That file is 2Meg and thus, can’t post it. However, attached are a couple of files I use for the starting-point on FreeCad Basic Tutorial’s of Datum-Planes. There are other types of Datums, these show Datum-Planes and may help… Be sure to explore Mapping…
How_I_Do_It.FCStd (33.5 KB)
planes.FCStd (20.5 KB)
datumPlane.FCStd (20.3 KB)
Had to go tend to other work and life, now returning to this conundrum.
I tried exporting each layer separately from Inkscape using SVG2Shenzhen. No luck. Only the edge.cuts geometry appeared in footprint editor.
OK. Export F.cu geometry as PNG. DPI @ 1200. Import into image convertor. Copy. Paste into footprint editor which already has edge cuts geometry. And, it worked! Line thickness set at 0. Pads are on Front.mask, but it’s a start.
Click select one pad. Right click > Create From Selection > Create Polygon from Selection
E to edit polygon. Change layer to F.cu
Add a Pad. Set pad (in this case) to SMD. F.cu and F.mask. uncheck F.Paste. Set pad number. OK
Move pad into polygon. CTRL-E to enter pad edit mode. Now, once again:
Click select one pad. Right click > Create From Selection > Create Polygon from Selection
CTRL-E again to exit pad edit mode. Now the pad number is larger and the pad is the entire shape of the polygon. joy.
In this case study, repeat that process 30 times. Plus one more for the wiper strip.
Drink single malt Scotch and revel in what you’ve achieved. I am.
Remember to mash CNTRL-S a neurotic number of times per minute. And check ALT-3 often.
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
UNCHECK F.PASTE
Disregard this portion of the post. It’s me classically conditioning myself to remember to do something. Which I obviously forgot to do…14 times. Carry on.
By now, I have edge.cuts and F.cu in place. The pads have lost some resolution and became somewhat wavy in the conversion, but they’re there. Importantly, they are now pads in a footprint!
Posting this to avoid losing it.
Hallelujah I have accomplished some basic tasks. Let’s bullet point:
Tune in tomorrow when I save this all as a footprint, then attempt to assign it to a pc board.
Hey all, facetious commentary aside, thanks for all the direction on this. I still have no idea if it will ever exist as a physical board. But, I’ve learned a lot so far.
Sleep would be good…
ahhh well.
What if, like with laser cutter software, you could assign a graphic to a layer by assigning it a specific color?
Here’s where the need for esoteric import/export plug ins could be replaced with standardized conventions.
Suppose red was always top copper. White, always edge cuts. blue for drills, violet for front mask and so on.
import your CAD into Inkscape, conform geometry, assign colors as layer assignments, set line weights, export an SVG and boom! Import it to find layers assigned and a dialog box for geometry which isn’t closed.
Layers already have colors assigned, why not use them as parametric designators?
Every vector based software allows assignment of color to geometry. Perfect application of a convention.
I combined every “Shape###” that is supposed to be a ‘feature’ (pad, mask, hole) into an sketch (select all the desired shapes and then press the button ‘2D Object (or DXF) to Sketch’ of the KSU Workbench)
For that quick example I did not constraint anything, I just opened each sketch and draw a small circle more or less in the middle (you can see that they are actually all over the place), but I think it would be much easier to do that in your CAD software.
I did deleted some extra lines that appeared when I imported the DXF, I may have deleted a pad 
I did small example where I imported a DXF file and try to reproduce a simplified geometry like your, i hope it helps.
dxf_test2.FCStd (71.1 KB)
Unnamed2.dxf (23.3 KB)
Some notes about all this:
Thanks! I’ll spend time with the example footprints in FC soon. Your info is very helpful.
Also adding this link for posterity.
Replying to myself here. There is a parallel frustration in converting from CAD to vector for CNC and laser machines. I beat my head against that for years. Anything driven via GRBL or G-Code requires CAD files to be converted to vector or raster images.
I’ve experienced many of the same anomalies, oddities, scale issues, extra geometry and so on. DXF’s confound the laser software 99 times out of a 100. Thankfully, the software has matured and SVG files work consistently. I’m using Lightburn to drive my 60 watt laser.
