easy to use and free 2d CAD program, does one exist?!

[finyuk2005]

So i have been working on my plasma table and am anting to do some some simple drawings to test things,
I did once have a go at drawing stuff up with Emachineshop, which i really liked because it was so straightforward and easy to use, but now they have stopped the ability to export as DXF,
I have just been having a go at freecad, and i think its dog ****, the whole 'constraints' system just doesn't make it intuitive or in anyway easy to use

Any suggestions for something basic and easy to use like Emachineshop that will let you export as a dxf?

cheers

 

[Mart63]

I use Fusion 360. You can sign up for a free hobbiest licence. The only limitation that I'm aware of is that you can only have 10 active drawings at any one time.

 

[tigdlo]

Siemens Solid Edge 2D is worth a go.

You have to get used to constraining as you go as it isn't automatic like fusion or onshape. In solid edge you can draw a 50mm line, even type the dimension to draw it and it wont be constained to 50mm.

 

[Fred Trevvett]

I use Fusion 360. You can sign up for a free hobbiest licence. The only limitation that I'm aware of is that you can only have 10 active drawings at any one time.

Fusion 360 is great, thousands of tutorials on YouTube to help you learn. The 10 active files thing is a non issue, you can activate and deactivate them as you wish. You never need to work on more than 10 files at once, even if it only said 2 active files that would be fine for 99% of hobbyists

 

[JMS1972]

If you want more arty rather than technical, I think Inkscape can do DXF export.

I use it a lot for CO2 laser cutting. I've found it quite intuitive. And it's free

 

[graffian]

So i have been working on my plasma table and am anting to do some some simple drawings to test things,
I did once have a go at drawing stuff up with Emachineshop, which i really liked because it was so straightforward and easy to use, but now they have stopped the ability to export as DXF,
I have just been having a go at freecad, and i think its dog ****, the whole 'constraints' system just doesn't make it intuitive or in anyway easy to use

Any suggestions for something basic and easy to use like Emachineshop that will let you export as a dxf?

cheers

Free cad works fine if you have used solidworks and had a fiddle with catia, my only problem was the
mates didn't work very well, that was in 2015.

There was a quite simple cad program on the early linux CDs[1995], I think it was made by
Staedtler. I had never used cad and drew some parts quite easily, I never bothered with
it again as it was only 2D, wonder if it's still around.

 

[MickeyW]

NanoCAD is another free 2D Autocad clone. I started using it when Draftsight stopped being free.

nanoCAD - Download

nanoCAD, free and safe download. nanoCAD latest version: Free Professional Grade CAD Software. nanoCAD is computer aided design software of a high cal

nanocad.en.softonic.com

 

[mike os]

Draftsight is my current go too for 2d

 

[optima21]

25 years ago I used to be able to use autocad, when I got back into model engineering a few years ago I tried a couple of free 2d cad programmes. I found then so frustrating to try and use that I use 5mm squared paper and a pencil these days

 

[Bladevane]

@finyuk2005 I have copies of eMachineShop versions 1.932 and 1.935, both of which are free and have DXF export capability. PM me if you would like to be added to the growing list of users who I have added to my Dropbox folder so they can continue to use this program.

 

[printcom]

Another vote for eMachineShop version 1.920. So far its done all I have asked of it - just don't upgrade it or you will lose the DXF support.

 

[James1979]

I’ve got 1.920 as above. It’s alright.

Better than QCAD. Not as good as fusion but less fussy about machine spec and it’ll work offline which is a pet peeve of mine with 360

 

[finyuk2005]

Funny enough i opened emachineshop on another f my laptops that i had downloaded a while ago, and like you say, it still exports dxf!
I will pm you about getting a copy of the old one,
Im paranoid its going to update automatically now!

Other suggestions are gratefully received too, i will have a look at the slightly fancier programs and try and learn them sometime,

I honestly thought the hardware part of retrofitting my old plasma table would be the hard part!! ha ha!

 

[julianthegypsy]

I use designspark mechanical for technical type stuff. It's 3D, but I just click on plan view and voila, 2D. It's own format is rsdoc, but you can save as dxf at the click of the mouse. The only occasional annoyance for me is that it won't open a DXF, even though it'll save to dxf. I believe there are ways of doing it but I've not explored them yet. Just make sure you keep track of what you're doing and what you've saved As mentioned earlier, inkscape is very good for arty stuff. I'm just getting to grips with it, but it works very well.

 

[finyuk2005]

yeah i have had a play with inkscape and quite like it, i just need to practice more, i dont have much patience for it all!

 

[mtt.tr]

I like turbocad ok it's not free but it's cheap plus the files always work properly.

 

[finyuk2005]

I like turbocad ok it's not free but it's cheap plus the files always work properly.

looks quite good indeed, also looks like you can actually buy it which is rare these days.... i hate the fact you rarely own any software for more than a year at a time now!

 

[Mart63]

I had an issue with Inkscape. In order for my drawings to cut at the right size I had to change the scale to 3.77953. Don't ask me why but it works.

yeah i have had a play with inkscape and quite like it, i just need to practice more, i dont have much patience for it all!

 

[JMS1972]

Not a metric / imperial issue?

1/2.54 gives 0.3937 which is similar numbers if not magnitude.

Isn't there a problem with DXF in that it doesn't have scale in the file anyway?

 

[droopsnoot]

I had an issue with Inkscape. In order for my drawings to cut at the right size I had to change the scale to 3.77953. Don't ask me why but it works.

My main issue with Inkscape is that it doesn't seem to like round numbers for anything - I'll create a circle with an origin at, say, 100mm up and 100mm along, 10mm radius, and it'll suddenly become 99.997 and 100.042 or something like that. It doesn't make any practical difference for what I'm doing, but it's still annoying. But I've used it for a few things, mainly to be able to draw repair panel shapes that I can then print out and use as templates, and when they get damaged, just print another copy. I've also recently used it with a local firm's CNC plasma cutter to have some items cut.