FreeCAD Beginner #15 - Managing Multi-Part Models Pt 1.

We demonstrate how to build a multi-part model using a simple engine. In this video we create the basic building blocks. In later videos we will assemble those parts and discuss how to manage the components in a way that makes it easy to keep track of everything.
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Songs:
Raw Space by Spazz Cardigan (intro)
00:00 Introduction
01:34 Creating a part
02:41 The piston
13:11 The conrod
29:15 Small end bearing
33:20 Crank shaft
47:30 Outro

[@danaschoen432]

This style with all the warts and hairs is really helpful. We get to see what to do about all the little problems that crop up with a real drawing. Leaving that stuff in is a real help.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Dana. I like to show how I get there including if it doesn't work right away

[@wiseoldfool]

I agree

[@Breeegz]

I like the "real world" examples more than the arbitrary collection of simple parts. I understand why the arbitrary collection of simple parts are useful for your tutorials, but the "real world" examples helps me understand how to break down the steps needed to get me a solution for whatever I am trying to solve.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for sharing!

[@ByronicGamer]

This video is amazing! I've been working through your videos, and I'm amazed that we're already at the point where I can create something of this complexity. Your explanations are really clear and easy to follow. Thank you!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are very welcome it's great to hear they are helping you.

[@bravofoxtrot4277]

awesome info. can't wait to see the next part!!!!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Working on it.

[@stephenbokor1761]

Shout out from Down Under. Love you tutorials. Your issue with having to reselect the part to make it visible whenever you created a new sketch was bugging me as I had somehow managed to fix that. Anyway, I've located the source of the problem. This behaviour is the default setting in FreeCAD. To change this: - Ensure you have the Part Design workbench selected then, - Goto Edit >> Preferences - Select Sketcher >> then Display tab. - In the Visibility Automation box deselect "Hide all objects that depend on the sketch" Note the text: "The behaviour is remembered for each sketch individually", so best to click "Apply to existing sketches", then OK. I've tested this and it fixes this issue. (If you turn that preference back on, you can reproduce the initial problem). Best regards.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I will give that a go. Thanks for the detailed explanation. It won't be in the next video as that is already done. But the one after... 😉

[@DK-ff9hp]

That worked Stephen - thanks very much.

[@markharrington5826]

These are brilliant tutorials , thank you so much

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks!

[@039nine6]

I have watched all your videos to this point. This one is my favorite so far. I love that you were thinking it through with us, as opposed to having it all tidy and pre-configured before you began, searching for the remaining degrees of freedom with your audience is realistic and appreciated. I am looking forward to watching and learning with ALL the rest of your videos. Your time, patience and dedication to instructing others is remarkable, thank you.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@felixcollins]

@@Adventuresincreation Funny. I was just about to comment that you could skip over a lot of the detailed working. Once you have shown your thinking and constraint setting for a couple of lines the rest can be left as an exercise for the student. I'm playing at 1.75 speed and it still seems too slow. I guess it takes all sorts. Congratulations on producing clear instruction. Maybe you could produce two versions? One complete, and one with sections of repeated details excised?

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@felixcollins good idea, however I think people can use the fast forward button to get to where they need to go.

[@felixcollins]

@@Adventuresincreation You are right. I'm using 2x and lots of right arrow and it is working well for me. Thanks for a great tutorial. Nearly ready to animate my @BeakBox lever.

[@arsurya]

Looking forward to the next one..

[@Adventuresincreation]

Coming soon

[@mehmetaltinsoy525]

Thanks. Very helpful video.

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome

[@9brian99]

Just great

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks

[@lewiscobb7817]

Yes ! I just came across this and I’m stuck in town with only a phone and it’s tiny screen and I’m no teenager - LOL. I’ll have to suffer and wait until I’m back at the house to watch it. Thanks for this video - I’m sure it’s going to be awesome based on your previous ones🙂

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Lewis

[@detectivecochese]

Willow! Need more Willow! : ) Dogs help make the best videos.

