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Cutout Shape

In one sentence: Cut a hole in a walled solid matching the penetration profile of another object, removing only the wall material while preserving the hollow interior.

Overview

Workbench: Part
Menu: Part → Join → Cutout
Shortcut: none

Removes only the wall material from a walled (hollow) solid where a tool shape penetrates it. Unlike Boolean Cut, which removes all material the tool overlaps, Cutout removes only the wall thickness at the intersection — leaving the host's interior cavity intact.

Intuition

Cutting a porthole in a ship hull: you want to remove the hull wall at that location (so a frame or viewport can fit flush) but not destroy the interior space. A Boolean Cut would subtract all material the cutting tool overlaps, potentially removing deck space or internal structure. Cutout removes only the hull wall material at the penetration point.

Another example: cutting a cable gland hole in an electronics enclosure — you want a clean opening through the enclosure wall, not a hole through the interior of the product.

When to use it

  • Cutting a hole in a housing or enclosure wall for a connector, cable gland, or pipe fitting.
  • Cutting an opening in a sheet-metal box wall for a display panel or button.
  • Any operation where you need a wall opening but must preserve the hollow interior of the host.

When NOT to use it

  • Don't use it when the cut must go through the solid body — use Boolean Cut for fully solid objects.
  • Don't use it when the wall and the interior should merge — use Embed Shapes to fuse walls together.

Step-by-step

  1. Select the walled solid (the host with the wall to cut through).
  2. Ctrl+click the tool shape (the object whose profile defines the opening).
  3. Choose Part → Join → Cutout.
  4. A new solid appears with the wall opening cut, interior preserved.

Parameters

Parameter Description
Objects Host walled solid first, then the tool shape
Refine Remove redundant edges from the result

Common mistakes and pitfalls

Host must be a walled (hollow) solid

Cutout is designed for objects with an interior cavity. On fully solid objects, it behaves like a standard Boolean Cut.

Selection order matters

Select the host solid (the one being cut) first, then Ctrl+click the tool shape. Reversing the order produces the wrong result.

Tool must intersect the wall, not just the interior

If the tool shape is entirely inside the host without touching the wall, no opening is created. The tool must cross the wall boundary.

Python API

import FreeCAD as App
import BOPTools.JoinFeatures as JF

doc = App.newDocument()

j = JF.makeCutout(name="WallCutout")
# j.Objects = [housing_solid, tool_shape]   # host first, cutter second
# j.Proxy.execute(j)
# doc.recompute()
print("Use interactively: select walled solid, Ctrl+click tool shape, "
      "then Part → Join → Cutout.")

See also