FreeCAD Cables Workbench

Electric cables drawing tools workbench for FreeCAD

The goal and idea

The Cables Workbench has the following goals:

1. Creation and use of ready-made elements and cable profiles for modeling electrical installations in architectural design projects
2. Simplification of cable drawing in architectural models with the possibility of easy changes (like repositioning wall sockets or ligt switches with cables attached to them)
3. Enable quick and easy connection of single wires if that detail level is needed (e.g. connecting wires to connectors in electrical boxes or swichboards)
4. To be compatible with BIM Workbench

The main idea of modeling cables (which are flexible in nature) as a static 3D elements is based on Wire Flex objects. These objects are modified Draft Wire objects with additional features like the possibility of attaching any Wire Flex vertices to external objects. This allows to automatically change the cable shape and length while changing the placement of external elements like boxes, switches, light points, walls, ceilings etc.

All elements (cables, boxes, connectors etc.) in this workbench are Arch Component elements. The cable element is based on Arch Pipe class.

Wiki

This workbench has a documentation which is a part of FreeCAD Wiki: Cables Workbench Wiki.

You can also install the workbench and see examples to have a closer look into details. These files contain Info text with some additional hints.

Installation

This workbench can be installed via the Addon Manager (for details see Addon Manager Wiki).

It can also be installed manually by copying its entire Cables/ folder to the FreeCAD local Mod/ folder. Details: Installing more workbenches.

Note

This workbench is currently at the alpha stage. You can expect some bugs which can make your model broken. Some properties of models can change in the future and break models created with current version.

Compatibility

Cables Workbench was created for FreeCAD version 1.0.0. No compatibility checks with previous versions were made.

Contributions

Any code contributions are welcome. Please add all of your pull requests to the dev branch.

References

• Development repo: https://github.com/sargo-devel/Cables
• FreeCAD Forum announcement/discussion thread
• Authors: @SargoDevel

Translations

It is possible to translate Cables Workbench. See here for details.

Available translations:

• German
  • translators: @maxwxyz, @FBXL5
• Polish
  • translators: @kaktus, @mgr_wojtal, @Piter
• Spanish
  • translator: @hasecilu

Big thanks to the translators for their work!

Release notes:

• v0.2.1 30 Jun 2025
  • Fixed bug with DraftTools import
  • Updated German translation
  • Updated IFC types
• v0.2.0 14 Jun 2025
  • WireFlex can now take the shape of polyline or bspline.
  • Added option of WireFlex creation from the vertices of another object.
  • Introduced special Edit Mode for WireFlex allowing to add, delete, modify, attach, detach its points preserving all properties. Additionally it is possible to make edges vertical or horizontal with one click in Edit Mode.
  • Introduced colored markings of attached vertices in WireFlex.
  • Added CompoundPath and CableConduit objects which enable the creation of complex bundles.
  • Added undo/redo support.
  • Added commands visibility in console.
  • Added shortcut keys.
  • A few minor bug fixes and improvements.
• v0.1.4 15 Mar 2025
  • Added translations: German, Polish, Spanish
  • ArchCable class: added option to create cable without profile (single wire cable)
  • Workbench files structure has been migrated to "namespaced workbench" new style
  • Some minor fixes and corrections
• v0.1.3 27 Feb 2025
  • Minor fixes and corrections, code prepared for translation
• v0.1.2 25 Jan 2025
  • Added profile selection
• v0.1.1 21 Jan 2025
  • Fixed cable rotation problem
• v0.1.0 21 Jan 2025
  • Initial version

License

LGPLv3 (see LICENSE)