[@Adventuresincreation]

She is very cool 😎

[@raptor0956]

Hi. The two big end journals and one small end means, it's a single cylinder engine. Loving your videos. Just one critic on your video editing, sometimes you edit out a step on the menus. I'm saying this as your videos are a great learning tool. It's funny who there's a lot of content video out there that don't get what a beginner explanation has to be. Thanks for your efforts and the work you put into dumbing it down. I know it's a lot of work.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback

[@NIGHTSTALKER0069]

Watching your videos procrastinating. I have some 4.75 inch wrist pins to install in 11.75 inch pistons.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Ha ha, I should have had you send me some pictures then I could have modeled them instead ;-)

[@clytle374]

thanks

[@Adventuresincreation]

You're welcome

[@Craigs_Adventures]

great video. waiting for the next videos putting it all together. I am at this point in my learning of FreeCad. I can make the parts but just dont know how to get them all aligned and moving to make sure of clearances....Thanks

[@Adventuresincreation]

In the very next video I create more parts (cylinder block, cylinder head, spark plug) then the final in the trilogy is putting them all together in an organized assembly. I have been looking at 0.20 and it has assembly 3 "built in" but 0.19 is just assembly 4 (which surprisingly is not as full features as assembly 3). I am toying with the idea of using assembly 3 but it might be better for those that want to stay with the official release to see it assembly 4.

[@msfselitereallifeadventures]

Thanks again for a great tutorial mate! I experimented a bit with the sketching of the crankshaft counterbalance in terms of getting those 2 angled lines connected tangentially between the smaller and bigger circle. I found that drawing those two lines in space and then connecting them tangentially as per your video seems to produce better and more accurate results right out of the gate instead of initially trying to eyeball it and then trying to fix the tangents afterwards; the tangential constraints actually jump into horizontal alignment automatically when following this approach. Figured I'd share so that other folks could try that route as well. Also, you can set whether or not to keep the model visible when going into Sketcher by going into Edit -> Preferences -> Sketcher -> Display -> Show objects that the sketch is attached to and Show objects used for external geometry. Not entirely sure which one does which, but yeah, the model is kept in the viewport when going into Sketcher when those two are checked. Thanks!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Great, thanks for sharing Werner

[@AmazingRando303]

A bit late to the game, but if you create a new sketch using a flat face of an existing pad as the reference plane (click on the surface before new sketch) I think it leaves the part visible. Of course that only applies when you don't want your part centered on the original axes (such as when extending the crankshaft out around 45:00). Great videos!

[@Adventuresincreation]

I'll give that a go. I think version 0.20 is changing the automatic "turning off" the part you are working on ;-)

[@ludovanginderen433]

you can also make a video on how to assemble an imported part with other already existing components. Thank you very much for your excellent explanation

[@Adventuresincreation]

We'll do that in the future

[@kevingpearce]

Thank you. The timemark is 43:45, towards the end. Why do you select just that particular feature for mirroring, when surely you are wanting to mirror the entire part ? A very informative set of videos which I constantly look back to for reference. Well done in explaining your very methodical approach.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I just mirrored that part because there were several pieces to mirror and I was just building up. If you want to mirror other parts that's OK, there are many ways to achieve similar ends. Thanks for the feedback and your question.

[@kevingpearce]

@@Adventuresincreation OK - thanks. How do I now mirror the entire object to suit a multiple cylinder engine (bearing in mind that the big end journals will need to be rotated 90 or 120 degrees depending on number of cylinders). I tried mirroring the whole assembly, but get an error that I can't mirror such a complex part. How can I do this, please. I cannot find a video anywhere on KZbin which demonstrates this.

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@kevingpearce you may want to look at creating a clone of the parts you want, then you can position it as you need.

[@sherrilblackmon7465]

I do appreciate your use of reiteration to help those of us (me) who tend to be a little slow. Though I am using the Startup macro, it helps that you go through the steps in that macro so those steps can be drilled in. I have some difficulty with spatial orientation in using Freecad. Have you done anything that might help me get that straight? Thank you.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback. - I am not sure what your difficulty is, are you referring to which way is x-y&z ? Or how the sketch is oriented?

[@flyingboatman5486]

Your partially over constraint problem stems from too many instances of the symmetry constraint. I was getting the same error on a similar drawing concept. (Two arcs connected to a line by tangent, centered around a line of symmetry.) The best solution I found was to only use the symmetrical when it was absolutely necessary. In your instance, I think you could use one instance of symmetry and then make tangent lines “equal” and you will have the same solution without the constraining errors. I appreciate your videos and am looking forward to the next video in this series.

[@Adventuresincreation]

TBH, I didn't want to spend the time to play with it but I think you are right, I should have used less symmetry and more tangency.

[@brickmason26]

i like how you start a new sketch and the piston disappears. ive been stuck 2 days trying to add another body

[@Adventuresincreation]

You can turn it back on by going to the model tree highlighting it and pressing the space bar

[@gordonprest115]

I kinda wish you had persisted with the curved-ended sleeve, as I'm contemplating similar in my design. Is there a particular use for the 'Part' folder, beyond a neat way to collapse the tree when you're not working on a bunch of bodies?

[@Adventuresincreation]

When you come to do the assembly the part folder gets referenced. I just use them to keep things organized. When I first learned FreeCAD it was always, Part then Bodies inside the part.

[@CaraesNaur]

A couple of notes... What you called the small end bearing is actually the wrist pin. And the end you commented that this crank was for three cylinders, but it's actually for one. In the middle is a rod journal, the ends are main journals. This engine with a 50mm bore and 12mm stroke is very oversquare. I'm waiting for the rest of this because I'm having positioning issues in Assembly4 with my engine model based on www.enginehistory.org/Piston/Napier/NapierLionHx/NapierLionHx.shtml and using kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5q1eop3pbN6l5o as FreeCAD reference. The Conrod (only one of 12 so far) rotates 90 degrees only when the crank rotation is at 180 degrees.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Your nomenclature is different to mine, I wonder if you are English?

[@CaraesNaur]

@@Adventuresincreation American, but those are the terms I've always heard, regardless of nationality. I know a good bit of British nomenclature and slang, but engine parts are consistent as far as I know. When you started that part I thought, "Really, he's going to make bearings in a simple engine tutorial?" Three minutes later: "Oh, the wristpin."

[@Adventuresincreation]

I found a cool picture showing the small end bearing and the big end bearing. I think we (in England) call the wrist pin the gudgeon pin. The gudgeon pin goes through the small end bearing so, you were right, I should have called that the gudgeon/wrist pin but included small end bearings too. 86.43.94.97/moodlecp9a/mod/glossary/showentry.php?courseid=4&concept=Big+End

[@CaraesNaur]

@@Adventuresincreation "Gudgeon" definitely sounds British. I don't think I would include bearings in tutorials of this level. The focus is on getting the primary parts to move properly according to the most basic requirements. Bearings introduce forces and tolerances, topics beyond the scope of the lesson being taught here.

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@CaraesNaur Honestly, the focus is on managing the parts to assemble them. The animation would probably be better done in Blender.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

hi, thank you for nice and clear tutorial, just one think, that crankshaft is good for one piston only, or those other two in 3-cylinder would not move. But now a real question, what is the clone tool for? Would not save it a lot of work for example on crankshaft? Please answer, thank you.

[@Adventuresincreation]

The clone tool allows you exact copies that are linked the originals. Watch my next video it will use clones

[@ludovanginderen433]

That's the video I've wanted to see for a long time. Is it also possible to import a ball bearing from mcmaster-carr And how do you do that and should that be a. STL or . Step file?

[@Adventuresincreation]

Hi Ludo, yes you can import parts as STEP or STL files. STEP usually gives a better result.

