Last time, we built a case for a PCB that handles 100 W of USB-C power, an old project that I’ve long been aiming to revive. It went well, and I’d like to believe you that the article will give you a much-needed easy-to-grasp FreeCAD introduction, Matrix knowledge upload style, having you designing stuff in no time.
Apart from my firm belief in the power of open-source software, I also do believe in social responsibilities, and I think I have a responsibility to teach you some decent FreeCAD design practices I’ve learned along the way. Some of them are going to protect your behind from mistakes, and some of them will do that while also making your project way easier to work with, for you and others.
You might not think the last part about “others” matters, but for a start, it matters in the ideal world that we’re collectively striving towards, and also, let’s be real, things like documentation are half intended for external contributors, half for you a year later. So, here’s the first FreeCAD tip that will unquestionably protect you while helping whoever else might work with the model later.
Okay, we’re all hackers, so I’ll start with zero-th FreeCAD tip – press Ctrl+S often. That’ll help a ton. Thankfully, FreeCAD’s autorecovery system has made big leaps, and it’s pretty great in case FreeCAD does crash, but the less you have to recover, the better. Now, onto the first tip.