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Oh, that's not the ideal way of doing things at all.What you should do with manufacturers is give them a pdf they can print out which contains all necessary information, a technical drawing or engineering drawing. You should be able to generate those documents with FreeCAD itself or a suitable plugin. The good thing about them is that they are considered part of the contract, so they are legally binding. You can specify tolerances, control measurements, the exact material and every other kind of detail you want, and if the manufacturer doesn't produce the part to your specifications, you can demand a refund, discount, or re-production of the part. step files are not really suitable for anything but 3D-printed parts.Another document you should include is a dxf, which can be fed into a laser-cutter or punch-press directly, so the factory worker needs less time to set the machine up, which can reduce the cost.
Oh, that's not the ideal way of doing things at all.
What you should do with manufacturers is give them a pdf they can print out which contains all necessary information, a technical drawing or engineering drawing. You should be able to generate those documents with FreeCAD itself or a suitable plugin. The good thing about them is that they are considered part of the contract, so they are legally binding. You can specify tolerances, control measurements, the exact material and every other kind of detail you want, and if the manufacturer doesn't produce the part to your specifications, you can demand a refund, discount, or re-production of the part. step files are not really suitable for anything but 3D-printed parts.
Another document you should include is a dxf, which can be fed into a laser-cutter or punch-press directly, so the factory worker needs less time to set the machine up, which can reduce the cost.
