CAD again, sigh....solid edge or draftsight?

[julianthegypsy]

As above really. I'm trying to get to grips with CAD at a basic level so I can get a laser cutting company to cut out various pieces of 5mm steel plate for me since I no longer have access to a huge guillotine. When I get there it will actually be better than before because I will be able to get all kinds of shapes cut that couldn't be done on a guillotine and it will mean I can email a drawing then collect all the pieces ready to weld together, rather than grappling with an 8x4 sheet and cutting it up with oxy, as well as avoiding paying for delivery, as I can fit ready cut pieces in the car. Can't do that with 8x4!
So far, I've been using design spark, which starts off easy and seems simple for basic 3D, but drawings have to be saved to dxf or dwg format and then it can't read them, amongst other little annoyances. I have copies of draftsight and solid edge but don't know where to begin, so before I start grappling, I thought I'd ask advice from people who know, and I know that means people here :-)
I doubt I'll ever do any 3D work, it's all about cutting up steel, though I suppose it would be nice to visualise what it's all going to look like when the hot glue gun has done its magic and welded all the bits together, but it's not a priority. Being able to alter dimensions and generally edit easily, as well as being as idiot friendly as possible and having a good help section is what I'm after. Thanks in advance for any helpful pointers!

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I started off with early versions of AutoCAD then progressed to AutoCad 2004, after changing my PC I struggled to get my 'aargh Jim lad!' version of AutoCAD to load so I tried Draftsight and its an exact copy!
I don't bother with AutoCAD now and just stick to Draftsight. I've never bothered with 3d or even rendered drawings. Being of the age of 1st or 3rd angle projection on paper I am happier with 2d.
You can pick up manuals/books for AutoCAD dirt cheap and it corresponds to all the Draftsight commands.

 

[julianthegypsy]

I started off with early versions of AutoCAD then progressed to AutoCad 2004, after changing my PC I struggled to get my 'aargh Jim lad!' version of AutoCAD to load so I tried Draftsight and its an exact copy!
I don't bother with AutoCAD now and just stick to Draftsight. I've never bothered with 3d or even rendered drawings. Being of the age of 1st or 3rd angle projection on paper I am happier with 2d.
You can pick up manuals/books for AutoCAD dirt cheap and it corresponds to all the Draftsight commands.

I'm of the same 1st/3rd angle age as you, but have never used cad before and it's completely different! I want to just use the mouse to draw lines but it doesn't work that way! (also, the keyboard really interferes with my T square) So I want something fairly intuitive, does draftsight fit that bill? I'm sure there are all sorts of conventions that these things use, and once got the hang of it will all drop into place, but meantime I don't want something to just look at me blankly!

 

[rtbcomp]

I'm sure CadStd will do the 2d drawings OK. It's really simple to use. It will export to DXF, HPGL, PDF, PostScript, SVG and DAE. It's free so worth a try.

I did the drawings in this thread with it http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/progress-2g-drill.31600/page-5

 

[HughF]

I use draftsight extensively on windows and linux, works well. qcad/librecad is also good. I too just use them for 2d stuff for laser/waterjet/punch press work.

 

[J.F]

Hi, have you tried Turbo CAD http://www.turbocad.co.uk/ there is a 30 day free trial, and lots of videos on Youtube on how to use it.

 

[julianthegypsy]

The plot thickens! Here's a question, which is the best format to send to someone for cnc cutting, or does it really matter? I know that much of the cost of getting things cut is the time they have to spend mucking about with the computer, so the more I can do and the less they have to, the better as far as I see it anyway. Also, being a complete noob at this stuff. If I have a load of shapes that I want cutting, is it better to send each piece on a separate drawing or is it better to send one drawing with all the pieces on? From my point of view it seems better to have all the bits on one sheet of....computer screen but I don't know if that makes life hard for whoever is trying to get my drawing off the screen and onto steel. I know they will want to rearrange everything to make the best use of the steel stock but don't know which way to do it to make it easier!

 

[Paul.]

DXF is the usual format for laser profilers, Although I use Auto Cad and just send a DWG file, less common file formats from other packages may not be suitable, most will export to DXF though.
I will sometimes combine multiple parts on one drawing, and never had a problem as long as each component is properly labeled with the quantities, I dont mix thicknesses or material types on one drawing it just adds another level of confusion.
make use of layers when drawing, put all your dimensions and annotation in a separate layer to the component so they can be turned off just leaving what you want to be cut,
I could send you some simple profile drawings drawn in Cad if you want some examples to play around with.

 

[Rocketman]

I would say it makes absolutely no difference how many separate items are on the same sheet.

Simply box the detailing for each item (ie draw a line around it).

What's usually a bigger factor these days is hardly anyone bothers with AO printers so they may well ask you to do drawings that would also be clear on say A3 when printed.

 

[rkde]

I use CAD all day although it is 3D most of the time but any 2D I use is always draftsight - its a great package and very similar to all those out there, even the same commands as autocad

 

[daleyd]

I got draftsight to do some electrical drawings and found it quite intuitive.

I think the basics of cad can take a bit of getting used to, I hadn't used cad for probably 20 years and although I am pretty computer savvy it took a bit of getting my head around.

The more you use it though the easier it gets.

 

[julianthegypsy]

DXF is the usual format for laser profilers, Although I use Auto Cad and just send a DWG file, less common file formats from other packages may not be suitable, most will export to DXF though.
I will sometimes combine multiple parts on one drawing, and never had a problem as long as each component is properly labeled with the quantities, I dont mix thicknesses or material types on one drawing it just adds another level of confusion.
make use of layers when drawing, put all your dimensions and annotation in a separate layer to the component so they can be turned off just leaving what you want to be cut,
I could send you some simple profile drawings drawn in Cad if you want some examples to play around with.

Thanks Paul, that's very helpful. I had already thought that steel sizes and quantities might cause problems so I've only put a drawing of each piece in the same sized steel on the same drawing so far. I will be talking to a laser cutting company in the morning too, just to get everything clear. Thanks for the offer of some drawings too, that would be really helpful as I haven't played with layers, construction lines or text yet. I've just been drawing loads of lines and deleting the ones I don't want at the end! I'll send you a message with my email addy.