FreeCAD: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:32, 3 July 2025

General Setup

To use FreeCAD on a CNC machine a few configuration like for any CAD tool has to be made. Some are rather general and some are specific to the CNC router. FreeCAD offers some great help and resources on the web. This chapter is not intending to replace all that documentation but should just give you a brief overview as a jump start what has worked for the author, feel free to do it differently (and share your knowledge).

In the CAM workbench create a job, for the first time leave template empty. Once you know what you do create a template to speed up your work. In the screen below just press "OK".

On the left part you have 6 tabs, on the "Output" tab look at the following settings:

As a processor you need to select the processor matching your CNC rounter, for the Workbee select rrf. As the coordinate system choose G54 in case you use the Workbee (might as well differ for other CNC routers). Output File can be left empty, but it is recommended to specify a filename for the gcode file. If you don't specify a filename here the gcode file is called "-" and located in the same folder as your FreeCAD file.

Now switch to the "Setup" tab

Select "Extend Bounding Box", but set the extension to 0 mm in all directions. Now set the origin, most likely you want to have the origin at the bottom left of your workpiece and here on the top of the workpiece since you drill/route into the material. The origin (the little coordinate system) on the picture is set to the right position. In case it is not for you click on the corner you would like to use as origin. You can see (hard to spot) that the lower corner has a little green dot, only then the button "Set origin" becomes active to set the origin. It can be very hard to hit exactly a corner, be patient if you do it the first time.

Now switch to the "Tools" tab:

Workbee Specific Setup

to be added

SoftwareInfoBox FreeCAD

Type:	3D Modeling, CAD
Platform:	Windows, Mac, Linux
License:	LGPL-2.0-or-later
Source:	https://www.freecad.org/
Input Formats:
Output Formats:
Users:	Lorenz

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 [[File:FC2 general tab.png|thumb|center|CAM Job - General Settings]]
 As a processor you need to select the processor matching your CNC rounter, for the Workbee select rrf. As the coordinate system choose G54 in case you use the Workbee (might as well differ for other CNC routers). Output File can be left empty, but it is recommended to specify a filename for the gcode file. If you don't specify a filename here the gcode file is called "-" and located in the same folder as your FreeCAD file.
-[[File:FC3 General CAM Settings.png|thumb]]
+Now switch to the "Setup" tab
+[[File:FC3 General CAM Settings.png|thumb|center|CAM Job - Setup Settings]]
+Select "Extend Bounding Box", but set the extension to 0 mm in all directions. Now set the origin, most likely you want to have the origin at the bottom left of your workpiece and here on the top of the workpiece since you drill/route into the material. The origin (the little coordinate system) on the picture is set to the right position. In case it is not for you click on the corner you would like to use as origin. You can see (hard to spot) that the lower corner has a little green dot, only then the button "Set origin" becomes active to set the origin. It can be very hard to hit exactly a corner, be patient if you do it the first time.
+Now switch to the "Tools" tab: