FreeCAD Assembly 4 workbench

Current version 0.9.13, 2020-12-01

Overview

This assembly workbench allows to integrate into a single container under a single coordinate system other FreeCAD objects and place them relative to the assembly and to each-other. The principle of Assembly4 is that App::Part and PartDesign::Body container objects are linked into a host parent assembly called Model and of type App::Part using the App::Link interface introduced in FreeCAD v0.19. The parts that are linked can invariably be in the same document as the assembly or an external document.

As an Assembly4 model is a standard FreeCAD App::Part object, it can be used and manipulated with any FreeCAD tool handling App::Part objects. In particular, it can be inserted into another Assembly4 Model to create nested assemblies. It can also contain solids and datum objects. An Assembly4 Model can be a stand-alone part, an assembly, a sub-assembly, and any combinations of these.

Parts and linked parts are placed to each-other in the host parent assembly by matching their Datum Coordinate Systems (PartDesign::CoordinateSystem called LCS for Local Coordinate System) using the built-in FreeCAD ExpressionEngine. No geometry is used to place and constrain parts relative to each other, thus avoiding a lot of the topological naming problems.

Please Note: objects in the same document as the linked part but outside the App::Part container will not be inserted.

Please Note: only Part and Body containers at the root of a document can be inserted. Objects inside containers cannot be used directly by Assembly 4.

Installation

Addon Manager (recommended)

Assembly 4 is available through the FreeCAD Addon Manager (menu Tools > Addon Manager). It is called Assembly4 in the Addon Repository.

Important Note: Assembly 4 is not compatible with FreeCAD v0.18 and before, needs FreeCAD >= v0.19.18353 . Pre-built binaries on the v0.19 development branch can be found here

Getting Started

You can get more information in the user instructions, the technical manual, and you can use the provided example assemblies to experiment with this workbench's features. There are also online tutorials :

Release notes

2020.12.01 (0.9.13) :
improved LCS selection
placeFasteners update
2020.11.20 (0.9.12) :
placeFasteners update
parent combo-box width corrected
2020.11.14 (0.9.11) :
Added Offset translation adjustment in the placeLink dialog
Added Configuration Engine
Measurements obey the preferences settings
Some code clean-up (hopefully won't break anything, if it does please report)
Big thanx for the help, this is really apreciated
2020.11.01 (0.9.10) :
Bugfixe in placement of Fastener on "Hole Axis"
small usability improvements
2020.09.24 (0.9.9) :
Small bugfixes and usability improvements
2020.09.02 (0.9.8) :
Small usability improvements
2020.06.29 (0.9.7) :
Native Fasteners, included Task to change parameters
2020.06.23 (0.9.6) :
Improved Measure tool
2020.06.19 (0.9.5) :
Added new Measure tool
Added preliminary BoM, PartList and PartInfo functions
Minor bugfixes and improvements
2020.05.25 (0.9.4) :
Minor update for Fasteners (simplified format, should be backwards compatible)
2020.05.18 (0.9.3) :
Bugfixe: create Body/Part didn't place them in the selected App::Part container
2020.05.08 (0.9.2) :
The UI windows are now in the Task Panel.
2020.05.03 (0.9.1) :
Bugfixes
2020.04.15 (0.9.0) :
PartDesign::Body can be directly imported (linked), no need to wrap them in App::Part container
2020.03.15 (version 0.8.1) :
Added slider for animation
Reversed Document#Label (Name) to Document#Name (Label)
2020.02.13 (version 0.8.0) :
All dialogs are now resizable
Various bugfixes
Made the Asm4 properties of all objects homogeneous
Moved examples and tutorials to dedicated repository (some users ran into trouble for updating the WB because they had modified the local files)
2020.01.25 (version 0.7.12) :
Refined datum and variables creation
2020.01.22 (version 0.7.11) :
Added version info to the Help dialog
2020.01.21 (version 0.7.10) :
bug-fix to not fall for random criss-cross linking of objects
2020.01.20 (version 0.7.9) :
(silly) bug-fix
2020.01.18 (version 0.7.8) :
added "release attachments" button
various small fixes
2020.01.06 (version 0.7.7) :
Moved the turorials to the Resources directory
import libAsm4 as Asm4
Added a Help command (dummy placeholder)
Ported example2 to the latest Asm4 format
2019.12.12 (version 0.7.6) :
Improved animation and datum import.
2019.12.02 (version 0.7.5) :
Minor (but useful !) refinements for variables and animation.
2019.11.24 (version 0.7.4) :
Added Animation command
2019.11.19 (version 0.7.3) :
Added linkArray, a wrapper for Draft::LinkArray
Fixes for the Fasteners command
2019.11.14 (version 0.7.2) :
Bug-fix for importDatum
2019.11.11 (version 0.7.1) :
Bug-fix
2019.11.05 (version 0.7.0) :
Support for screws & nuts from the Fasteners workbench
Added Variables to the Model
The model file format has changed, former assembly models can be opened but must be re-assembled.
2019.10.11 (version 0.6.4) :
Improved assembly in single file
Various small fixes
2019.10.11 (version 0.6.3) :
It is now possible to link parts from the same document as the assembly itself, allowing to make 1-file assemblies and still use all the other tools.
2019.10.11 (version 0.6.2) :
Added page for Tutorial 1.
Fine-tuned some functions
Renamed icons in a consistent way
2019.10.07 (version 0.6.1) :
Moved the code that was in Mod_Asm4 to the root, to be compatible with the FreeCAD AddonManager
2019.10.05 (version 0.6) :
Ported to FreeCAD-v0.19-pre, with new syntax for the ExpressionEngine
2019.07.23 (version 0.5.5) :
Fixed a bug in partLCSlist.findItems
New Datum Point in the Model
2019.07.18 (version 0.5.4) :
A cosmetic update to fix a 25 year old Windows bug:
some UTF-8 characters in the comments were not accepted on some Windows 10 machines
2019.06.15 (version 0.5.3) :
Now the LCS can be renamed, and they show up in the LCS list in the command placeLink as such.
It's only visual, the ExpressionEngine still uses the LCS.Name though
2019.05.07 (version 0.5.2) :
added insertDatumCmd
2019.03.18 (version 0.5.1) :
Part can now be linked without being placed: this is then a raw interface with App::Link
The instance can be moved manually with the 'Transform' dragger
2019.03.12 (version 0.5) :
moved the actual code to Mod_Asm4
2019.03.11 (version 0.4.1) :
Added placement of Datum Point
2019.03.09 (version 0.4) :
FreeCAD now imports as App
insert_Link launches place_Link
2019.03.05 (version 0.3.1) :
added the RotX-Y-Z buttons
2019.02.20 (version 0.3)
mostly working version
2019.02.18 (version 0.1) :
initial release of Assembly 4 WB

Discussion

Please offer feedback or connect with the developers in the dedicated FreeCAD forum thread.

Addon Repository

This addon is hosted on a GitHub repository.

License

LGPLv2.1 (see LICENSE)

rrozestw / FreeCAD_Assembly4