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You own a 3D printer and you are tired of downloading someone else’s nearly-right model. By the last lesson you will measure a real object with calipers, model a part around it, and print something that fits on the first or second try.
Start lesson one: The model is a recipe, not a shape →
Get an Onshape free account. It runs in the browser, there is nothing to install, and it is fully parametric — which is the thing you are actually here to learn. The free plan makes your documents public, so keep anything confidential out of it.
Everything you learn transfers. Fusion 360, SolidWorks, FreeCAD and Onshape differ in menus, not in ideas — sketches, constraints, features and a history tree are the same everywhere.
Work through them in order. Each one ends with a short recall check — answer it from memory, not by scrolling back. That discomfort is the part that makes it stick.
What a parametric model actually is, and how to build one that holds still.
Editing a model next week without it exploding.
The constraints of the machine, and parts that fit real objects.
Two pages are worth keeping open while you model. Print rules collects every number this course uses — overhangs, walls, holes, clearances — on one printable page, and the glossary fixes the words CAD tutorials use without defining, so they mean the same thing in every lesson here.
Every claim on these pages links to its source. If a source looks wrong or out of date, check the resource list and tell your teaching agent — the course is meant to be corrected.