Unique Approach to Parametric Enclosure Design in FreeCAD: Assembly First for Electronic Components
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ย. 2024
- In this FreeCAD tutorial, we offer an alternative way we design enclosures! Instead of manually adding mounts and cutouts, we explore a novel approach request by one of the channels patreons., André. By creating mock components with defined footprints, we use the A2 Plus workbench to assemble and arrange them, providing insights into necessary spacing. The edges of these components drive a parametric sketch, influencing both the enclosure design and adjusting dimensions as components are rearranged.
Watch as we build the enclosure and reflect the faces of mock components onto the box to create cutouts. The flexibility shines when adjusting component positions, dynamically updating the entire enclosure. Bonus: Configuration tables enable easy customization of component sizes through a drop-down selection
#FreeCAD , #CAD , #3DPrinting
Journey with me and
Patreon
/ mangojellysolutions
Donate:
ko-fi.com/mang0
www.paypal.com...
Subscribe:
/ @mangojellysolutions
Browse my Redbubble Shop:
MangojellyLabs....
Blog:
mangojellysolu...
This is something I needed. I've been taking an approach that in retrospect is a bit circular: I start with sketches defining the shape/position of components, then create an enclosure accordingly, and then put the components in. Just very silly to do it that way when I could just "grow" the enclosure directly around the assembled components
5:03 : Small detail : the configuration labels are can be figures as well. In this case just start the cell content by a single quote. For exemple : '1
Thank you for all your content, your channel have convinced me that if at a first glance the tool is complicated, it worth invest on it for lots of use case, and a quite simple set of best practices make it fluent.
Very Cool ..!! was wondering how to use the configuration table feature .. Thank You for sharing .. Cheers :)
Glad it was helpful!
Wow, again, these recent videos are really some powerful techniques to incorporate and augment the other recent "Configuration/Variant" parametric tutorials you have provided!
SIDE NOTE: the A2 & Assembly4, are awesome ways of double checking my work, which as a newbie I never realized until you provided the very detailed additional tips & tricks.
Thank So Much
Glad these are of use, great your getting the most out them.
One of my favorite tutorials so far. Very handy techniques
Great to hear, thank you 😁😁😁😁
Great to hear, thank you 😁😁😁😁
@MangoJellySolutions it would be cool if you could build off this abit. Say maybe get some imported models of a rpi and a breadboard. Abit more detail and see what thay would look like. I imagine with a few more steps.
This is genius. Good job to the developers :)
Great. Selecting config is a game changer for me. Thanks for sharing it.
Glad you can find it useful 😊👍
This is the Problem I had last week now sloved! THANKS!!!
Thanks for this, utterly brilliant 👋👋👋
This is how I make enclosures for small circuit boards.
It allows the PCB to fit perfectly without needing to include slots or screw holes to locate the PCB inside the enclosure cavity
Very useful, thank you! I like the free cad philosophy
FYI, if you use "up to face", you don't need to click reverse first - it will be automatically assigned once FreeCad realizes the face you'd like to limit the extrusion/pocket is in the other direction.
It would be great if you can make a follow-up of this video with something like "consider which of these 2 components is higher and set the enclosure size 2mm above the higher of the 2 components".
I'm generally curious about that sort of thing as well. I think the only way I've been able to do something like that in the past is with spreadsheet formulae, where conditionals etc can be used to compute a value which you can then use to position the enclosure roof or whatever.
I started to design my own game controller. This would work well for me!
Great to hear, what platform you designing it for? Current or retro?
Thanks for your ever on going master class. Many manufacturers publish CAD of their components. Can FreeCAD import any those CAD? This simplify the design as the components are already dimensioned, again thanks
If the components are of the supported types which most standard types are then it should be a case of importing them and just using them unless they come in as mesh format which is then a case of using the mesh workbench, mesh to shape tool. Glad your enjoying all the videos, plenty more to come.
Great. Thank you for learning 🙂
My pleasure 😊
Sweet!
Several questions:
1. is it necessary to have these in two files? I dont see anything that makes that necessary.
2. in the assembly, is the coplanar constraint actually not needed when you add the colinear constraint? I would think that the parts could rotate if the planar constraint wasnt there.
3. how do you see what constraints are on the objects?
4. is there a constraint that allows you to specify that features are a specific distance from one another? That would potentially solve the issue where you have to reposition the parts after changing the config.
5. is the "move under constraint" tool not updating the part a bug with the assembly workbench? You glossed over the synchronize option on the shape binder, is that a way to get the refresh option in the menu to activate so that you dont have to nudge your parts?
All great questions, too bad you got no answers :(
Great Vid, I wonder sometimes, as I go through all your "early" videos, what version you are using.. I sometimes think it makes a difference. I can see the OK and Cancel on different sides of the Sketcher... Great Videos, I like how you take the time to go over simple steps and why, even though they are review from other videos. Now if I could get all the different "crosseyed sheep" straight. I know there is a video on it in your collection somewhere. I'll find it.. Thanks a million for making this, I feel like I am getting to be quite the FreeCAD guru... Even though there are some workbenches I've not even touched. But I can draw things and then print them with great accuracy... I appreciate the time and effort you put into these videos... de wb7ond
Fantastic information! I’m finally getting to a point where I need to start using a proper CAD program rather than TinkerCAD, haha. I can still make anything I need in TinkerCAD, but I will eventually need to have an enclosure like this injection molded, and handing an STL to a fab is probably not great. Haha.
I looked through about a year’s worth of your videos, but didn’t see anything specific to DFM. What would be the best method for designing draft angle and other manufacturability features?
Great video! Is here a way to import "configurable" Body from external file and config it without changing original file?
Thanks for this great tutorial!
I wonder how to make this approach more stable with the changes. For instance, if we move the potentiometer to the right of the board I expect the box to break because our two "locked" points won't form the diagonal anymore. And what would you suggest if one need to add the second potentiometer with the different config? I guess that just cloning the part won't work because of the link to the particular spreadsheet cell.
Hello, can you make a Video like this with the new VarSets in Version 0.22 resp.FC 1.0? Would be fantastic. I follow all your Videos even when i am 76 years old.
Superb to hear, you never to young to learn. I have a large viewing number of the more mature age group and it's great to see that people never give up the learning journey 😊. I will make that video, that new feature is an interesting one.
By shear coincidence, I am just starting to model a DIN rail enclosure using a .step file exported from KiCAD. Unfortunately have to use a .wrl file for the 3D models of the components because I cant seem to make KiCAD export them to step.
In freecad there is a add on workbench you can install called KiCAD step up mod. It's a workbench that works with KiCAD. I have yet to venture into it but it may help.
@@MangoJellySolutions Thank you, I wasn't aware of that workbench. Thankfully I don't have to match too many components on this one, but it's still a bit of a pain manually transcribing x & y's...
Good video, as always.
Make a video on airpod or earbuds design
Is this a non standard approach to designing? When i have been designing things like rc car chassis i make dummy parts of things i have already to help design the bits i want to print. Measuring is all well and good until you come to put the parts together and it don't fit 😂