I’m really falling in love with FreeCAD as a program. about an hour 1/2 and I’ve put together a PSU Mount for the 20A PSU on the FB2020 Plus… Whether it works or not is a different matter. Better get printing…
If you enjoy parametric modeling, you may as well want to try OpenSCAD: http://www.openscad.org/
@Chris_Rennie He has previously been using OpenSCAD standalone. He is now migrating his OpenSCAD designs to FreeCAD using the OpenSCAD Workbench.
@Ax_Smith-Laffin Keep it up. Let’s show what can be achieved with Free-as-in-Freedom software. Don’t forget you can view and modify your STLs in MeshLab - another great Free-as-in-Freedom application.
@Chris_Rennie - That’s what I was using previously. I found it a little limiting, without using the maths programming to sort edges and the like out (my maths is horrendous, so alot of things like sin, tan and cos go over my head) and the programming took a lot longer than it does to put things together in FreeCAD for me. Don’t get me wrong, Most of the FB2020 is actually designed in OpenSCAD, but this actually works better for me.
Ah! I hadn’t realised you’d been using OpenSCAD. I may give FreeCAD a look myself. Happy 3D printing! 
@Neil_Darlow - Never got on with meshlab, although I have it installed for a few tasks. I need to sit down as actually work through what it can actually do.
I found the opposite personally; OpenSCAD seemed much more intuitive to me than FreeCAD. I could get parts made quickly under OpenSCAD, but in FreeCAD I couldn’t even wrap my mind around the workflow.
But in general I tend to think better on the command line than in GUIs anyway, so to each his own I suppose.
@Tom_Nardi Those with a programmatic mind will get on with OpenSCAD just fine.
I am happy with it but I have to consider that others may wish to work on what I produce and a GUI-based method is probably better in that respect.
That’s another reason I prefer completely free tools so that nobody is denied access to my work for e.g. geographical reasons.
Check out the assembly2 project
The new part design is also awesome. Check this: https://youtu.be/56LOty4Yh1E
@Alex_Skoruppa - Nope, I tend to go for free, open source software as I run Linux on all my computers. While Fusion360 is free for small use, it won’t run on my machines, I’d also have to end up paying eventually for it as these programs get used for Business too.
@Tom_Nardi - it worked like that for me for a while. However, I went looking as I have a MPCNC project on the horizon and wanted a program that could output what I needed (Shame I’ve not been able to locate a Linux CAM program that doesn’t require kernel modifications) I’d come across FreeCAD before but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. OpenSCAD worked and clicked instantly but I found it a pain with limited file import types, trying to create complex shapes, a simple triangle was a pain to do, chamfering and rounding off edges. There’s some commands that I still use in FreeCAD, such as Hull for speed purposes. To actually get my head around it I just took the Carriage design from the FB2020 and re-created it in FreeCAD. It took me around 5-6 hours of messing with it and several restarts, but it clicked pretty quickly. The flow is different, but also familiar at the same time. I still do the grab a basic shape and hack the hell out of it with difference, but somehow FreeCAD just feels more responsive .
Any suggestion as to learning curve? I find myself concerned with workflow efficiency only on subjects with which I am already familiar. But I struggle with wrapping my mind around 3D design itself. On and off I tried 123Design and the tool that Google once put out. But nothing sinks in. It is hard for me to just create basic shapes. (A cube, a cylinder, a pizza box.) It is the concept of shape that escapes me and I hope some tool can guide me through. (That’s how I come to expect from software. Learned many a subjects this way.)
@whackyhack - Basically all I do is take a design and try to recreate it. FreeCAD has primitive shapes to work from under the part workbench. You can then use Cut(Difference), Join(Union) or Intersection to create parts…
Just installed FreeCAD. First impressions: Intuitive - it isn’t. I’ll probably persevere a little with it, but from my perspective openSCAD does everything I need it to. Mostly all engineering type parts for 3D printing.
@Chris_Rennie - took me a bit to get my head around the workbenches, and it’s not exactly laid out too well, but once I got my head around that it works for me.
You can do most things with the Part, Part Design and Sketcher workbenches. The Spreadsheet workbench is a recent addition which greatly assists parametric modelling if you are well-organised.
Of course the OpenSCAD work bench is useful for pulling in existing parametric objects and the Assembly2 workbench is good for final assemblies.
There are a few specialist workbenches which permit things like animation of moving parts (imagine seeing your printer model in operation) and fly-by tours of your model.
Interesting stuff indeed.
Autodesk is better just saying…
I started working with FreeCAD but eventually found Blender easier to use- I mostly use Blender now.
I really like freeCAD, and I’ve used much more expensive software in the past. I’ve used bleder for a few things, but found it dropped the ball when exporting solid stls for slicing. I’ve imported alot of bad geometry from belnder into my slicer. Maybe I’m not doing it right? Or building parts that are too elaborate? I’ve had a great experience with freeCAD. And for the price… It’s hard to beat.
Yes, I think that may be a good point against Blender- that, using Modifiers tends to make the geometry non-manifold and I need to repair them using the free netfabb. Maybe I will try freeCAD again listening to all your positive comments.
Team USA today but and if