I can export DXF from CAD, import to Corel, clean up any nonsense then assign color to geometry. Export as SVG, import into Lightburn.
Each color is automatically placed on a separate layer. One layer might be cutting a line, another for filling a shape. Each layer has it’s own power, speed, DPI and kerf settings.
The overarching point here is that this is a known-working workflow from CAD to graphics. Until Inventor exports directly to SVG it’s by most efficient option.
My feeble brain would like to compartmentalize pcb entities in the same way. I can keep notes and develop a routine where CAD geometry destined to be a pad is assigned a specific color, line weight, fill or stroke.
Lightburn has reached 1.0 status now and is incorporating tools to “close curves” or repair geometry. It’s hit or miss, the developer has described the problems with DXF files. But, when it works it saves lots of time.
Anyway, just thinking out loud here.
You’ve mentioned bitmaps a few times, and I do not understand that.
With anything CAD related I always avoid anything bitmap related. Bitmaps (.BMP, .PNG, .TIFF, etc.) are just horrible for any CAM work.
For the data it does not matter much whether the data is in .DXF, .SVG. or another vector format. For the “simple vectors” it’s often quite easy to convert.
I have never worked with lightburn, or with any laser cutter, but I have built my own CNC machine from scratch. It runs GRBL and I use bCNC as control software. bCNC has some nice features. It can import some graphics formats (at least DXF, and it also partially understands .SVG and some other formats).
bCNC can convert those formats to G-code, and also add tool offsets, tabs and a bunch of other tricks.
A few years ago I had a short peek at the “path” workbench in FreeCAD. It did not seem very usable back then, but that was years ago and it is under constant development, and apparently it is a lot better now and I plan to look into it again in the near future.
My mention of raster file types is only to point out they ruin any precision designed into the project.
Very cool about your CNC! I wanted to build one too, but caved and bought a 6090 chinese unit instead. 1,500W spindle is fine for my needs.
Mach3 sends the G-Code. But the best experience I’ve had compiling the code from CAD or graphics has been V-Carve. It handles files very well and always includes tool up code. No more crashing bits into the work.
Even Fusion 360 has a toolpath function now, but I found the tool library clunky and limited.
Lightburn for laser is very good. About as WYSIWYG as possible. It’s my most direct path from conception to holding something in my hand.
Have you made prototype pcb’s from copper clad sheets? Man, that would be huge for me. One of the primary reasons I bought the CNC.
I’ve got a quite small machine. It’s Y-axis is only 160mm, but still it’s about 80kg of steel.
Recently I straithened the clamping slots of a Chinese 100mm wide machinevise on it.
With a 6mm mill I can take off about 2mm deep in one pass but the machine is struggling with it.
Taking off 7.5mm deep and 1mm wide did go quite well though in cast iron. The main limitation was the endmill itself. I only used an HSS endmill becasue I was afraid of crashes, and those have to run at quite low (about 1500) RPM. My 1.5kW HF spindle does not run well at such a low RPM.
These days there are lots of quite cheap machines from China, but the vast majority are of very dubious quality. For me, anything with those round unsupported axles would be unacceptable.
I have not milled any PCB yet. My machine is certainly capable of it, but it’s hard to compete with the prices of PCB fab houses which deliver double sided plated through PCB’s with both solder mask an silk screen on both sides for pennies, including shipping.
Milling PCB’s has been mentioned a few times on this forum, and I may give it a try one of these days.
The main advantage for milling at home is the quick turnaround, but doing the plating and the masks is just too cumbersome. The use for milling prototypes is also limited. You have to adjust clearances for the mills to fit in between the tracks, or use very fine mills.
I do not use commercial software for anything that has a reasonably working Open Source alternative.
That includes mach3, v-carve anything from autodesk
FYI…
I’ve CNC milled well over 200 PCB’s on my machines. Last year I bought this low-cost CNC mill ($150) for fun and to compare with my real CNC machine. I’ve posted several times about this and displayed a few PCB’s…
I use CopperCam (FYI - it has Laser Tool ability but, I don’t use Laser). I use the Gerber’s from Kicad.
