FreeCAD Electronic Enclosure Using Simple Parametric Design Techniques

In this video we will demonstrate how to create a fully parametric electronics enclosure that can be easily 3D printed. These boxes are useful if you create any electronic projects where you need an enclosure, they can be easily modified to make holes for USB or other inputs.
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##Links
FreeCAD macros: bitbucket.org/ianj001/freecad...
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Cura: ultimaker.com/software/ultima...
Fusion 360: www.autodesk.com/products/fus...
Fusion 360 API: help.autodesk.com/view/fusion...
FreeCAD: www.freecadweb.org/
Raspberry Pi: www.raspberrypi.org/
Blender: www.blender.org/
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OBS: obsproject.com/
PxKeystrokes: github.com/Phaiax/PxKeystroke...
Songs:
Raw Space by Spazz Cardigan (intro)

[@kmr7825]

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)

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent, welcome aboard!

[@ericesev]

This is the tutorial that finally made FreeCAD make sense to me. Thank you!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome

[@glynwalton5202]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Glyn, I appreciate it.

[@j6077xxd]

​@@AdventuresincreationHey matey, just a suggestion, you could partner with Ondsel to make their specific tutorial videos and make some $ out of it.

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@j6077xxd Not sure they are looking for people to create videos for them?

[@j6077xxd]

@@Adventuresincreation yeah unsure but you should email them and offer to for sure.

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@j6077xxd thanks!

[@postcaveman69]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Great to hear it. Glad the videos are helping you to work with FreeCAD.

[@agjul]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback. I am glad you are finding the videos useful.

[@Whipster-Old]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Max, I am glad you enjoyed it.

[@drulli1]

This tutorial is an eye-opener. Using a spreadsheet is the key keeping control of the object during the construction process.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks, you are right. Don't forget to check dynamic data elements too.

[@drulli1]

@@Adventuresincreation I will go through your tutorials anyhow. But first I am constructing this Electronic Box watching in parallel your video. 😊

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@drulli1 Excellent! Have fun with that.

[@ChrisBinny]

Great tutorial, thanks! I found it really helpful to start working with parametric designs.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I am very glad it helped. Keep at it, you will love it.

[@VinnyGjokaj]

This was extremely helpful. I learned a ton, First time ever using the spreadsheet tool and I dont think I can ever go back.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I use it a lot.

[@henrikh484]

This is my first 3D attempt - really powerfull stuff using parameters for these things. thank you

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are very welcome. I am glad it helped.

[@tonyknors672]

This is without any doubt the best Freecad tutorial in its kind I have ever seen. WOW !

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks!

[@Wrublos212]

The best tutorial I`ve ever seen. Thanks to You I got started with Freecad. Thank You !

[@Adventuresincreation]

Great to hear!

[@kizz.Commented]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Keep after it, you will soon have a fully parametric box including the lid

[@steffenmutter]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent!

[@lovevwltd7114]

Great video and introduction to parametric for freecad. This has made me think especially the duplication via symmetry...

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jayuk022002]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent! Glad it helped you.

[@JerrysStuff]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent, glad it helped

[@gregwoolley]

Excellent video. Thanks very much!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are very welcome, thanks for the feedback.

[@itsa_possum]

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

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@mjago]

Many thanks for this tutorial - really appreciated!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are very welcome

[@EcoHamletsUK]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad it was helpful!

[@michaelhucul6071]

Outstanding tutorial. Thank you!

[@Adventuresincreation]

I am glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback

[@jungoogie]

Kudos👍! Thanks for sharing this very practical way of framing out project designs in FreeCAD!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Quest_UK]

Excellent video, I will use your video to design my own box, thanks for making the video

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@drulli1]

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]

Glad you figured it out

[@erlakijeno3456]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Plagiarize as much as you like. That's why I created the videos so you can use the pieces that you need.

[@eduardomalebransoto3383]

Excelente video, explicado muy bien paso a paso. Abarcó todo lo que andaba buscando. Desde Iquique-Chile mis saludos.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thank you Eduardo (Google translated your comment for me)

[@gregorjimenez9842]

WoW!!! Excellent tutorial... Thanks for you time.

[@Adventuresincreation]

My pleasure!

[@jurgenblick5491]

Wow. Exceptional tutorial. Thank you

[@Adventuresincreation]

You're very welcome!

[@tarksoner4402]

Excellent tutorial !..Thanks very much...

