Ask and Ye shall recieve

Below is a direct cut and paste from tomboy notes where I jotted down something Id like to have software-wise.

3. Erector set components package for CAD
The goal here is simple. To draw, in 3 dimensions, all of the parts I have to build with in my erector set. This would make it possible to quickly test designs in my mind without having to have physical access to the parts. Finding the nix equivalent to solidworks.

Well look at this shit!

I’ve only been playing with it for a few minutes, but it seems to be pretty easy to use. I know the types of things I want it to do, now I just have to figure out what it calls those things and which of those things it can do. A quick stroll through the menu has left me with high hopes of a ridiculously capable piece of free open sourced software. I’m going to fight the urge to just poke around and figure it out and actually read a tutorial, because if I can get what I have in my mind on the computer in front of me I would be happier than a pig in shit, nah for real, happier. I’ll start by drawing all the different pieces I have on hand. Since I left my calipers at home I can’t do any serious drawing, but that’s just another reason to go ahead with a tutorial. After I define all the erector set pieces I have on hand I’ll draw both etch-a-sketches, my stepper motors, circuit boards and any other components I may use for whatever project I’m working on at the time. Here’s a screenshot of me just fartin’ around drawing a ten inch flat beam.Creation of primitives are very simple with FreeCad. If you’ve ever used any mechanical drawing software to digitally create 3 dimensional shit before you create real shit then you’ll be familiar with the concept of primitives. Primitives are just your rudimentary, basic five shapes. Everything in the world is shaped like one of these five shapes, or more commonly a combination of these shapes. Boolean operations allow you to blend these shapes the way they need to be blended in order to have an accurate digital representation of your shit. For instance, a hole through a piece of plate steel is a cylinder, not just a circle. You would start by drawing the plate, then the cylinder intersecting through the area of the plate where the hole should be, then use the subtract Boolean, clicking on the cylinder first then the plate, basically saying subtract this from this.

More on this when I get a few more pieces made. Time to find that tutorial!