FreeCAD Tutorial 1d: Design of an Electronic Box, Concluded

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Link to: Tutorial 1c (prev)

Introduction

This tutorial concludes the sequence for designing a sample electronics box to demonstrate how to use FreeCAD.

In the previous tutorials, most of the basic tools have already been addressed. In the steps that follow, knowledge of these tools will be assumed. If you are unfamiliar with any of these tools, you may want to review the previous entries in this sequence.

In the series leading up to this one, we designed the E-box with a number of mounting features that permit a small circuit board to be mounted. The geometric constraints that were demonstrated allow for the dimensions and mounting features to be changed around to fit circuit boards of different sizes with different mounting footprints.

One important feature that hasn't been placed yet is a pass-through to get wires in and out of the box. We will design this next. We will also design a raised-text label for the outside of the box.

Design the Pass-Through

This feature uses tools that have already been introduced previously. Click on one of the longer side walls of the box. For this lesson we select the face whose normal vector points in the +Y direction.

Use the () "Sketch" tool to open a new sketch. Using the () "Circle" tool define a 1/2" circular hole in the upper half of the box. Close the sketch.

Select the () "Pocket" tool to turn the circle into a hole. Make the depth of cut something deeper than the wall thickness.