FreeCAD 1.0 Ultimate Beginners Crash Course in 1 hour for 3D printing CAD Lesson / Tutorial

New 2025 FreeCAD v1.0 comprehensive, step-by-step crash course designed for beginners! Whether you're completely new to 3D modeling or transitioning from another CAD tool, this tutorial made up of multiple short lessons in one video will introduce you to FreeCAD 1.0's powerful, open-source features. Start by learning how to install FreeCAD v1 on Windows, macOS, or Linux, and personalize your interface for maximum productivity. You'll explore the intuitive Part Design workbench, where you'll learn how to create your first parametric 3D model using sketches, constraints, and various operations in FreeCAD v1.0.

This course walks you through everything from basic operations like adding volume with pads and subtraction with pockets to more advanced techniques like mirroring parts, adding fillets, and refining geometry. Learn how to organize your workspace for maximum efficiency, understand the design history in Free CAD and fully constrain your sketches for stability. Gain hands-on experience as you build two parts, a base plate and a bracket, and discover how to export your models in common 3D printing formats like STL / STEP.

With FreeCAD 1.0, you’ll master feature-based modeling, where each design element builds upon the previous one in a structured history tree. This course is ideal for engineers, designers, and hobbyists who want to learn how to use FreeCAD 1.0 effectively for real-world 3D modeling and parametric design. By the end, you'll be ready to apply your skills to your own projects, whether you're designing parts for 3D printing or creating complex assemblies. Start your journey with FreeCAD 1.0 and transform your 3D design process!

#FreeCAD , #CAD , #3DPrinting
0:00: What we will learn in this beginners course
0:37: Download freeCAD, installation and setup
1:41: Workbenches and the Part Design
2:25: Organizing your workspace and UI
4:48: 3D view navigation
8:17: Creating your first part in the Part Design Workbench
9:31 sketching the base geometry 2D in the Sketcher WB
17:23: Adding volume with the Part Design pad operation
18:25: Profiles and open and closed wires
21:40: Removing volume with Part Design pocket operation
26:11 Housekeeping, renaming and adding version numbers
26:59 Part Design mirror operation
28:26: Modelling the bracket
42:10 Adding a gusset
47:15: Alternative gusset
54:19: Adding a material or colour
56:08: Exporting your model for 3D printing
1:01:12: Additional courses and content
1:01:49: finish

Journey with me and

Patreon

Donate:

Subscribe:

Browse my Redbubble Shop:

Blog:

[kylequinn]

This channel alone honestly is probably what keeps FreeCAD going lol. If it wasn't for this channel I never would've gotten past the first loading screen in this software all those years ago.

[US-CU-PINOY]

This instructor is the true FreeCAD hero. Thank you very much, Professor.

[camilaa.]

Someone on Reddit recommended your channel, and I can't thank you and this person enough!

[justgoballistic]

Computers didn't exist when I was in college, so neither did CAD. Having tried several other "Beginner" tutorials for FreeCad, they all left me in the dark at about the 2 minute mark. So much important info was left out, I guess assuming everybody has some CAD design experience.Thank you for explaining how to use this software, including all those little points that are taken for granted. Also, your speech rate is such that my mind had time to comprehend what you were explaining without having to back track. Thanks for a very helpful tutorial.

[DavidR]

By a very wide margin this is the best CAD tutorial on the internet, regardless of system. Well done!

[randyvogel]

THANK YOU.

Exactly what I needed and was looking for. Other tutorials on YouTube don't always start from the absolute beginning, so the viewer is on the back foot from the start.
Excellent video, I wouldn't change a thing.

God bless people like you that help the rest of us.

[mfkhometheater]

I was about ready to give up on FreeCAD until I found your video. Now I can see it will be possible to learn it. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[FlorianLagg]

Came back to this basic tutorial after some time using freecad, and again learned something. Now I get the dimension tool, and I have never seen the view section tool.
Your videos are always good paced and easy to follow, no matter how complex the task is you're showing. Thanks. Will recommend your channel.

[Duneram]

Honestly i just want to say Thanks. For some reason the first 4 Videos that i found were all some AI dubbed uncanny valley Videos. The way your explaining stuff, the speed and also your mellow voice made this a bliss. Cheers ^^

[pedrofonseca]

Coming from Fusion and wanting to learn about FreeCAD. Transition while taking this tutorial was a breeze. Thank you for this video, you got a new subscriber and I'm now FreeCAD newbie. Congrats!

[steviezhu]

For those who got stuck at 23:40 with error "redundant constraints (7 and 10)" and orange shape, I've found the solution: when you drag your 3rd line that along the top edge, don't snap to the vertex on the Y axis, just subtly move your cursor around that vertex to make sure you won't highlight (blue) the vertex but highlight (blue) the Y axis, and with the same parameters in the parentheses (0mm, 5mm). Same for the last line, don't snap to the original point, try to highlight and snap to the blue Y axis with the same parameters in the parentheses (2.5 mm, 90.0°). Then you're good to go.

[EclecticEcentric]

Just got my first 3D printer and nowhere to start. Grok recommended you and here I am. So happy and appreciative of your dedication and efforts

[Calatya]

Getting into 3d designs for printing and this Video makes learning about it so much fun!
After each step following along I feel like I learned a lot ❤

[andrewwalker]

Thank you for a true beginners tutorial that doesn't omit critical details about between the steps. The presentation is at pace that can be followed. You have avoided pitfalls in the content so common in other tutorials are more of a review for those comfortable with some sort of CAD- type program.

[CustomWorkshopSolutions]

Holy moly forcing my brain to go from sketchup to freecad is nuts. Thanks for uploading these videos mate! Makes it wayy easier to flatten that learning curve.

[matttempleton]

wow that was incredibly high quality content for a free youtube video. Appreciated!

[seemesideways]

Was messing with the free version of Fusion 360 and felt like I was very restricted or maybe just didn't know what I was doing. Trying out FREECAD and this video will be Uber valuable to familiarize myself with the software. Thank you.

[alexsums]

thanks tO this video I was able to finish my first model.

All instructions are clear. This is coming from someone whose english is not his first language.

good jOb man., yOu're my herO.!

[paulwestlake]

Not an intuitive program, I'm grateful for this introduction. Thank you.

[Brmios]

Great video - the first video that has the right speed and makes learning FreeCAD fun! Thanks so much!