Is there an easy way to curve this part

[bemader]

It took me a while to figure out how to draw this part as far as I have using FreeCAD 0.17 but I haven't figured out how to "curve" this with a radius of 4.5 inches. I don't have the CURVES workbench but it might be possible to install it if that is the only option. I'm not sure that workbench is compatible with the version I have.

What I want to do is kind of bend this on the centerline but with a nice smooth radius if that makes sense.

One thought I had was to PAD this much thicker and then make a cylinder 9" diameter and "cut" that shape out of the part. The other side maybe could be done similar. Actually, the inside probably needs to be cut with a 4.25" radius to account for the thickness. I'm having trouble getting the boolean operations figured out but a few more youtube videos and a little more practice and I'll figure that part out.

Am I overthinking this? Is there an easy way to do this?

I am liking FreeCAD more and more but everything takes time to figure out how to do.

 

[bemader]

Looks like the boolean idea was the answer. Like always, there was a learning curve to get it to work. I guess it helped to type out the question that needed answered to figure it out on my own. Of course, YouTube helped once I knew what to search for.


I didn't bother putting the dimensions in this drawing and I'm not sure I got the thickness how I need it but this is what I was trying to figure out.

The method I used was just how I thought it COULD be done in my first post. The main shape was padded extra thick. Then one cylinder was made and that shape was cut out of the first shape using the boolean CUT function. Then a bigger cylinder was drawn and I used the boolean COMMON function.

I have more work to do on this part but at least I'm learning.



A lot of steps to it but it gets easier the more I use this program. No wonder so many people use this program. Hard to beat the price.