Dropouts exported to FreeCAD

When a BikeCAD model with dropouts defined by parameters is exported to FreeCAD, an extrusion is created in FreeCAD matching that geometry. The thickness of the extrusion is defined by dimension T. If it is a hooded dropout, it has always been up to the designer to use dimension T to represent either the width of the hood or to represent the thickness of the plate. When exporting to FreeCAD, both these dimensions will need to be explicitly defined in the Export to FreeCAD dialog box.

If dropouts are defined by static drawing, FreeCAD will attempt to read in a separate model of that dropout from a 3D STEP file. Many of the dropouts available as static drawings will have 3D models associated with them and more will continue to be added in the future. When Paragon offers a version of a dropout with or without eyelets, there will usually only be a 3D STEP file for the version containing eyelets. Therefore, if your FreeCAD model is missing dropouts, try swapping in the version containing eyelets.