[@wiseoldfool]

Once you get used to a trackball, I doubt you'd want to go back to a mouse. I've been using a Logitec Trackmanfor many years.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I have a logitec trackball that I use on this laptop. I also have a 3DConnexion space mouse that one of my patrons kindly donated to me. Together they are great but, I use a regular mouse on my other laptop to good effect too.

[@charlessweeney2061]

Informative video, thank you. Don't they call them gudgeon pins any more?!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Yes, they do.

[@radeonblue1816]

What are somethings you like about FreeCAD apart of it being Opensource? Also, what things you miss in FreeCAD when compared to other popular CAD applications like Solidworks etc.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I like the ability to use macros, the different workbenches. I miss being able to sketch on faces without issues.

[@radeonblue1816]

@@Adventuresincreation I am a freelancer and was introduced to cad 1 month back. Since then I am loving it. Anyway to earn money from freecad???

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@radeonblue1816 I am sure, if you have organizations that need engineering drawings or models in either STL or STEP format, you could provide those services with FreeCAD

[@jomtien123]

I am newby coming from Fusion and wanting to see if I can swap Fusion for FreeCAD. At 28:24 how did you manage to infer the centre of the circle from existing geometry seemingly by just hovering over the existing hole which indeed shares this center?

[@Adventuresincreation]

You can include geometry from other models /sketches to reference.

[@paulradford4100]

If your going to print it, the small end bearing pin would need to be slightly less than 10mm, say 9.9mm, just so that it fits.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Hi Paul, yeah I am definitely not printing this. - I agree with you though, there should be a clearance if you want to assemble printed parts, instead I have animated it in Blender (coming in a future video)

[@paulradford4100]

@@Adventuresincreation I'm enjoying your videos on freecad - you explain most things pretty well. So much more can be learned by actually watching than just reading the manual and your fairly clear about what your trying to do. Well done.. I also use blender 3d. A great bit of kit. I did miss a few versions though and now it's so different I'm having to re-educate myself. So any videos you do on that would be interesting if your confident with the latest versions of blender.. ;-)

[@Adventuresincreation]

I use blender to create all my videos so I am very familiar with it. However, I am far from expert. I do enjoy creating simple animations with it. The intro to my video, the subscribe animation and other animations in the videos are all done in blender. I wish I was better at lighting, I am not an "artist" so I often don't get the lights right. It is definitely great software!!

[@kevingpearce]

After you pad the crankshaft to 10mm, you select (and highlight in green) the larger radius lobe for mirroring around the XY plane. Why is this, when surely you want to mirror the whole part ???? It makes no sense to me why you would be mirroring a feature rather than an existing part. The use of such terminology is very confusing. VERY difficult to understand what parts (or views containing parts) to select when mirroring/padding/pocketing them. Your choices and decisions appear magically inspired. Please explain further.

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are right, I am using magic as an inspiration ;-) Can you tell me what minute (mark) in the video you are referring to. I will take a look and let you know why I did what I did.

[@DaleyKreations]

So I had an issue when I went to make the ConRod where, when I went to add the 2nd and 3rd sketch for the embossing and holes I could not for the life of me get it to show the centers of the circles on the first sketch. Clicking the section view button on and off would only show me the origin of the plane. I tried re-making the sketch several times, going back to make sure I had everything clicked on, and located in the same piece of the model tree as you did. Nothing. So I had to just guess where the centers of the circles were, which meant I had to manually reposition them later when we moved the Con rod down into position inside the piston because the embossing and hole sketches didn't move automatically.

[@Adventuresincreation]

There is a button (next to the change lines to/from construction lines) that copies geometry from another sketch. Try that.

[@DaleyKreations]

@@Adventuresincreation Thanks. I came back to it after a few months and on the second time through picked up on that. Now my problem is that when I do the embossing on the con rod it doesn't pad on both sides, only 1 side. Up to that point my model matched yours perfectly

[@deonhugo3442]

For some reason, my square cannot be offset in the Position Z-axis 23 mm. I cannot the Z position property. Any ideas? At 24:05 in the video.