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome

[@Pghpete5]

Fantastic tutorial. Subbed/Liked. Thank you for taking the time to do these and share them.

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome!

[@Elephantine999]

Great walkthrough! Thank you!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome

[@JaredTilston]

Really love your tutorials! Great job!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks!

[@Rubbernecker]

Wow, this is an excellent video! Very well explained, thank you for sharing!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Scott. I appreciate the feedback.

[@RobRussell]

Watched this a month ago and just came back to say thanks. The example is really easy to adapt for other similar models.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad to hear it. I hoped that it would help others to create their own models.

[@oldcomps]

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. 🙂

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Brian

[@GlargodSr]

I love the process.. love the use of spreadsheet. I can use that for sure.. THANK YOU!!!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent!

[@iwayini]

Great Video. That certainly explained a lot of things for me. Thank you.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad you liked it

[@stevengrobler4608]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad it helped Steven

[@hichemilkay2448]

@@Adventuresincreation hey man i already installed freecad in my computer using windows 7 but it's not openning what could be the problem

[@beto.004]

Such a great tutorial!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks!

[@SkonkBot]

Great tutorial, very helpful. Thanks :)

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad you liked it James

[@garethsutcliffe5680]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent, glad to hear that.

[@kissingfrogs]

I learned so much. Thank you.

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are so welcome!

[@djpenton779]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

All good stuff. Glad it's useful for you.

[@mikeferguson2828]

Wow I followed you along as a brand new freeCAD user and am amazed at “our” new box on my screen 😊

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent!

[@bluesteel5869]

Absolutely excellent tutorial! Liked & subscribed.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks!

[@maxslader9603]

Thanks, great tutorial.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks

[@ve2evn543]

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]

Do you have an example of the PCB mounts you are looking for?

[@ve2evn543]

@@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.

[@alhaddar14]

thanks for excellent tutorial

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome

[@thear1s]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback

[@dasy2k1]

It was fully constrained due to the automatic horizontal and vertical constraint that was added by freecad

[@TheTomUtube]

Awesome Tut. Thank you!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome

[@jieme5548]

Excellent, thank you

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome 😉

[@thamesmud]

Excellent presentation of a really usefull feature.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad you liked it

[@billpowell5931]

Nice presentation and great project.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Tomthumb222]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent, let me know how you get on with it.

[@markmartin9413]

That was excellent. Thank you,

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome. I am considering remaking the video in the latest version.

[@shingabiss]

Excellent tutorial!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad you liked it!

[@miketurner3764]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Take a look at my other videos you will see how to add holes etc.

[@miketurner3764]

Thanks, I did and my box now has many holes and features, looking forward to watching some of your other videos @@Adventuresincreation

[@James_Cook_Explorer]

Excellent!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@ichilvers]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@yaghiyahbrenner8902]

wow - This is an impressive video immediately subscribed, and thank you.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Awesome, thank you!

[@clytle374]

Thank you!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You're welcome!

[@michaelshokouhi6185]

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

[@Adventuresincreation]

Hi Michael, yes there is a lid video too. You don't have to create it yourself.

[@Nick-ye5kk]

Excellent content

[@Adventuresincreation]

Glad you think so!

[@lokapakti1548]

Very Nyc tutorial 👍

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@PaulBoscott]

Thank you this helped me

[@Adventuresincreation]

You're welcome!

[@nicovosje]

Fantastic video! I just started using FreeCAD and this was verry helpfull Thank you :)

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent, glad it helped

[@fir3w4lk3r]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

You could do that with just a loft to craft a taper or you could apply a taper to the outside

[@henrybecker2842]

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]

You are welcome

[@pietpompiepompiepiet940]

@@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):)

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@pietpompiepompiepiet940 you haven't selected (highlighted) the spreadsheet in the model tree.

[@pietpompiepompiepiet940]

@@Adventuresincreation ok thanks will check

[@Offcut55]

great vid learned a lot

[@Adventuresincreation]

That's great to hear. Please keep looking, there are plenty more videos to see. ;-)

[@447necro8]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Good point. I will try to mention the auto constraints more in the future

[@danielmelendrez1616]

Very nice explanation and great workflow. I will start using this approach from now on ;)

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback. I am planning to do some more parametric designs in the future.

[@danielmelendrez1616]

@@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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@danielmelendrez1616 I will do some more complex designs. There are some convoluted pieces but once you navigate them freecad is a great piece of software.

