cover of my installation box and wanted to remake it for some time. I got the 3D printer some time ago and Im confident now, that I can do it.
I have found this video and the matching lid video extremely useful. A similar video showing a cylinder instead of a box with a matching screw fit lid using the same style spreadsheet of parameters would be awesome. Maybe a suggestion for your next series of videos. grins.
Thanks for the suggestion Ian, I will bear that in mind for a future video. This weeks video is modeling a simple engine to demonstrate how to manage a multi-part model.
Hello , good tutorial! Kind of i get this ! How do you do lug socket screws? Or just need to get some iron female screws to diameter, then heat them up and hammer thouse in?!
Excellent, well paced, lucid, well considered video. One bit of feedback though, and I KNOW it's difficult to think of other stuff whilst trying to be focused on the design ... Try to pause for a second to allow users eyes to catch up to the cursor position before clicking. This is especially important when watching on a phone (I have a triple click function on mine that allows me to zoom in but it can take a little while to centre up properly.)
@@Adventuresincreation I've since run into the "topological naming problem". I've been reading into it a bit, and it seems that rather than sketching directly onto faces, one create datum planes on the primary planes, then sketching on that instead. Have you had any thoughts in that regard? I've tried doing it a couple times and made a mess of it so far
@@jblacktube it is an issue that is brought about by changing a model such that the faces change their reference ie face #1 might become face #3 so that anything that referenced face #1 is now referencing the wrong face. Using a datum plane that is attached to a model plane and offset will not suffer this fate.
Thankyou for the video. This is exactly what i needed. Great way to learn by watching and then doing. I managed to make the lid using the spreadsheet so that both parts are made and adjusted.
Nice! If your enclosure had a slightly smaller base in relation to the top. how you you make it? Using multiple lofts and boolean operations? Something like kradex Z75.
That freecad alias macro was a useful tip. Creating them is normally tedious. I usually rename my spreadsheet to something short like ss1 or whatever to reference it quickly by typing double s or whatever you choose.
@@Adventuresincreation Awesome. It might be really interesting how specifically you manage complex projects, i.e. involving body/parts creation, aligning parts, and merging everything together. I've been using FreeCAD for quite a while and I deeply love it. However, I find myself sometimes making things more complex than they should probably be. You know, like a convoluted way of creating things that are not scalable or adaptable for future corrections/upgrades, The idea of using spreadsheets is REALLY nice. Cheers!
@@DanielMelendrezPhD I will do some more complex designs. There are some convoluted pieces but once you navigate them freecad is a great piece of software.
Hi! Nice video. I'd like to know if there's a way to validate the input parameters such that the model doesn't get redundantly constrained. I looked up a bit but couldn't find a way to do this on the spread sheet. Let me know if you know how to do it. Thanks!
Nice tutorial, one thing you may want to mention is that on the straight lines for the lugs, these should have a vertical and horizontal constrait. If you dont, when you update the border thickness you may run into alignment issues.
Thank you for clearly showing what you click and explaining why. This is so much more useful than a 100 videos that show someone creating something almost by logic. Your explanations and demonstration is so clear that I was starting to anticipate and check my anticipation against what you actually did, which gives me confidence that I may actually be able to create something like this when I install FreeCad for the first time. At Time = 17:51, you mentioned surprise that the exterior corner radii came out different sizes after the mirror operation. I was surprised that you only selected the upper left and lower right corners with the symmetry operator. Could this have caused the discrepancy? I would have guessed that you would have had to select all four corners with the symmetry operator but don't know if that is correct or even possible with FreeCad.
I am glad that it's helping you get to know freecad. The symmetry constraint is a tip for minimal constraints to achieve the same end. I think the radii were unconstrained after the mirror, I expected the dimension and equal constraints to mirror. You can constrain all four corners but the result would be the same. Thanks for watching the videos and lending your support.
This is a fantastic tutorial and I learned a lot from it. The only question I have, would it be possible to calculate the dimension of the box when I know the horizontal and vertical distance from the hole center in each corner? What I can't find is a solution (formula) for the distance from the hole-center to the inside wall. It's kind of designing the box from the inside to the outside. Hopefully someone knows the solution for it. TIA Addition: I reviewed the video again and how the constraints of the holes were defined. I think the hole-diameter plays a role here.