Here’s a view of a few Simple 1 and 2 Layer Hobby project Boards I made from Copper-Clad PCB I buy on Amazon:
Done in Kicad:
Done In Fritzing:
Very cool! I’d love to be bale to make these one-off type boards.
Hi @BlackCoffee. I am enjoying (and learning) a lot from your help to @Velvetgeorge here.
I am a KiCad user sense ver4 and then I started looking in FreeCAD. 2-3 times I stared learning for some time FreeCAD but because I am not a mechanical Engineer I seldom used it.
Now as a PCB designer (KiCad 6) and recently CNC and 3D printer user it is time to see seriously FreeCAD learning. My age (68) not permits fast learning not either to wast time looking crap tutorials.
I know how to do simple things in FreeCAD but I desperate need a dissent tutorial. The problem is that because FreeCAD is still in heavy development there is not a book out there or paid tutorials (for Ver 0.19 that is).
So without hijacking space and time here please can you suggest me a learning course or a decent book to learn STEP by STEP? As I see that you are a long term and experienced FreeCAD user.
That will be very helpful for the evolution of our M0CUBE project
Thanks a lot and cheers to everybody here.
I can help you (no cost)…
First some Heads-Up Info:
• Many FreeCAD (let’s call it ‘FC’) tutorials on YouTube. But, to avoid wasting time with those not meeting individual needs, try a glean what other posters to the Video’s have to say. Then, for those getting good reviews, watch some of the video to see if it contains stuff you need to learn. Not need to learn about Workbenches that are not useful for ‘our’ needs.
• My videos tend to be for folks with some FC (other CAD) knowledge. But, most of mine do contain Start-From-Scratch model making (e.g., start a file and do these steps…)
• If not yet looked at, here’s a link to my Vid’s
Your request prompts/encourages me to pull together info from tutorials I did for other Noob’s in my world of Old Engineers (I’m well into my 70’s). Thus, I may use you as a Guinea-Pig for some Videos.
Given that there seems to be a few Kicad users that present a similar need for learning FC (without the drudgery), I’ll gear the videos toward making Models for Footprints (but, will include stuff for making models geared to 3D printing (I have several printers. Here’s a link to my Thingiverse page).
My first challenge: To see if I can contact you via Personal Message from this Forum. Then, we can arrange further contact (email…).
[One thing that would be a nice Kicad Forum Feature, if a Kicad Team member is reading this, would be to have a Page dedicated to FC tutorials geared to Kicad (similar to the FAQ page but, organized). And. require Tutorial’s to be of a Fidelity such that they are consistent in many ways… that’s a different subject for discussion…)]
I’ll to Message you… Your project looks interesting - one of my Hats was a Missile/Space-Rocket Flight-Controls-System Engineer/Designer and PLC interest was my starting-point (a Half-Century ago)…
@BlackCoffee, with all due respect, but I find your FreeCAD tutorials unusable. You’re clicking on menu items in quick succession and all kind of things happen in your drawing, but it has no voice over of what you are doing, why you are doing things in certain ways or even what the correlation is between the menu’s you are clicking through and what is changing in the drawing.
I do have to admit that I’m also 50+ and that learning from video’s has never gone well for me. I much prefer to work from a written tutorial with some pictures and screenshots where applicable.
Reading through different parts of Getting started - FreeCAD Documentation Does sometimes help for me, but I’m hitting the same obstacles as @Vasilis_Vorrias FreeCAD is under heavy development and therefore documentation and program are often out of sync and this is confusing. Lot’s of parts seem to be buggy and change often. Old drawings get broken because of improvements to the sketcher (but are luckily often quick to fix).
@paulvdh A few things to take Note of:
YouTube videos have a Play-Speed pop-up, so you can slow the video play down to snail-crawl. Naturally, the ‘Pause’ button also works.
No Audio because not everyone speaks English.
As most (I think) of my vid’s indicate; not for Noob’s
Eight Billion people on the planet and having managed companies and departments with hundreds of people (OMG, do I hate performance review time), tailoring Tutorial’s is at my behest and preference. You and others may find them difficult but, others find them useful, in fact ‘Wonderful’ is often in emails to me and at conclusion of Zoom tut’s… I’ve taught many Engineers and Technicians - learning styles differ as does the quality of work. I’ve let engineers/tech’s/secretaries/inspectors/etc go for lack of better than B-grade performance.
