Creating 3D CAD designs in FreeCAD

FreeCAD is an open source 3D design program available for Linux and Windows. It is a 3D parametric modeler, which means that models are designed by adding constraints that determine the relationship between shapes and dimensions. This can make it difficult for beginners faced with a steep learning curve to learn the concept before they can put it into practice. To help make this easier I've created a beginners guide video which goes step through step on getting started using FreeCAD. It goes step by step through the design of a board useful for electronics projects. It includes different technicques including padding a 2D object into a 3D object, creating pockets within those objects and use external edges for adding constraints between different objects. It also uses the resolve method to turn a 2D cut-through image and resolve that into a cylndrical shape.

Beginners Guide to FreeCAD - Creating a Breadboad Stand for an Electronics Workbench

When creating electronic circuits it's useful to test circuits using a broadboad. During this it's often useful to connect the circuit to a bench power supply and perhaps a multimeter. These often use 4mm banana plugs for connecting to circuits. This is where a workbench breadboard can come in handy.

Electronics workbench breadboard holder designed in FreeCAD

This beginners video goes step-by-step through creating the above prototyping breadboard holder, designed to make it easier when designing electronic circuits to connect them to a bench power supply, or other equipment using 4mm banana plugs.

Arduino Breadboard Holder Created in FreeCAD

This is a similar design to the one above, but with additional space for mounting an Arduino. There is also a separate bracket which can be used to mount an Arduino MKR series (eg. Arduino MKR WiFi 1010) which allows for the long pins that are often used. This is shown in the image below.

Electronics Breadboard holder for Arduino