Drawing Brickwork in CAD For Laser Cutting

[John_B]

I'm drawing my first building for laser cutting in FreeCAD, although I'm led to believe that most CAD software works in similar ways, and am trying to work out how to draw brickwork. If I was 3D printing I could draw rectangles, either the shape of the bricks to extrude, or the shape of the mortar to pocket, that would appear on the CAD model and export in an STL. But for laser cutting I think I just need a single line for the mortar courses, that I could sketch but won't affect the CAD model so I can see what it looks like, although I think I could export it as an SVG. If that makes any sense! I've skimmed through the Design For Laser Cutting topic, that's got loads of pictures of laser cut brickwork, but doesn't provide a clue to how to draw it! I could draw the walls in Inkscape, but I'm trying to use FreeCAD as much as possible because I need the practice.

How do other people draw brickwork? If I at least knew how it was done in other CAD software, I might be able to work out how to do it in FreeCAD.

And No, the answer isn't to use Fusion 360 like everyone else, because there's not a Linux version!

 

[simond]

John,

used TurboCAD for all my laser designs, including my loco shed.

I draw horizontal lines at the appropriate spacing on one layer, and then lock it. On a different layer, I then draw a vertical line one half brick in from the end of the panel, and on the row above, one whole brick from the end. Highlight these two lines, and then “pattern” them along the courses. This should give you two courses of bricks. Then highlight the verticals and pattern them up the wall for as many courses as you need. You can, of course, draw other brickwork, as required, but try to make something that your computer can copy by pattern.

then save this as a plain brick wall. And back it up.

then take your saved file, save it under a new name, and on another layer, draw the outline of your brickwork, and any window, vent, or door apertures. This will obviously be a “cut” line in due course.

the other lines will be ”etch” lines when you program the laser.

you might be able to cut several pieces from one plain brick wall drawing. In any case, you will save time by erasing any etch lines on the scrap that you don’t need.

ensure that your etches and cuts are the right way round (I use blue for etch and red for cut) and see what the laser makes of it.

good luck and post pictures!

Simon

 

[adrian]

If I at least knew how it was done in other CAD software, I might be able to work out how to do it in FreeCAD.

To be honest I prefer sticking with 2D CAD (QCAD) for drawing out stuff for the laser cutter. My FreeCAD ( stable version 1.0.0 just been released) efforts are solely for 3D printing.