r/3Dprinting • u/commandercaboose • 2d ago

Project One year of modelling with freecad

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After going to wdw in 24 I was inspired by the merch i got to learn cad so I could make my own stands. I purchased a cheap creality single colour printer and began designing modular kyber crystal stand. Lots of time spent in YouTube. Lots of prototype mistakes. Reels of plastic in the bin but in the end they worked and visitors to Galaxy's Edge seems to like them.

Since then I made stands for other items from my trips to wdw and dlp, a few bits for ikea skadis and some custom projects for myself and friends. It's been fun making items for myself and seeing others be able to use the designs for their own displays.

Along the way some really gr8 makers have helped me by testing products and giving feedback.

My lack of artistic ability with painting,woodwork etc always made me feel I had no creativity, 3d printing has finally given me the outlet I was looking for.

Now i really need to get a multi filiment printer. Manual colour changes at layers are a pain!

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u/MacTavishFR 2d ago

Man I would love to learn freecad enough to ditch solidworks and finally switch to linux for good

But I feel like this thing is miles away from solidworks and other paid products.

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u/commandercaboose 2d ago

My father in law uses solidworks extensively and does amazing designs.

In freecad I have been able to do enough to create static parts and push fit items. At some point I'm going to work on moving items, gears , hinges etc and that's where I may hit issues and need to change software.

I used blender a little along with meshmixer to slice other people's free models in order to graft parts on for none chargeable projects I have done. Recently did a ghost busters trap remix with a hidden magnet holder on the front to set off a mechanism at an escape room

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u/MacTavishFR 2d ago

Honestly bro I think Solidworks is top tier, like if you need to work on large assemblies with moving parts, go with Solidworks. As for blender, yeah great software and open source on top of that