I think I found the solution. I added four new entries to the spreadsheet. a) "hole_distance_horizontal, b) "hole_distance_vertical", c) "box_length_r" and d) "box_width_r". "Hole_distance_horizontal" and "hole_distance_vertical" getting the measured values of the board from hole-center to hole-center. "box_length_r" gets the formula "hole_distance_horizontal + hole_dia *2 + box_wall_thickness *2" "box_height_r" gets the formula "hole_distance_vertical + hole_dia *2 + box_wall_thickness *2 And finally I changed the formula for "box_length" to "=box_length_r", and "box_width" to "=box_height_r". And voila, I can create a board box from the inside out. PS: when the dimensions are too tight for the rounded inside corners, they interfere with the 90° corner of the board (at least in my case). I filed the corners of the board round. have fun
Thanks for the wonderful video. I am very new to FC and know almost nothing about it so I may be raising a dumb question - where can I read more about using macros/spraedsheets to FC designs, please?
@@Adventuresincreation Thanks a ot for your quick response. That was very helpful. Kindly allow me two more simple questions: 1. In FC, how can one correct the design steps one has already taken? 2. At around 21:05 in your video (while setting the "Z" parameter under "attachment") you say....Quote "now if we tab off a...."Unquote. What do you mean by that? Please excuse me for this question, I am not a native English speaker.
@@user001sg9 you can use the undo key or delete features. To tab off, is to hit the tab key so the current selection changes to next item in the tab order. It basically registers your change to the current item
This is an amazing tutorial , thank you so much . I have just got in to Freecad while waiting for my new 3D Printer to arrive . Love how you go through this step by step , very clear and it certainly shows your vast knowledge in this application . Just wondering if you have also done the lid in a different video . I think it would take me a lot longer if I had to do it on my own . many thanks
Having a problem on the pocketing part. I didn't do a spread sheet set up but instead just input the sizes etc and created a fully constrained sketch on the top plane of the padded box. but when I try to pocket, I am getting an error message saying the plane or object was empty. Unsure what I am not getting correct. Any input would be great. Thanks for these.
Great tutorial, thanks - very clear presentation and opened up my eyes to a heap of possibilities for a project I want to do. I hope I'm not going to fall into many more FreeCAD rabbit holes like the extra hour I spent on the macros issue. Windows 10, FreeCAD can't connect to the wiki to populate the available macros list, so I had to learn how to download and install the EasyAlias macro - but the way that worked was just magic!
@@Adventuresincreation Update - I checked for updates, installed FreeCAD 20 and bingo! The macros and desktops are all showing up. Now on to studying the lid before moving on to the job I want to tackle.
@@Adventuresincreation Project completed! I was pleased to find that the way you'd covered the basic principles meant I had only a little more to learn before being able to complete the design of a housing for a Raspberry Pi Zero plus Ethernet adapter board. I've put the design onto Printables with the FreeCAD file and some pictures - www.printables.com/model/287374-housing-raspberry-pi-zero-and-ethernet-adapter The whole thing is now chugging away using PiHole to block adverts on our home network - happy days 🙂 Thanks again for the great intro to FreeCAD! 🙂🙂🙂
Great video... How did you get the Third tool bar of icon starting with the Green Arrow (above Combo View) and ending with Black/white buttons? Keep up the good work!
Thanks for this, i paid for the file great work! How would one add tabs to each side with a hole in each tab to allow it to be drilled to a wall? I don't want to do this inside the box as i want to keep it sealed. What approach would you use?
Wow! I was so stuck in using FreeCAD, but your video helped so much. I am a much better informed ignorant person (instead of a completely ignorant person) Thanks! In the spreadsheet, I noticed that one can use the alias in the equations (instead of hardcoding the equation to a certain cell). I think that would make the spreadsheet more maintainable and readable. In the lug radius equation, you made the equation 2.5 * hole_diameter. What was the logic behind the "2.5"? I can see that you have to have a bit over the hole diameter. Is the 1.5 extra material just a rule of thumb that is well known? Seems like one might want the wall thickness between the edge of the hole and the outside of the lug. I suspect that there is some way to specify that kind of constraint. Great video!
I am glad it helped. I recommend trying things for yourself, if it makes things easier for you then adopt those as "your" best practices. As far as the 2.5 * hole_diameter, you can make it whatever you feel would work. When I am planning to put screws in the PLA I like to try and leave some meat for the screw to displace. I am really happy that you are trying things out and doing so well with FreeCAD.
I am using version 0.20.2 I am trying to fin the StartUp macro you use to start projects, but I can not find it in Ad On’s can you share where this StartUp macro is
I showed how to create it for yourself in one of the early videos. I am on my phone atm so can't link to it but take a look at the beginner Playlist and you will find it.
@@Adventuresincreation Thank you. When I select the corners and want to centre them, I get this error: Updating geometry: Error build geometry(6): gp_Circ::SetRadius() - radius should be positive number
Could you create the video of the lid as well? More importantly showing how the lid and box assemble together in a FreeCad model, and checking for interferences between the lid and box.
I can certainly do that for you. As you may have seen I did create the lid along with the clearance holes for the screws etc. Because its all parametric I used calculations to ensure there is always clearance.
