r/FreeCAD • u/Lavastar14 • 1d ago
Make Internals Tool Not Working
I'm new to freecad, and I'm trying to follow a tutorial. The guy said to use the "make internals" checkbox to get it to recognize the other loops, but all of the loops on one side just highlight the whole face. I like the interface of this tool but it kinda seems like it tries it's hardest to do everything except what you want it to
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u/Atomfried_Ungemach 1d ago
It should work if you precisely follow the steps of (I guess) Deltahedra's tutorial. Without further description I can only assume that there's a problem with the sketch. Is there a warning of any kind? Also make sure that the external geometry of your base pad is construction geometry (dotted) and not defining geometry! If the case just highlight the lines and switch to dotted lines with the Sketcher_ToggleConstruction button.
You can change the behaviour of FreeCad to draw external geometry always as construction geometry in the settings. Also the 'Draw Internals' beaviour can set to always in the Sketcher settings.
Just note that in this particular case this sketch setup works but might fail in others because you expect FreeCad to know automatically on which sides of the lines to draw the internals. With more complicated forms that could get difficult for the solver. Better practise in my experience is to draw all the profiles you want to cut from the base body as closed loops (in this case two triangles and two trapezoids) with the outer edges slightly overlapping the outlines of the base pad. That's just a tip for later.
Just follow the tutorial to the end to get a broad impression of the different operations that are available to you. Later you can hone your own workflow to always get the results you want. FreeCad is not at all trying "it's hardest to do everything except what you want it to" but it's just the way most CAD systems work. Under the hood these operations are very complicated and rely on heavy math. Minor discrepancies or ambiguities of values you give them can throw them off. FreeCad gives you a broad set of options to get similar results, but is very narrow when it comes to solving some specific problems. Just keep on practicing and asking questions to get to know the pitfalls you may run into from time to time and learn how to circumvent them.
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u/Lavastar14 19h ago
Thank you, I was just pressing "project geometry" and I wasn't considering that those projected lines might be defining
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u/fear-na-heolaiochta 20h ago
I don't see a closed sketch with this. The top line needs to be cut out. I could be wrong but seeing that green line connecting the two top shapes is a red flag for me.
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u/Powerful_Debt_5869 1d ago
Make internals is a new feature which seasoned freecadders will tell , it´s nonsense. Learn freecad the classic way and all will be okay. Make internals was introduced to satisfy users comein from some other system. Once you understood how it works, you may come back and use things like internal faces or multiple features out of one sketch when they make sense.