[@jblacktube]

This was my freecad breakthrough video! Thank you very much!!!!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks James, Glad it helped!

[@jblacktube]

@@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

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@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.

[@jblacktube]

Lol! I see you just posted kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5qwhIRubK-Wn9U about 3 hours ago. THANK YOU!!

[@morten61]

Really helpful video, Great work. I have now made my own template based on your Tutorial, just some minor changes. Thx. But I have one question (or problem). How to design a box that is not a square. I need a box where the placement of the controls need to be placed in an angel, a chamfer.

[@Adventuresincreation]

If the chamfer is on the outside of the box you can create it, add the chamfer then use the thickness tool.

[@Thatdavemarsh]

Highly recommend using equals and the tab and arrows to pull up parametric alias entires when inputting constraints cheers!

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks Dave. I am working on how to show labels on lcs' in assembly 4. 🤔

[@muzguz7276]

Great tutorial. I somehow missed the box width and can't fault find where I've gone wrong but all else works. Cheers.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I am glad you enjoyed it

[@SongsFromMyHead]

I've been using FreeCAD for several years and your series of videos has introduced me to several features I was not aware of. Thanks! However, something has struck me as a bit odd. I tried constructing a box following the techniques you've presented in this video, except I started it off on the XZ plane, as I wanted the opening on the front rather than the top. When it came to creating the pocket to hollow it out, I found that I had to offset the attachment point of the inside sketch in the Z direction to get the bottom closed, even though intuitively it seems that I should have made the offset in Y. Any ideas why this is so? Also, would it not have been simpler to start the pocket on the top face of your box, rather than the XY plane? That eliminates the need to offset the attachment and reverse the direction of the pocket. The pocket depth would be expressed parametrically as 'Height - WallThickness'. Thanks again and take care!

[@Adventuresincreation]

The offset is in the local rather than the global lcs and is nearly always in Z direction.

[@bigbronx]

It is one year later but yeah, when you do the pocket do not select "through all", instead give it a dimension of whatever height minus bottom thickness. That negative attachment offset seems more like a hack.

[@theeggman1341]

Great tutorial. How would I go about adding a radius to the top or bottom edges?

[@Adventuresincreation]

You can use the filet tool to add radii on the edges.

[@ahmadmohammadi8922]

Thanks

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are Welcome

[@DellAnderson]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@hedgiehogUK]

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]

You confused me at first but I think you are saying you liked this video 🤦‍♂️

[@hedgiehogUK]

@@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 👍

[@boblewis5558]

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]

Thanks for the feedback

[@ProfessorVector]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You can just pull the tool bars down they will create another row

[@yannisniss302]

Great video thank you for the amazing content. Can you say which Macro did you use in the beginning to setup your project?

[@Adventuresincreation]

It's a startup macro that you can create for yourself. I think it's in video #1 or #2 from memory

[@viragored]

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]

Thanks for the feedback. Today's video shows you how to create a macro of your own. Maybe that will open even more possibilities.

[@viragored]

@@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]

That's good news!

[@viragored]

@@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! 🙂🙂🙂

[@Adventuresincreation]

Excellent, glad it helped. I'll take a look at your freecad file later. Well done!

[@meisievannancy]

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]

Great idea 💡

[@meisievannancy]

​@@AdventuresincreationThanks.

[@TankTurk]

Excellent video and very clear instructions as per your most helpful other videos. I'm nearly finished with making the box, just need to add the lugs and will use it to create boxes in the future. I normally use Tinkercad but this is way better and can create boxes of different sizes quicker and easier. Thanks very much mate, I've learned a lot from you

[@Adventuresincreation]

Are you going to let us see your box? I would love to include it in a future video.

[@TankTurk]

@@Adventuresincreation do you mean the drawn box or the printed box? I'm working on the lid now at the moment, keep making mistakes and messing up but hopefully will be finished tomorrow.

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@TankTurk the drawn box will work but pictures of the printed one would be cool too.

[@TankTurk]

@@Adventuresincreation, I can send you screenshots of the box if you let me know how. I am not ready to print the box yet as I want to add lugs/spacers to screw Arduino on to. If I can, I want to make them parametric as well so that I can change their position for different Arduino boards. I have no idea if that's possible but gonna try. I'll let you know if I succeed

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@TankTurk I am confident you can make those lugs parametric too. Sounds like a great project. We can wait until you have the finished article then I will send you info on how to get the file to me.