@@Adventuresincreation I've found lots of good videos on creating a part, but not many on multiple parts to make an assembly and think showing interference checking.
Just started learning Freecad (ver.21.2) this morning. This video was instrumental in giving me the insight I needed to move forward with my first project. Thank you for such a methodical, well constructed video.(no previous experience with CAD packages)
Excellent, welcome aboard!
I just started yesterday! Such a fun thing to learn @kmr7825
OMG! You are the first person who can explain these things in a meaningful way.
Glad you enjoyed it
This tutorial is an eye-opener. Using a spreadsheet is the key keeping control of the object during the construction process.
Thanks, you are right. Don't forget to check dynamic data elements too.
@@Adventuresincreation
I will go through your tutorials anyhow. But first I am constructing this Electronic Box watching in parallel your video. 😊
@@drulli1 Excellent! Have fun with that.
This is the tutorial that finally made FreeCAD make sense to me. Thank you!
You are welcome
I love the way you do not rush through the video and assume we are all up to speed with what you are showing us. Definitely some of the best tuition around. Thank you.
Thanks Glyn, I appreciate it.
@@AdventuresincreationHey matey, just a suggestion, you could partner with Ondsel to make their specific tutorial videos and make some $ out of it.
@@j6077xxd Not sure they are looking for people to create videos for them?
@@Adventuresincreation yeah unsure but you should email them and offer to for sure.
@@j6077xxd thanks!
The best tutorial video I've watched in a very long time, the only problem is I now have to subscribe and watch all the others. 🙂
Thanks Brian
Hi again. I am using Freecad 0.20.0 and everything went fine until I encountered a problem. At 20:54 you defined the dimension of the pocket by referencing to the - Wallthckness-alias in your spreadsheet. When I enter the formular in the Z-position entry field the Formular entrybox tells me already the result is -4.00 mm. However, the box still had no bottom. I changed the formular by deleting the minus infront of the Wallthickness Alias and now my box has a parametric bottom. Strange.
I thnk the reason is that all my sketches are layed in they same xy plane, the pocket and lugs as well. Thus I had to modify the parameters fpr the pocket and lugheigth accordingly. Nevertheless, it works great. What a joy! Next step-> the lid. Thank you very much agian. Great tutorial with reak benefit for my electronic projects. 👏🙏
Glad you figured it out
Thanks for this excellent tutorial. I think I've learned more in this than I have in some of the fancier tutorials from bigger channels.
Thanks Max, I am glad you enjoyed it.
The best tutorial I`ve ever seen. Thanks to You I got started with Freecad. Thank You !
Great to hear!
This is without any doubt the best Freecad tutorial in its kind I have ever seen. WOW !
Thanks!
Fantastic become my teacher for everthing steady pace and clear descriptions. Perfect for my Pi projects as well.
Excellent, I am glad it's working for you. What pi projects do you have going?
@@Adventuresincreation Just finsihed garden watering system on a Pi W. Doing a door lock for my graddaughters drawer for a laugh based on Pico. Have a Pi5 now running my Anet EX5 Pro printer from a PC before. Will use the box design to add a camera bracket to improve that. Being playing with Freecad for a while but I was brought up with T square a not mouse although electronics has always been my trade.
I am also a radio ham. Thanks for asking lovely for you to bother.
@@Adventuresincreation Thought what about a Cura course your style would be perfect to explain some on the major tweaks poosible Phil
Wow I followed you along as a brand new freeCAD user and am amazed at “our” new box on my screen 😊
Excellent!
This was extremely helpful. I learned a ton, First time ever using the spreadsheet tool and I dont think I can ever go back.
I use it a lot.
Thank you so much for this tutorial. I just started using FreeCAD and some of the tutorials out there just are too advanced for me to understand, I suppose. But this one was clear, concise, and easy to understand (imo). The Spreadsheet workbench and EasyAlias macro I had no idea about before, but I'm glad to have learned about it because it will make designing an enclosure a lot more efficient in the future. Definitely going to use the simple enclosure as a basis for future projects.
Thanks for the feedback. I am glad you are finding the videos useful.
This is my first try at using FreeCAD. Lots of rewinds (to figure out where I needed to add the next sketch), and also realized that I needed to use your startup macro to create the Part (remember this was my first attempt) - however it was well worth it. I was able to reproduce your *excellent* design. Thank you very much.
You are welcome
@@Adventuresincreation hi thanks for video. I managed to do the spreadsheet but my model does not change when putting in values and got exclamation mark at my sketch. Sorry is my 3rd day at using this software only used corel x4 for laser cutting
(No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.
10:33:40 Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in
raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.')
: No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.
