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Slightly unrelated to this story, but I’m curious if anyone has good resources for learning FreeCAD. I have quite a lot of experience with SolidWorks, AutoCAD,

Slightly unrelated to this story, but I’m curious if anyone has good resources for learning FreeCAD. I have quite a lot of experience with SolidWorks, AutoCAD, OnShape, and similar software, but FreeCAD has always been hard for me to pick up.

Alupis 6mo ago
YouTube was very effective for me to learn FreeCAD. I just searched for some FreeCAD tutorials and followed-along. I had zero prior CAD experience though, so I was a "blank slate" in a way.
jjkaczor 6mo ago
MangoJelly on YouTube was my primary learning source, and a few other channels - but his "gelled" with me the best.
- jjkaczor 6mo ago
  Oh wow - over on Reddit, someone mentioned that the Deltahedra YouTuber has started using his own voice, rather than a generated one - and - well, his content is now far more watchable than it was previously!
  - loloquwowndueo 6mo ago
    Deltahedra is awesome. “Like a caveman” is hilarious when uttered by the extremely serious ai-generated voice. At least he writes his own material
- bartvk 6mo ago
  Yup, mine too. He has a course on Udemy as well.
- dabiged 6mo ago
  My goal this year is to finish his 40ish hour course. Excellent quality course at a good pace.
mft_ 6mo ago
I often recommend https://youtube.com/@deltahedra3d https://youtube.com/@deltahedra3d - some good tutorial videos and other excellent FreeCAD content.
WillAdams 6mo ago
I am hopeful of: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245787716-freecad-beginner-s-handbook https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245787716-freecad-beginn... and will be adding it to my next Amazon order.
arcanemachiner 6mo ago
This is for after you've done a tutorial or two: There was a PDF I had a while back (can't remember the name) which has a bunch of shapes you had to design in a 3D CAD program, with some guiding measurements. The shapes got harder to create as you progressed through the book. That was a good, fun way to sharpen my skills after I learned the basics.
- digdugdirk 6mo ago
  Commenting here in case you or someone else remembers what this is. I'm always on the lookout for practice resources I can recommend to CAD beginners.
  - blcArmadillo 6mo ago
    Maybe something like: https://www.solidworks.com/sites/default/files/cswpsampleexam.pdf https://www.solidworks.com/sites/default/files/cswpsampleexa... (jump to page 18).
- roel_v 6mo ago
  Probably this one: https://ko-fi.com/offsetcad/shop https://ko-fi.com/offsetcad/shop I have it, it's great. There's a free one, I paid a few bucks for the full set. Guy has a Youtube channel too where he shows how he does a few of the designs. Good guy, I had some troubles with the payment getting through to him and then the download didn't work for some reason (some weird combination of issues, don't remember details), and he just send me the whole pack without even knowing if I was going to actually put in the effort to make the payment work.
nirui 6mo ago
Just a pre-heads-up: depending on what you're trying to do, the exact tool and thus tutorial you need maybe slightly different. For example, I made a gasket for my mini PC awhile ago using FreeCAD. Designing it was a hell until I discovered the Sheet Metal Workbench in the plugin manager, and just like that, I got it designed & manufactured within ~4 days. During my experience, most of my time was spent on learning how to use the Sheet Metal Workbench as well as how it interacts with other FreeCAD builtin features. FreeCAD itself is not that hard to learn. Also, there are Piping Workbench too if you want to work on pipes, Wood Work Workbench if you want to do wood work etc, see: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-addons https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-addons. Use the correct workbench for the right job will save you a lot of time.
- VerifiedReports 6mo ago
  plug-in built-in Hyphens FTW!
  - nirui 6mo ago
    So uh, what's your opinion on Addon vs Add-on? Because... what they did in FreeCAD may surprise you. Image: https://pasteboard.co/XnHu73qUwSuD.png https://pasteboard.co/XnHu73qUwSuD.png
spacebouy 6mo ago
I'm similar with 20+ years of experience with Autodesk products so freecad was (and often still is) frustrating for me because I know what I need to do but don't know the freecad ways. Claude has been very helpful when I give it the context of my experience because it relates the Autodesk way to the freecad way in its explanations.

