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Workbench
A FreeCAD Workbench to Add/Attach various Fasteners to Parts
Note: This workbench acts as a wrapper to the screw_maker macro created by @ulrich1a
Installation
Addon Manager
Note: Starting from FreeCAD v0.17.9940 an Addons Manager has been built-in to FreeCAD.
You can use said Addon Manager to seamlessly install Fasteners Workbench.
Manual Installation
For versions prior to v0.17.9940 FreeCAD requires manual installation, learn how via
http://theseger.com/projects/2015/06/fasteners-workbench-for-freecad/
Usage
Official Wiki
https://www.freecadweb.org/wiki/Fasteners_Workbench
Expand this section for a synopsis on how to use this workbench
Note: this info is also available on http://theseger.com/projects/2015/06/fasteners-workbench-
for-freecad/
Where to Start
Usage is pretty straightforward:
1. Install the workbench and restart FreeCAD
2. Open a new document in FreeCAD
3. Select the Fasteners workbench from the workbench drop-down list
Result: A series of screws will show on the toolbar:
1. Clicking on any of the screws will create this screw in the origin position with default
size.
2. To change size/length: select the newly created screw, then go to the data tab in the
property panel, there you can change diameter and length. (For now it is in metric standard):
1. Changing the “thread” property to “true” will render the screw threads as well.
Please note:
generating threads takes considerable amount of time, during which, FreeCAD will not
be responsive.
the invert and offset properties are only applicable to attached fasteners.
Attached Fasteners
Fasteners can also be attached to features in other parts.
You can now, like before, change diameter and length from the properties panel.
If you wish the screw to hover above the hole, you can set the “offset” property to the
desired distance.
Note: Sometimes the screw does not detect the direction correctly and appears upside down.
To correct this change the “invert” property to true OR select the screw and press the Flip button:
in the toolbar.
Note: An attached screw will move with the part it is attached to.
If you wish to detach the screw from the parent part:
simply select only the screw
then press the move button.
*Result: the screw is now detached and can be moved individually.
Simplifying objects
Important Note: If you wish to share FCStd files that contains fasteners (or parts from other
custom parametric workbenches) with other people, they must install these workbenches as well,
or else they will get errors when trying to use them.
However, if you just want to share the resulting parts, with no need to change object’s
parameters, you can use the Simplify function to convert the fasteners to simple shapes.
Result: They will appear as new Shape parts in the model tree. You can then delete the original
fasteners and save as a simple FCStd that can be read and used on any FreeCAD installation.
Developers
ScrewMaker: Ulrich Brammer <ulrich1a[at]users.sourceforge.net> @ulrich1a
Workbench wrapper: Shai Seger @shaise
Feedback
For further discussion, feel free to open a forum thread on FreeCAD Open Discussion subforum
and make sure to ping user 'shaise'.
There is also an ongoing thread discussing Fasteners Workbench that is also a place to comment
on.
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md
License
GPLv2