Do you have a 3D printer and want to easily design a key chain ring in 3 minutes with a custom text on it? I’ll explain how to do it simply in a free design tool FreeCAD.
See the video about it on YouTube.
First I will talk about how to get the FreeCAD tool. Then we will continue with our design.
Let’s start. Enter http://www.freecadweb.org in your browser. Then go to download section and select appropriate installer for your operating system. Installation is straight forward and at the end start the program.
In this tutorial I use 0.16 version on Windows 10.
Let’s start designing. Create new empty project. Go to DRAFT section, select SHAPE FROM TEXT function, enter NAME, press enter for each parameter, height of the text will be 10mm, tracking 1mm, find and select font for the text and end with enter key.
We can see the result. Zoom with mouse rolling button, move the object around with CTRL button + right mouse button and turn the object around with shift button + right mouse button.
Now we will have to make an object from this text. Go to PART section, select ShapeString and EXTRUDE it 2mm. Don’t forget to select Create solid.
We also will have to create the key chain ring itself by going to PART DESIGN, creating Sketch in XY-plane.
Draw an ellipse and a small circle. We have to constrain the sketch by specifying them. Define length according to your name, width of 20mm should be enough. Small ring will be hole in key chain. Select 7mm radius and constrain it.
As you can see we have a fully constrained sketch.
Now we have to extrude it with PAD function. Select 4mm, so it would not be too thick. You can see the text object is now beyond the key chain. Move it by going to Data section and changing position.
In the end all we have to do is subtrack text object from key chain. Go to PART section and select SUBTRACK function.
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ABOUT
Showing how to do simple design of a key chain ring with engraved text with an open-source tool FreeCAD. We will show where to get the tool, which step to take (Draft Shapestring text) to make it in about 3 minutes.
FreeCAD: https://www.freecadweb.org/