Alupis 6mo ago

YouTube was very effective for me to learn FreeCAD. I just searched for some FreeCAD tutorials and followed-along. I had zero prior CAD experience though, so I was a "blank slate" in a way.

jjkaczor 6mo ago

MangoJelly on YouTube was my primary learning source, and a few other channels - but his "gelled" with me the best.

jjkaczor 6mo ago
Oh wow - over on Reddit, someone mentioned that the Deltahedra YouTuber has started using his own voice, rather than a generated one - and - well, his content is now far more watchable than it was previously!
- loloquwowndueo 6mo ago
  Deltahedra is awesome. “Like a caveman” is hilarious when uttered by the extremely serious ai-generated voice. At least he writes his own material
bartvk 6mo ago
Yup, mine too. He has a course on Udemy as well.
dabiged 6mo ago
My goal this year is to finish his 40ish hour course. Excellent quality course at a good pace.

mft_ 6mo ago

I often recommend https://youtube.com/@deltahedra3d https://youtube.com/@deltahedra3d - some good tutorial videos and other excellent FreeCAD content.

WillAdams 6mo ago

I am hopeful of: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245787716-freecad-beginner-s-handbook https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/245787716-freecad-beginn... and will be adding it to my next Amazon order.

arcanemachiner 6mo ago

This is for after you've done a tutorial or two: There was a PDF I had a while back (can't remember the name) which has a bunch of shapes you had to design in a 3D CAD program, with some guiding measurements. The shapes got harder to create as you progressed through the book. That was a good, fun way to sharpen my skills after I learned the basics.

digdugdirk 6mo ago
Commenting here in case you or someone else remembers what this is. I'm always on the lookout for practice resources I can recommend to CAD beginners.
- blcArmadillo 6mo ago
  Maybe something like: https://www.solidworks.com/sites/default/files/cswpsampleexam.pdf https://www.solidworks.com/sites/default/files/cswpsampleexa... (jump to page 18).
roel_v 6mo ago
Probably this one: https://ko-fi.com/offsetcad/shop https://ko-fi.com/offsetcad/shop I have it, it's great. There's a free one, I paid a few bucks for the full set. Guy has a Youtube channel too where he shows how he does a few of the designs. Good guy, I had some troubles with the payment getting through to him and then the download didn't work for some reason (some weird combination of issues, don't remember details), and he just send me the whole pack without even knowing if I was going to actually put in the effort to make the payment work.

nirui 6mo ago

Just a pre-heads-up: depending on what you're trying to do, the exact tool and thus tutorial you need maybe slightly different. For example, I made a gasket for my mini PC awhile ago using FreeCAD. Designing it was a hell until I discovered the Sheet Metal Workbench in the plugin manager, and just like that, I got it designed & manufactured within ~4 days. During my experience, most of my time was spent on learning how to use the Sheet Metal Workbench as well as how it interacts with other FreeCAD builtin features. FreeCAD itself is not that hard to learn. Also, there are Piping Workbench too if you want to work on pipes, Wood Work Workbench if you want to do wood work etc, see: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-addons https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD-addons. Use the correct workbench for the right job will save you a lot of time.

VerifiedReports 6mo ago
plug-in built-in Hyphens FTW!
- nirui 6mo ago
  So uh, what's your opinion on Addon vs Add-on? Because... what they did in FreeCAD may surprise you. Image: https://pasteboard.co/XnHu73qUwSuD.png https://pasteboard.co/XnHu73qUwSuD.png

spacebouy 6mo ago

I'm similar with 20+ years of experience with Autodesk products so freecad was (and often still is) frustrating for me because I know what I need to do but don't know the freecad ways. Claude has been very helpful when I give it the context of my experience because it relates the Autodesk way to the freecad way in its explanations.