This week, I released the first beta version of my parametric 3D-printed morse code key. It is a set consisting of a key plus various kinds of mounting or holding arrangements. Screwed down to a desk or block, strapped to your leg, or held in your other hand.
Almost everything about it is parameterized with VarSets for ease of customization, and I wrote a macro to export STEP and STL variants with different built-in 3d-printed springs from light to heavy tension, different lengths of sliding covers, different heights above your leg for the leg mount, and more.
Designed in local builds of FreeCAD 1.1 dev running on Fedora 41. Licensed liberally CC-SA to let others modify and share their modifications.
@Thalass Oh awesome! I got my license last fall only because at least in the US, morse code ("CW") is no longer required. I wasn't going to touch it at all.
A few weeks later I started studying at LCWO and now it's a lot of what I actually want to do with ham radio. I'm not good yet — I still freeze up, and can't copy reliably yet, but I'm starting to use CW on the air and it's been a fun journey.
If you want to see more of the development history for this key, see this thread.
73 (best regards) de (from) KZ4LY!
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@Thalass Oh awesome! I got my license last fall only because at least in the US, morse code ("CW") is no longer required. I wasn't going to touch it at all.
A few weeks later I started studying at LCWO and now it's a lot of what I actually want to do with ham radio. I'm not good yet — I still freeze up, and can't copy reliably yet, but I'm starting to use CW on the air and it's been a fun journey.
If you want to see more of the development history for this key, see this thread.
That spring design was still too stiff, so the symmetric serpentine was indeed the approach I took. To make enough space, I started over completely from scratch again.
This time, I built up as much as possible as only half the part, then mirrored everything across and added the couple of centered features. I also have a groove cutting through a fillet. This meant that I had to put "dress-up features" (fillets and chamfers) all through the design instead of all at the end. This makes a parametric design more fragile. To combat this, I placed all sketches on base planes and offset them by parametric amounts instead of putting them on faces.
This key is working, but it wants some accessories. The groove down the side is to intersect with a cover/handle, a belt mount, a desk mount that puts the lever off the table, or whatever else one wants... I haven't designed those yet, but they are coming soon.
When I'm done, I will distribute all off this under a license that allows derivatives.
heute einen Kurs über #freecad im Tech-lab gehalten. Gibt dazu Video Tutorials für verschiedene 3D Objekte, erst mal auf deutsch: fginfo.ksbg.ch/dokuwiki/doku.p… (I just gave a FreeCAD course at my school's maker space. There are video tutorials for different 3d printed objects, in German)
It had come up quite a bit at the @opentoolchain hackathon ~2 years ago, which kicked off some of my early attempts, thankfully now I understand WB design much better and have a great development workflow down.
Michael K Johnson
in reply to FreeCAD • • •This week, I released the first beta version of my parametric 3D-printed morse code key. It is a set consisting of a key plus various kinds of mounting or holding arrangements. Screwed down to a desk or block, strapped to your leg, or held in your other hand.
Almost everything about it is parameterized with VarSets for ease of customization, and I wrote a macro to export STEP and STL variants with different built-in 3d-printed springs from light to heavy tension, different lengths of sliding covers, different heights above your leg for the leg mount, and more.
Designed in local builds of FreeCAD 1.1 dev running on Fedora 41. Licensed liberally CC-SA to let others modify and share their modifications.
#FreeCADFriday
Michael K Johnson / Single-Paddle-Key · GitLab
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Thalass
in reply to Michael K Johnson • • •Perfect timing! I'm about to start studying for my ham licence!
@FreeCAD
Michael K Johnson
in reply to Thalass • • •@Thalass Oh awesome! I got my license last fall only because at least in the US, morse code ("CW") is no longer required. I wasn't going to touch it at all.
A few weeks later I started studying at LCWO and now it's a lot of what I actually want to do with ham radio. I'm not good yet — I still freeze up, and can't copy reliably yet, but I'm starting to use CW on the air and it's been a fun journey.
If you want to see more of the development history for this key, see this thread.
73 (best regards) de (from) KZ4LY!
@Thalass Oh awesome! I got my license last fall only because at least in the US, morse code ("CW") is no longer required. I wasn't going to touch it at all.
A few weeks later I started studying at LCWO and now it's a lot of what I actually want to do with ham radio. I'm not good yet — I still freeze up, and can't copy reliably yet, but I'm starting to use CW on the air and it's been a fun journey.
If you want to see more of the development history for this key, see this thread.
73 (best regards) de (from) KZ4LY!
Michael K Johnson
2025-03-10 22:28:51
Ivo Blöchliger
in reply to FreeCAD • • •fginfo.ksbg.ch/dokuwiki/doku.p…
(I just gave a FreeCAD course at my school's maker space. There are video tutorials for different 3d printed objects, in German)
techlab:cad-kurs [fginfo.ksbg.ch Fachgruppe Informatik der KSBG]
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morgan
in reply to FreeCAD • • •This #FreeCADFriday been a while in the making (and patiently waiting for #KiCAD 9).
KiConnect uses the KiCAD 9 API to import boards, copper layers and footprints into #FreeCAD and eventually bi-directional control.
A ton of feature already being worked on or to be ported from test Macros.
git.oit.cloud/morgan/kiconnect
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Garrett Mace
in reply to morgan • • •morgan
in reply to Garrett Mace • • •FreeCAD
in reply to morgan • • •morgan
in reply to FreeCAD • • •