[@Adventuresincreation]

That's odd, can you move it any other direction?

[@deonhugo3442]

@@Adventuresincreation, Yes, I cannot change any position. I must have done something wrong. If I try to type in "23" I get the top view if I type "2" and the right view if I type "3". FreeCAD thinks I am trying to change the view of the piston.

[@zahrab162]

Hi It was great.thank u 🌸🌸🙏 I don't know why some errors pop up for me but not for u! Did I change my program setting before? I can't understand why 🍃🌸

[@Adventuresincreation]

Not sure on your errors. It's difficult to know, were you able to get through them?

[@zahrab162]

@@Adventuresincreation In mint:14 when u click on : >< this

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@zahrab162 are you referring to the symmetry button. If so, you have to select two lines then the line that you want the symmetry around. If you have more or less than that you will get an error. What does your error say?

[@matyf_]

Hey, great video! I'm curious why you create a part and a body inside it instead of just creating the body. Thanks!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Some of the assembly workbenches like the parts to be separate not just bodies in a single part

[@matyf_]

@@Adventuresincreation thanks for the answer! So, do you create the part in advance just in case you want to use it in an assembly later on?

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@matyf_ yes, just to keep my workflow the same and ensure the parts are separate where it makes sense.

[@bilaltariq7819]

Thought you were an Aussie at the start 😅. How come you create a Part in Part Design and then a Body inside it? Until now I've just got into PD and clicked new body and started making the shape.

[@Adventuresincreation]

In some instances the part is going to be important. - It also allows you to manage bodies for parts i.e. multiple bodies can live inside a single part.

[@abdelkaderkaouane1944]

In 29:57, Why we get directly a hole?

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thats the way it works

[@jonathanrichards593]

Think of it this way: starting from far away, you're on the outside of whatever you're modelling. Cross the boundary, and you're on the inside. Cross another, inner boundary, and you're outside again: it's a hole!

[@VaticansHolocaust]

This is more like a multi-body tutorial, not a multi-part tutorial (per title). The crankshaft, conrod, piston, etc. are all separate parts, not merely bodies. They would be cataloged by the manufacturer with different part numbers.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback 😉

[@rcaddictions7385]

Been trying to replicate this and keep getting errors. Don't know what is happening. I'm using 21.1 version. Thanks

[@Adventuresincreation]

Send me your file I'll take a look

[@rcaddictions7385]

Got it figured out! I can start at center plane, and it works great. I just can’t start off on zed plane. It doesn’t like it for some reason! Thank!! And thanks for the instructional videos!!

[@yamenmoner6203]

I am trying freecad but I didn't find offset command

[@Adventuresincreation]

There's a macro bit not a native command

[@danaschoen432]

I don't know what you are doing that I am not, but I have spent an hour trying to import Geometry from one body to another like you are doing, have slowed the video, replicated your every move and I am coming up empty. A little more info on how this works and where it wont would be most appreciated.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I will look at it and see if I can clarify

[@lauris.r8751]

23:57 not working nothing

[@Adventuresincreation]

Can you explain what you mean?

[@lauris.r8751]

@@Adventuresincreation cant't change scetch position mm. . But i found other way to do that pad, with datum plane. With freecad all time need to do experimetnts, to get result.

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@lauris.r8751 there is always more than one way to achieve the same thing. Keep on experimenting and having fun with it.

[@jonathanrichards593]

@@lauris.r8751 Might be a bit late to say, but be careful that you are modifying the right values! The sketch has an Attachment position, which is what you should be modifying at 23:57. If you are instead modifying the Base placement position (which looks very similar) you are right, nothing works! This caught me out a couple of times.

[@johnnycomas]

Please edit the videos! So much time lost watching the mouse slowly move around the screen and you talking your thoughts through... Painful

[@Adventuresincreation]

Ok, I'll take that under consideration 😉