CAM experimental

Description

The CAM Workbench contains a set of hidden commands. There are two independent switches that expose them:

  • Enable OCL dependent features: a preference checkbox that exposes Operations which need the optional OpenCamLib library. These commands are not experimental; they are hidden only because the library is an optional dependency. See OpenCamLib.

  • EnableExperimentalFeatures: a parameter with no preference checkbox that exposes unfinished commands. A command can be considered experimental for any of the following reasons:

    • It is incomplete.

    • It is bug-ridden.

    • It is unstable.

    • It does not produce correct, stable, safe Toolpaths.

    • It is not a standard, regularly used command in the traditional CAM workflow.

    • It is mature but has not yet been moved to the standard command list.

    • …​ other reasons.

Enable OpenCamLib dependent commands

  1. Open the Preferences Editor via Edit  Preferences.

  2. Go to the CAM  Advanced page.

  3. Check the Enable OCL dependent features checkbox.

  4. Restart FreeCAD.

This adds CAM 3DSurface 3D Surface and CAM Waterline Waterline to the 3D Operations group, and adds CAM Camotics CAMotics to the Tool Commands toolbar if CAMotics 1.2.2 or newer is installed (the command-line camotics and its Python module).

OpenCamLib must be importable as ocl or opencamlib; if it is not, the console prints "OpenCamLib is not working!" unless Suppress openCAMlib warning is checked on the same preference page.

Enable experimental commands

There is no checkbox for experimental features in the CAM preferences; the parameter must be created by hand:

  1. Open the Parameter Editor via Tools  Edit Parameters.

  2. Once in the editor the path is BaseApp  Preferences  Mod  CAM.

  3. Right-click in the parameter list area and select New  New Boolean item from the context menu.

  4. Name the new parameter: EnableExperimentalFeatures (case-sensitive).

  5. Set it to: True.

  6. Save the settings.

  7. Restart FreeCAD.

Setting EnableExperimentalFeatures adds:

  • Path from Shape to CAM  Supplemental Commands;

  • the Helpful Tools toolbar with Area and Area Workplane;

  • and, when OCL dependent features are also enabled, Planar Surface and Rotary Surface (introduced in 26.3) in the 3D Operations group.

Note: with experimental features enabled, the Slot command is currently appended a second time to the 2D operation list, so Slot appears twice in the New Operations toolbar and CAM menu.

Parameters

All CAM parameters live under BaseApp/Preferences/Mod/CAM and names are case-sensitive:

  • EnableAdvancedOCLFeatures (Boolean): set by the Enable OCL dependent features checkbox.

  • EnableExperimentalFeatures (Boolean): no checkbox; must be created by hand.

  • WarningSuppressOpenCamLib (Boolean): set by the Suppress openCAMlib warning checkbox.

Additional Information

Experimental commands: Path from Shape, Area, Area Workplane, Planar Surface, Rotary Surface.

Former experimental commands now standard: Tapping (merged into Drilling as the Tapping Strategy in 26.3), Sanity Check, Slot.