Electronics > Mechanical & Automation Engineering

Using Freecad to specify cut-outs on enclosure

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741:
I'd like to understand something about specifying slots milled into a commercial enclosure (I use Kicad as the EDA side, and the PCB was genertaed via the KicadStepUp workbench).

My contact (at the PCB assembler) uses another company for this. I've been told that 2D PDF or preferably DXF/DWG can be used.

I don't know how (or if) this relates to the Freecad Path Workbench - but maybe I don't need 'gcodes' etc for simple '2D' slots through a surface?

One thing that seems clear is I'd have to specify a datum point.

The accompanying image shows where I'm up to - I still have to define some 'pockets' thugh the aluminium enclosure. For instance, there could be a rounded rectangular aperture to accomodate the 6-way header.

hubi:
I don't think you have to worry about generating GCODE, that's pretty specific to the machine and tooling used for milling and will be done by the machine shop.

You can use librecad or inkscape to do a sanity check on the export generated by FreeCAD. If the DXF looks right in librecad or inkscape and has the right size, you're probably fine. It's also quick to make a dimensioned drawing in the TechDraw workbench and send that along for good measure.

beanflying:
Just one issue that will come up is your model shown above is an STL type and it and most GCode/CAD formats will not play well with it when it comes to generating CAM toolpaths. So assuming this is the native format for that part of your model you might need to start there and remodel it.

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