Sandbox:Piffpoof9a

Introduction
This tutorial is meant to introduce the reader to the basic workflow of the Sketcher Workbench used in conjunction with the Part Design workbench to make a model comprised of 3 different pieces. This will be done using Sketches and the Pad function of the Part Design workbench,

The Sketcher workbench exists as a standalone module, but it is also accessible from within the PartDesign Workbench when it is required to create a profile.



Problem Background
We're going to construct a model of a housing for a lock - like the lock on a door. After looking at the task, we have decided we will make this in 3 pieces: And because this is a Sketcher tutorial, we will use the Sketcher workbench, but we will use it from the Part Design workbench
 * a plate at the back of the lock housing
 * the sides of the lock housing
 * the front plate of the lock housing which will have the aperture through which the key passes

Preparation
FreeCAD has numerous facilities and features. To make our work easier in this tutorial, we need to make sure some of them are visible. From the menu bar at the top of the screen select the option. This will produce the Combo View which is a browser with two panes, one above the other. The upper pane has two tabs Model and Tasks - select Model. The lower pane also has two tabs View and Data - select Data.