FreeCAD

[last updated: 2025-09-13]

FreeCAD Blog
Command & Operation notes
Spreadsheet workbench
Installation notes

(link to:) FreeCAD Home Page wiki
(link to:) get FreeCAD here
(link to:) FreeCAD Forum

Links/tutorials below...
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Overview:
FreeCAD, as the name implies, is a free, open-source, drafting/modeling program (computer aided design).
As open-source things tend to be, it is very much a work in progress. However it has matured to "production-ready" version 1.0.2 as of this date.
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Understanding FreeCAD:
Just on the surface this statement sounds foolish, if not arrogant, even to me. I personally am so far from any kind of a deep "understanding" of FC, that to suggest I can explain it borders on ludicrous.
Nevertheless, I'll do my best ELI5 of some of the basics I wish I'd known when I started learning it.
Context/Disclaimer: I am using FC to model 3-dimensional objects that I will 3d print. I have a workable knowledge of tools needed for that, but have limited or no experience with eg. FEM and many other tools.

Several Key Concepts:
- the Workbench:
  A workbench is simply a (named) collection of tools/operations that is immediately available to you on your drawing screen.
  When you start a new drawing, the first thing you must do is choose which workbench you want to use.
  You have a couple dozen options to choose from.
  You can and will be changing to different workbenches when you need to, as your model develops,
  but you have to start somewhere, so when you open a new drawing, you must pick a workbench to start with.
  For my modeling for 3d printing, when I start a new drawing, I almost always start with the Spreadsheet workbench.
  After my spreadsheet is initialized, I switch to the Part Design workbench for actually building the model.
- Process/Flow of Creating a 3d Model:
  - The Model Tree:
  - the Body:
  - the Sketch:
    FC creates a 3d object by first creating a 2d "sketch" or drawing, then "padding"/extruding it into 3d space.
  - the Pad:
  - the Pocket:
- Tools:
  - Re-name things in the Model Tree:
- ...
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Learning/Tutorials:

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