10:34:20 Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in
raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.')
: No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.
10:34:38 Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in
raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.')
: No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.
10:35:01 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B13: Property 'B2' not found in 'B2'
10:35:01 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: unsupported operand type(s) for /: 'str' and 'int'
in expression: B13 / 2
10:35:01 Recompute failed! Please check report view.
10:35:05 Transactions.cpp(359): exception while restoring Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B13: Bad dynamic_cast!
10:35:05 Transactions.cpp(359): exception while restoring Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Bad dynamic_cast!
10:35:11 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14'
10:35:11 Recompute failed! Please check report view.
10:35:12 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14'
10:35:12 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Property 'B13' not found in 'B13'
10:35:12 Recompute failed! Please check report view.
10:35:13 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Property 'B13' not found in 'B13'
10:35:13 Recompute failed! Please check report view.
10:35:15 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14'
10:35:15 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B11: Property 'B13' not found in 'B13'
10:35:15 Recompute failed! Please check report view.
10:35:16 Cell.cpp(646): Unnamed#Spreadsheet.B12: Property 'B14' not found in 'B14'
10:35:16 Recompute failed! Please check report view.
10:35:54 Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in
raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.')
: No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.
10:39:24 Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:/Users/Gary/AppData/Roaming/FreeCAD/Macro/EasyAlias.FCMacro", line 139, in
raise Exception('No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.')
: No spreadsheet selected. Please select a spreadsheet in the tree view.
10:39:36 Traceback (most recent call last):)
@@pietpompiepompiepiet940 you haven't selected (highlighted) the spreadsheet in the model tree.
@@Adventuresincreation ok thanks will check
Jan 13 2022 Revisited to 'relearn' all the bits I had forgotten. Easy to follow and simple to see what you are doing, mostly, he he. Going on to see the 'lid' now as my lid looks NOTHING like what yours looks like. Brilliant.
Keep after it, you will soon have a fully parametric box including the lid
This is an excellent tutorial, got me up and running on my own electronics enclosure very quickly. Before I found it wasted a many hours messing about trying to use the manual, to no avail!
Glad it helped Steven
@@Adventuresincreation hey man i already installed freecad in my computer using windows 7 but it's not openning what could be the problem
Great tutorial! I did this on version 1.0. I did the sketch for the inside pocket and the lugs differently, by adding the sketches on the top surface of the box. Then for the pocket length I used a new spreadsheet entry called box_inside_height.
The only thing that I did not manage to do was the multi transform. I worked around it by using symmetry in the lug sketch, but then I had to apply the spreadsheet constraints to all four corners, which was a but tedious.
Nice, glad you were able to get there in the end.
Exactly what I was searching for. I want to build the 'classic' version of the Forumslader, mount the stuff on top of a 'klick fix' mounting and give it a housing with some 3-d printed box. I'm shure I'll get it done with your tutorial. Thank you!
Excellent!
That spreadsheet tool is so useful. Saves so much time and makes it easier to come back a alter your creation. Very noob friendly tutorial. Spent the whole day trying to learn this program and you made it so simple for me in the future. Thank you!
Great to hear it. Glad the videos are helping you to work with FreeCAD.
I was following Roland's tutorials, but as you know they are out of date now, and found your tutorial. Excellent. I'm will be using the spreadsheet in many future projects. The only thing missing are PCB mounts, but I'm sure I can figure that out on my own.
Do you have an example of the PCB mounts you are looking for?
@@Adventuresincreation I have a picture of what I made but simply, what I did was I created a sketch, made two circles (pcb_hole_dia, and pcb_hole_dia+1.5*wall_thickness), and padded the outside circle at a height I defined in the spreadsheet has pcb_mount_height (5mm). I also defined a pcb_mount_center_length and width to place it. It worked, but now I'm trying to figure out how to double it horizontally at a specific distance (distance between pcb mounting holes) and the same for the width so that I have a mount for all 4 holes in the pcb.
Great video. Very elegant use of the spreadsheet feature, which to me, was the most enjoyable section. I’m looking now at ways to make the spreadsheet update all parameters automatically just by altering the box length, for various standard sizes. Thanks for this lesson.
Excellent, let me know how you get on with it.
Brilliant!
I'm not dumb by any means, but boy how do some video tutors not know how to teach (30 Seconds in: "Step 103... do this..." - WHOA! Where is step 2?!!). So I wanted to design a project box for an amateur radio unit, and have parameters that I could alter later on as I expect a LOT of boxes in my future. I came across this tutorial. I'm following well! Thank you.