[@imonsterplays2557]

Excellent tutorials. Can you tell me how to put thread on the lugs at four corners?

[@Adventuresincreation]

Use the fasteners workbench, basically use a model of a tap.

[@ChristopherHoadley]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@meditatseng7243]

It is so 👍 👍👍👍👍

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks

[@jindrich2485]

Thanks for the great video. It is a pity that it is not possible to define a constant (or variable) directly in the sketch dialog when entering a value. Why is it not possible to display all parameters entered automatically in the table? Unnecessarily many operations are required to enter a single value.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Thanks for the feedback

[@tivadarodonvikkala8971]

Köszi!

[@Adventuresincreation]

You are welcome!

[@chetanmadasu]

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!

[@Adventuresincreation]

There is no automatic way to do that however you can build validation into your calculations.

[@ichilvers]

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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@ichilvers]

@@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.

[@Adventuresincreation]

Check out my latest video, I created the box and showed how to check the clearance. I mentioned you in the video.

[@themorleyc]

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?

[@Adventuresincreation]

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.

[@Ed19601]

Great tutorial. i tried adding screw-thread to casings which is doable with a plug in. Works easiest in the parts workbench but can be done in parts design workbench as well. It is OK in PLA, but in PETG it is almost useless as there usually is some shrinkage. Still looking for an easy way to imbed or add a metal nut to e.g. cornerstuds. I can think of some ways but not sure if those would be the 'easiest'

[@Adventuresincreation]

Have you tried making a slightly smaller hole than the nut then heating the nut and pushing it in? Or you could create a cavity then insert the nut during printing.

[@Ed19601]

@@Adventuresincreation tnx. Tried variations to that first theme by gluing the nut. 2nd one i have thought about. Need to put in a 'pauze print' in my gcode once i figure out whers the cavity for the nut is done printing

[@noobulon4334]

I think what most people do is use what's called a threaded insert and melt it into the plastic by heating it with a soldering iorn (and using tweezers to hold it straight)

[@meg-a-bytes]

Good video. I have a question about drawing the inside of the box. At 17:00 you proceed to re-create the lines and radii for the inside dimension. Why not just use an offset command (assuming there is one) to create the inner box/ In 2D CAD that is how you would accomplish that.

[@Adventuresincreation]

There is an offset but it's a macro that you have to install, it is not a native command hence, I didn't use it. - I am not sure if the offset is being added to the next release or not.

[@meg-a-bytes]

@@Adventuresincreation Not having a native offset command in FC is a game changer for me. Offset is a fundamental 2D sketch command. It is used everywhere to do exactly what you had to do manually. How did this product make it all the way to release 19 without such a fundamental command?

[@Adventuresincreation]

@@meg-a-bytes yeah, I must admit, I missed that at first, but the macro works well even though I don't find myself using it as much as I would have thought.

[@jacobusreynecke6908]

Hi, thanks for a great video. I am new to Freecad and need a little help please. In the report view it says The graph must be a DAG. So how do I add a DAG to freecad. Thanks.

[@Adventuresincreation]

I am not sure what DAG is, where are you getting that from?

[@philnelson2364]

Well, I finally created something that actually works... Well, sortof. I have built a flight simulator cockpit panels (using scrap pieces of wood etc) and switches, 7-segment displays and so on. My plan is to build 3D printed panels for each section that I need. My first success (almost) was to design one panel holding two 7-segment - 6 digit displays for the radio frequency readouts with an encoder to select the frequency with a pocket hole and a smaller through-hole inside for the encoder and, 4 screw holes on the corners to mount it. HERE is the problem (and I don't think it's freecad but maybe CURA or possibly my delta printer) - All the measurements are exact for the cutouts for the 7-seg displays, and encoder and screw holes but, they get printed slightly smaller. The panel itself, 150mm x 50mm is ok, the two cutouts (46mm x 14.5mm) come out as 44mm x 11.5mm) and the hole for the encoder, supposed to be 15.15mm and inside hole at 6.9mm comes out to 11.2mm and 4.5mm - I haven't a clue why this problem exists. I had to print in CURA by making the X-axis at 105% and the Y-axis at 108%. If anyone has an idea as to what the problem might be........... Would be truely helpful.

[@Adventuresincreation]

You may need to calibrate your "system" remember as the pla cools it may shrink. If you are scaling things in cura you may change the difference. Try creating and printing some simple calibration items to dial everything in.