What's hard is #1 compared to other tools, the rest of the steps you mentioned a...

bambax · on Sept 18, 2020

FreeCAD can import OpenSCAD.

But you can design in FreeCAD with the same approach / workflow as in OpenSCAD: make elementary shapes, extrude them then join or cut them.

This can be done in the "Part" menu. Just click on the yellow shapes on the left of the toolbar to create them, then go to their properties to rotate/extrude them, and select two or more to join or cut.

This is the same brain process as in OpenSCAD.

stavros · on Sept 18, 2020

I'm not talking about OpenSCAD though. Try OnShape/Fusion360/Solidworks, FreeCAD is much less usable and featureful than those.

bambax · on Sept 18, 2020

Do you actually use any of those?

Solidworks is the standard, but the price is crazy (from $5k to $10k per user per year).

The online tools I tried I found to be much less usable than FreeCAD. But I only design simple pieces, so my needs are easy to meet. It's possible that for complex parts FreeCAD is too limited.

dcminter · on Sept 18, 2020

For simple parts for someone willing to use online tools TinkerCad has a much easier learning curve and is far less buggy.

Unless you need parametric design, want a GUI, and won't use closed source, FreeCAD is not a good choice.

bambax · on Sept 18, 2020

I don't trust online tools to still be there in the future. They can be taken offline at any time. FreeCAD will still work then.

stavros · on Sept 18, 2020

Yes, I use OnShape as my main driver and Fusion less frequently.