You confused me at first but I think you are saying you liked this video 🤦♂️
@@Adventuresincreation yes, I'm saying (badly!) that your instructions are clear, you don't rush, I can see the screen you're clicking on and the settings you're making, plus even the odd error you make is a relief because I made the same error by following you accurately 🤣
I currently have my first box-with-lid printing on my AnyCube printer 👍
Coming from the CG realm and trying to get into FreeCAD as a hobby was hard. Tutorials are either a 15-minute hyper advanced technique or 28 Hour tutorials that cover the Ui (part 1).
Your tutorials are precise, on point and cover exactly the necessary Utilities. I work mostly with Houdini and Blender, so I am aware of most techniques, but figuring out the Ui, Workflows and individual quirks of FreeCAD was hard until I found your channel. So Cheers for that
Glad to hear. I love to "play" with Blender, I wish I was better at it. I have the same UI issues with Blender. I use it for all my video editing, but I often can't find the techniques for the modeling.
This is my first 3D attempt - really powerfull stuff using parameters for these things. thank you
You are very welcome. I am glad it helped.
I had been making PCB layouts but just got into 3D printing and was struggling in getting my head wrapped around with how to make 3d part. Your tutorial got me to make my first drawing in couple of hours.
Excellent, glad it helped
Watched a few of your videos now. Just getting started with FreeCAD and 3D Printing. Your videos have been hugely helpful. New subscriber, thank you.
Excellent, glad to hear that.
Thank you so much for this, really helpful, just starting out with FreeCAD, now need to work out how to add holes for led's and screen etc!
Take a look at my other videos you will see how to add holes etc.
Thanks, I did and my box now has many holes and features, looking forward to watching some of your other videos
@@Adventuresincreation
Thanks. That was a great introduction to FreeCAD, and produced something I have a lot of uses for. Now I just need to make the lid, and get a 3D printer working!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks a lot for your tutorial, I'm replicating what you're doing and learning a lot ! I noticed you have one free contraint left on the lug - it's the angle of the pie. You freedrew it as a right angle but it might not be perfectly 90°. Selecting the two segments from the corner, press the angle button and write in 90° will fix that. Perfect parametric box!
Thanks for the feedback
It was fully constrained due to the automatic horizontal and vertical constraint that was added by freecad
Watched this a month ago and just came back to say thanks. The example is really easy to adapt for other similar models.
Glad to hear it. I hoped that it would help others to create their own models.
I was looking for just such a tutorial video. It has become very informative in terms of content as well as useful to me, as a beginner! I designed my own electronics box, but it's "take-all". I think I'm going to plagiarize the making. ;-) Thank you very much!
Plagiarize as much as you like. That's why I created the videos so you can use the pieces that you need.
I love the process.. love the use of spreadsheet. I can use that for sure.. THANK YOU!!!
Excellent!
This is one of the most useful FC videos I have watched, so thanks! I do lots of electronics and microcontroller projects, so 3d printed enclosures are a must. I have not scanned the comments, so my two cents may be a repetition of previous comments.
I prefer to set up the spreadsheet aliases at the start. That way calculated spreadsheet values can use meaningful names instead of cell numbers. Also I rename the spreadsheet to something short ("sp") to save some keystrokes. Finally (and this is just my way) I did the inner pocket by putting a datum plane at box_height and pocketing downward.
All good stuff. Glad it's useful for you.
Thank you for the guide. I damaged the cover of my installation box and wanted to remake it for some time. I got the 3D printer some time ago and Im confident now, that I can do it.
Excellent!
Excellent presentation of a really usefull feature.
Glad you liked it
Wonderfully done! Thank you!
You are welcome
Excelente video, explicado muy bien paso a paso. Abarcó todo lo que andaba buscando. Desde Iquique-Chile mis saludos.
Thank you Eduardo (Google translated your comment for me)
I have found this video and the matching lid video extremely useful. A similar video showing a cylinder instead of a box with a matching screw fit lid using the same style spreadsheet of parameters would be awesome. Maybe a suggestion for your next series of videos. grins.
Thanks for the suggestion Ian, I will bear that in mind for a future video. This weeks video is modeling a simple engine to demonstrate how to manage a multi-part model.
Amazing!!! Thank you so much for this video, it's just brilliant!!!
You're very welcome!
Great walkthrough! Thank you!
You are welcome
Fantastic video!
I just started using FreeCAD and this was verry helpfull
Thank you :)
Excellent, glad it helped
Wow, this is an excellent video! Very well explained, thank you for sharing!
Thanks Scott. I appreciate the feedback.
Great Video. That certainly explained a lot of things for me. Thank you.
Glad you liked it
Excellent tutorials. Can you tell me how to put thread on the lugs at four corners?
Use the fasteners workbench, basically use a model of a tap.
Kudos👍! Thanks for sharing this very practical way of framing out project designs in FreeCAD!
Glad it was helpful!