If I were teaching Differential Equations, I would expect students to already know Calculus and to not expect my presentation to include Algebra or Calculus.
Being old myself, I understand needs for stylized tutoring but, not every brain surgeon graduated at the top of the class… So, who ya going to hire for the surgery?
That said, if/when I make next vid, I’ll consider stepping-down my expectation of a learner’s needs. Of course, it’s a Trade-Off: will folks I’ve taught find the new vid’s are too basic?
I’m happy that lots of people are happy with your tutorials, but fiddling with playspeed buttons just does not work for me. Because of various reason I have navigate over a very narrow path to get anywhere. I’ts just part of the things I have to cope with for myself.
I agree with your point about differential equations, but in a different way.
Learning FreeCAD is somewhat comparable to learning differential equations, while it should be on the level of basic algebra. There are just far to many parts in FreeCAD which are buggy, not finished, changing each year or not documented or documented properly. Don’t see it as a complaint, FreeCAD has not reached version 1.0 yet, and it has great potential, but it just is not ready for regular work yet.
A small example:
To do something simple as putting a sketch on some object to make a pocket you have to
But then you have to:
While all that should be necessary is to click on a face and start your 2nd sketch there.
As long as FreeCAD can not do things in a way that is as simple as that it is not ready for version 1.0 yet, and there is no amount of tutorial that can remedy that. Documenting a convoluted workflow to make something that should be simple is a workaround and not a solution.
True - Where else you going to put an extrusion or cut, in thin air? Thus, ‘Fair enough’ is correct. But, If wanting only, say a Sketch or a DXF (or other export type) or, for making a Real Drawing with TechDraw workbench of some shape, you Don’t need an object to draw on. If no existing object, You just select one of the Planes in the Panel that pops up when you start a sketch.
@paulvdh I’m sorry but, you’re wrong… You don’t need any datums beyond what you (as user) wants. I like Datums for their additional power/ability.
See the attached video of making feature (in fact, you don’t even need a Sketch if wanting an extrusion or cut of an existing face… (shown in the vid)
@paulvdh I’m sorry but, you’re wrong… You Don’t need to attach Datums to a Face unless you want to… Meaning, you Don’t need to attach or have datums.
@paulvdh I’m sorry but, you’re wrong… You do Not…
Frankly, and I mean no Offense… forming opinions based on one’s own Limited Experience (of the topic at hand) is… I’ll leave it there.
Regarding FreeCAD and it’s use for Real Work: Yes, like most Open-Source programs, there’s a list of things to consider. But, 90% of FreeCAD is 90% rock-solid as-is in version 19.3. There is Nothing I can’t do with FreeCad (except cook dinner). I stopped using my other Big-League CAD programs when v18 was released.
EDIT: Re Play Speed:
The speed control: Click the Cog in YouTube’s Play Window, and select the Speed…
I know that, However fiddling with those buttons is enough of a distraction for me that it is impossible to concentrate on any content that the video may have. It’s not your fault, it’s just how my brain is wired.
Same with (probably animated) gif files.
They get abused by advertisements that have been so distracting on websites that after installing an ad blocker in a web browser the second action is to disable animated gifs.
I also notice a failure to communicate here.
Although I like the promise of what FreeCAD can become, there are just too many danging and unfinished parts to call it V1.0. That things can be done in a certain way, but breaks if you do it any of 6 other ways is not a good indication of a program ready for business.
If you attach a datum (or a sketch, or whatever) directly to a face, and the 3D object gets edited, then the face gets renamed and the connection breaks. This is a well known and quite serious bug in FreeCAD and it has been there for many years. There is a fix for this in one of the forks and I’ve read that there are plans to merge this back into the main version of FreeCAD, but until that time it still remains an annoying bug.
You may know much more about FreeCAD then I do, but that probably also means that you can’t see all those small things anymore that together genenerate a huge and steep learning curve in FreeCAD for beginners.
