Life is all about incremental steps forward. And… some steps backwards and sideways as well…

I switched from FreeCAD to Fusion 360 as I want to end up doing some 5 Axis CNC Machining. Currently FreeCAD support for this is very… far… away…

So here are the results of applying the same learning process of modelling a brick in Fusion 360:

And here is the online model: https://a360.co/3dLLBre

A new feature release version of Legify is available at:

https://github.com/vectronic/freecad-legify-macros/releases/tag/v0.4.0

This provides a new legify-technic-pin macro which renders a technic pin onto an existing Part Design workbench body.

Therefore the “s” in the name of the project “freecad-legify-macros” now has real meaning! 😜

I ordered some 3D prints of bricks designed with the legify macro code available at:

https://github.com/vectronic/freecad-legify-macros

Presented below are two assemblies as rendered within FreeCAD and assembled in real life.

A new feature release version of Legify is available at:

https://github.com/vectronic/freecad-legify-macros/releases/tag/v0.3.0

Beyond a number of measurement improvements, rendering of technic pins is now implemented.

I have just completed the finishing touches on Technic pin support:

I’ve been developing a FreeCAD macro for a while which uses the PartDesign workbench: https://github.com/vectronic/freecad-legify-macros

I’m just wrapping up support for rendering technic pins (work in progress screenshot below) and this effort has led me to a few more nuggets of information relating to PartDesign and Python scripting in FreeCAD.

I reached a milestone last weekend with a successful render of a brick assembly in FreeCAD.

A bugix version of Legify is available at:

https://github.com/vectronic/freecad-legify-macros/releases/tag/v0.2.2

It provides improvements to measurements and rendering based on using the macro generated parts in Assembly V4 and TechDraw workbenches.

Example TechDraw diagrams for individual parts and assemblies are provided below.

The latest and most likely last version of Legify is available at:

https://github.com/vectronic/freecad-legify-macros/releases/tag/v0.2.0

I’ve achieved my goals with this project, which were to:

• Get to grips with FreeCAD and parametric modelling concepts: sketches, constraints, datum planes etc.
• Learn Python and use it for FreeCAD scripting

I’m now moving on to learn about assemblies and technical drawings.

As part of my efforts to accurately model Lego bricks, I need to visualise the finer features of Lego pieces and measure various dimensions accurately.

I’ve been developing a FreeCAD macro for a while with the following aims:

• Get to grips with FreeCAD and parametric modelling concepts: sketches, constraints, datum planes etc.
• Learn Python and use it for FreeCAD scripting

To really push the boundaries, I challenged myself to use Python scripting in conjunction with the PartDesign workbench: I wanted to end up with a parametric model fully based on sketches and datum planes.