Outstanding tutorial. Thank you!
I am glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback
WoW!!! Excellent tutorial... Thanks for you time.
My pleasure!
Great video and introduction to parametric for freecad. This has made me think especially the duplication via symmetry...
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello , good tutorial! Kind of i get this ! How do you do lug socket screws? Or just need to get some iron female screws to diameter, then heat them up and hammer thouse in?!
You can import fasteners from the manufacturer.
Excellent, well paced, lucid, well considered video. One bit of feedback though, and I KNOW it's difficult to think of other stuff whilst trying to be focused on the design ... Try to pause for a second to allow users eyes to catch up to the cursor position before clicking.
This is especially important when watching on a phone (I have a triple click function on mine that allows me to zoom in but it can take a little while to centre up properly.)
Thanks for the feedback
This was my freecad breakthrough video! Thank you very much!!!!
Thanks James, Glad it helped!
@@Adventuresincreation I've since run into the "topological naming problem". I've been reading into it a bit, and it seems that rather than sketching directly onto faces, one create datum planes on the primary planes, then sketching on that instead. Have you had any thoughts in that regard? I've tried doing it a couple times and made a mess of it so far
@@jblacktube it is an issue that is brought about by changing a model such that the faces change their reference ie face #1 might become face #3 so that anything that referenced face #1 is now referencing the wrong face. Using a datum plane that is attached to a model plane and offset will not suffer this fate.
Lol! I see you just posted ua-cam.com/video/5iMSQ87Jcis/v-deo.html about 3 hours ago. THANK YOU!!
Absolutely excellent tutorial! Liked & subscribed.
Thanks!
I learned so much. Thank you.
You are so welcome!
Thankyou for the video. This is exactly what i needed. Great way to learn by watching and then doing. I managed to make the lid using the spreadsheet so that both parts are made and adjusted.
Excellent! Glad it helped you.
Excellent tutorial!
Glad you liked it!
wow - This is an impressive video immediately subscribed, and thank you.
Awesome, thank you!
I'm not able to use "PAD" from sketch tool during 4:45, showing "Consider using ShapeBinder or a BaseFeature to reference external geometry in a body.
That's odd, can you share your file?
Great video thank you for the amazing content. Can you say which Macro did you use in the beginning to setup your project?
It's a startup macro that you can create for yourself. I think it's in video #1 or #2 from memory
thanks for excellent tutorial
You are welcome
Excellent content
Glad you think so!
Nice! If your enclosure had a slightly smaller base in relation to the top. how you you make it? Using multiple lofts and boolean operations? Something like kradex Z75.
You could do that with just a loft to craft a taper or you could apply a taper to the outside
That freecad alias macro was a useful tip. Creating them is normally tedious. I usually rename my spreadsheet to something short like ss1 or whatever to reference it quickly by typing double s or whatever you choose.
Great idea 💡
@@AdventuresincreationThanks.
Excellent, thank you
You are welcome 😉
Thanks, great tutorial.
Thanks
Nice presentation and great project.
Thank you! Cheers!
Excellent tutorial !..Thanks very much...
You are welcome
That was excellent. Thank you,
You are welcome. I am considering remaking the video in the latest version.
Excellent video, I will use your video to design my own box, thanks for making the video
You are welcome. I am glad it helps you. I am working on a boolean video for this week. Keep an eye out for it.
Very nice explanation and great workflow. I will start using this approach from now on ;)
Thanks for the feedback. I am planning to do some more parametric designs in the future.
@@Adventuresincreation Awesome. It might be really interesting how specifically you manage complex projects, i.e. involving body/parts creation, aligning parts, and merging everything together. I've been using FreeCAD for quite a while and I deeply love it. However, I find myself sometimes making things more complex than they should probably be. You know, like a convoluted way of creating things that are not scalable or adaptable for future corrections/upgrades, The idea of using spreadsheets is REALLY nice. Cheers!
@@DanielMelendrezPhD I will do some more complex designs. There are some convoluted pieces but once you navigate them freecad is a great piece of software.
Fantastic tutorial. Subbed/Liked. Thank you for taking the time to do these and share them.
You are welcome!
Hi! Nice video. I'd like to know if there's a way to validate the input parameters such that the model doesn't get redundantly constrained. I looked up a bit but couldn't find a way to do this on the spread sheet. Let me know if you know how to do it. Thanks!
There is no automatic way to do that however you can build validation into your calculations.
Highly recommend using equals and the tab and arrows to pull up parametric alias entires when inputting constraints cheers!
Thanks Dave. I am working on how to show labels on lcs' in assembly 4. 🤔
Nice tutorial, one thing you may want to mention is that on the straight lines for the lugs, these should have a vertical and horizontal constrait. If you dont, when you update the border thickness you may run into alignment issues.
