FreeCAD Help & Showcase

Created by Danilo Monteiro on 20 July, 2018

Thread, I mean like in tap and die, not like in a discussion online.

Now that I got your attention, let me say I am somehow stunned.


I come from Inventor world (past in Autocad untill 2009, than inventor till 2012 version) and thought of FreeCad as something similar. After a couple of months in it I discover it lags ages behind Inventor, but some features can be worked around somehow. Learning how any way I can.


I need to print a 5 mm thick rectangle with a M16 hole in it, and because both the original piece and the neck that it goes over are only 5 mm long it is rather impossible to measure the thread depths (the step) but I measured first theread and in the same place the second thread and the difference is about 0.85 mm, that leaves me with 2 options only, M16X0.75 or M16X1 so I decided to make 2 for testing, one of each and see which one fits best.


But unlike in Inventor where you select the cylinder and pick the thread tool than pick the thread parameters and it's done, here what the thread tool gave me was just the appropriate hole, with no thread in it.


Cannot export it. Or I can, but than I have to buy 5 taps, one per type of M16, print 5 times, tap each accordingly and hope for the best.


Once I found my thread that fits, than for all my life any threaded hole or bolt I must tap or die it post printing.


Is it that the FreeCad way? Or is it just me lost in space?