Good point. I will try to mention the auto constraints more in the future
Many thanks for this tutorial - really appreciated!
You are very welcome
Excellent!
Thank you! Cheers!
Thank you for clearly showing what you click and explaining why. This is so much more useful than a 100 videos that show someone creating something almost by logic. Your explanations and demonstration is so clear that I was starting to anticipate and check my anticipation against what you actually did, which gives me confidence that I may actually be able to create something like this when I install FreeCad for the first time.
At Time = 17:51, you mentioned surprise that the exterior corner radii came out different sizes after the mirror operation. I was surprised that you only selected the upper left and lower right corners with the symmetry operator. Could this have caused the discrepancy? I would have guessed that you would have had to select all four corners with the symmetry operator but don't know if that is correct or even possible with FreeCad.
I am glad that it's helping you get to know freecad. The symmetry constraint is a tip for minimal constraints to achieve the same end. I think the radii were unconstrained after the mirror, I expected the dimension and equal constraints to mirror. You can constrain all four corners but the result would be the same. Thanks for watching the videos and lending your support.
What is the assembly work bench at 32:15. I cannot quite read the screen. (Working on a lap top.)
That was Assembly2
This is a fantastic tutorial and I learned a lot from it. The only question I have, would it be possible to calculate the dimension of the box when I know the horizontal and vertical distance from the hole center in each corner? What I can't find is a solution (formula) for the distance from the hole-center to the inside wall. It's kind of designing the box from the inside to the outside. Hopefully someone knows the solution for it. TIA
Addition: I reviewed the video again and how the constraints of the holes were defined. I think the hole-diameter plays a role here.
You can certainly calculate every part of the box based on the available parameters
I think I found the solution.
I added four new entries to the spreadsheet.
a) "hole_distance_horizontal, b) "hole_distance_vertical", c) "box_length_r" and d) "box_width_r".
"Hole_distance_horizontal" and "hole_distance_vertical" getting the measured values of the board from hole-center to hole-center.
"box_length_r" gets the formula "hole_distance_horizontal + hole_dia *2 + box_wall_thickness *2"
"box_height_r" gets the formula "hole_distance_vertical + hole_dia *2 + box_wall_thickness *2
And finally I changed the formula for "box_length" to "=box_length_r", and "box_width" to "=box_height_r".
And voila, I can create a board box from the inside out.
PS: when the dimensions are too tight for the rounded inside corners, they interfere with the 90° corner of the board (at least in my case). I filed the corners of the board round.
have fun
Great- Thank you very much 🙂
You are welcome 😉
Thanks for the wonderful video. I am very new to FC and know almost nothing about it so I may be raising a dumb question - where can I read more about using macros/spraedsheets to FC designs, please?
The freecad wiki has lots of good information. Just Google freecad wiki
@@Adventuresincreation Thanks a ot for your quick response. That was very helpful.
Kindly allow me two more simple questions:
1. In FC, how can one correct the design steps one has already taken?
2. At around 21:05 in your video (while setting the "Z" parameter under "attachment") you say....Quote "now if we tab off a...."Unquote. What do you mean by that?
Please excuse me for this question, I am not a native English speaker.
@@user001sg9 you can use the undo key or delete features. To tab off, is to hit the tab key so the current selection changes to next item in the tab order. It basically registers your change to the current item
@@Adventuresincreation Thanks a lot. Your videos are a big help.
This is an amazing tutorial , thank you so much .
I have just got in to Freecad while waiting for my new 3D Printer to arrive . Love how you go through this step by step , very clear and it certainly shows your vast knowledge in this application .
Just wondering if you have also done the lid in a different video . I think it would take me a lot longer if I had to do it on my own .
many thanks
Hi Michael, yes there is a lid video too. You don't have to create it yourself.
Having a problem on the pocketing part. I didn't do a spread sheet set up but instead just input the sizes etc and created a fully constrained sketch on the top plane of the padded box. but when I try to pocket, I am getting an error message saying the plane or object was empty.
Unsure what I am not getting correct. Any input would be great. Thanks for these.
Are you trying to pocket with a plane that doesn't have a sketch attached?
Really love your tutorials! Great job!
Thanks!
Great tutorial, thanks - very clear presentation and opened up my eyes to a heap of possibilities for a project I want to do.
I hope I'm not going to fall into many more FreeCAD rabbit holes like the extra hour I spent on the macros issue. Windows 10, FreeCAD can't connect to the wiki to populate the available macros list, so I had to learn how to download and install the EasyAlias macro - but the way that worked was just magic!
Thanks for the feedback. Today's video shows you how to create a macro of your own. Maybe that will open even more possibilities.
@@Adventuresincreation Update - I checked for updates, installed FreeCAD 20 and bingo! The macros and desktops are all showing up.
Now on to studying the lid before moving on to the job I want to tackle.
That's good news!
@@Adventuresincreation Project completed! I was pleased to find that the way you'd covered the basic principles meant I had only a little more to learn before being able to complete the design of a housing for a Raspberry Pi Zero plus Ethernet adapter board. I've put the design onto Printables with the FreeCAD file and some pictures - www.printables.com/model/287374-housing-raspberry-pi-zero-and-ethernet-adapter
The whole thing is now chugging away using PiHole to block adverts on our home network - happy days 🙂
Thanks again for the great intro to FreeCAD! 🙂🙂🙂
Excellent, glad it helped. I'll take a look at your freecad file later. Well done!
What workbench type should I use for boat hull design? Just beginning to use Freecad.
I would use part design. I don't think there is a specific boat workbench
@@Adventuresincreation
Thank you.
Is there a way to export (or save) JUST the "Spreadsheet" for later use in a different FC model?
I am not aware of a way to do that. You could copy it to Libre office Calc
Great tutorial. I somehow missed the box width and can't fault find where I've gone wrong but all else works. Cheers.
I am glad you enjoyed it
Great video... How did you get the Third tool bar of icon starting with the Green Arrow (above Combo View) and ending with Black/white buttons? Keep up the good work!
You can just pull the tool bars down they will create another row
Thanks for this, i paid for the file great work! How would one add tabs to each side with a hole in each tab to allow it to be drilled to a wall? I don't want to do this inside the box as i want to keep it sealed. What approach would you use?
Thanks! You could create tabs with a separate body then use a boolean operation to attach them. That way they won't interfere with the box itself.
Wow. Exceptional tutorial. Thank you
You're very welcome!
Excellent video. Thanks very much!
You are very welcome, thanks for the feedback.
Wow! I was so stuck in using FreeCAD, but your video helped so much. I am a much better informed ignorant person (instead of a completely ignorant person) Thanks!
In the spreadsheet, I noticed that one can use the alias in the equations (instead of hardcoding the equation to a certain cell). I think that would make the spreadsheet more maintainable and readable.
In the lug radius equation, you made the equation 2.5 * hole_diameter. What was the logic behind the "2.5"? I can see that you have to have a bit over the hole diameter. Is the 1.5 extra material just a rule of thumb that is well known? Seems like one might want the wall thickness between the edge of the hole and the outside of the lug. I suspect that there is some way to specify that kind of constraint.
Great video!
I am glad it helped. I recommend trying things for yourself, if it makes things easier for you then adopt those as "your" best practices. As far as the 2.5 * hole_diameter, you can make it whatever you feel would work. When I am planning to put screws in the PLA I like to try and leave some meat for the screw to displace. I am really happy that you are trying things out and doing so well with FreeCAD.
Very Nyc tutorial 👍
Thanks for the feedback.
Great tutorial. How would I go about adding a radius to the top or bottom edges?
You can use the filet tool to add radii on the edges.
I am using version 0.20.2
I am trying to fin the StartUp macro you use to start projects, but I can not find it in Ad On’s can you share where this StartUp macro is
I showed how to create it for yourself in one of the early videos. I am on my phone atm so can't link to it but take a look at the beginner Playlist and you will find it.
Can you explain more about the macro you start at the beginning? I don't have that
Take a look at this video ua-cam.com/video/tozq1gv2KvI/v-deo.html
@@Adventuresincreation Thank you. When I select the corners and want to centre them, I get this error: Updating geometry: Error build geometry(6): gp_Circ::SetRadius() - radius should be positive number
@@thelazycat_ something isn't right. Why is it referring to a radius? Double check that you are selecting the right points and the correct button.
@@Adventuresincreation I think it was because I selected the left corner, middle, right corner instead of the centre as last. Thanks again
@@thelazycat_ glad you figured it out
Could you create the video of the lid as well? More importantly showing how the lid and box assemble together in a FreeCad model, and checking for interferences between the lid and box.
I can certainly do that for you. As you may have seen I did create the lid along with the clearance holes for the screws etc. Because its all parametric I used calculations to ensure there is always clearance.
@@Adventuresincreation I've found lots of good videos on creating a part, but not many on multiple parts to make an assembly and think showing interference checking.
Check out my latest video, I created the box and showed how to check the clearance. I mentioned you in the video.
Hello, I already follow you but until 20:53 using that formula, the bottom face seem not appear. Anyone had idea what should I do?
😵😵😵
Not sure without more information. Are you following exactly or trying your own approach?
@@Adventuresincreation Ok. I already figured out whats happening. Hehe. Sorry