CAD software

[IrishDave]

First of all I'm not sure if this may be the right place for this thread but it is under tools and I would consider cad software a tool.

My question is do you guys think it is worth paying money for this sort of thing I haven't used it since high school but I think it would be helpful when designing projects. If it is worth the price what one would you recommend I know there are free software programs out there are the they to the same standard as the ones you have to pay for? All input is appreciated

 

[AdrianH]

Are you after 2D or 3D cad, if only 2 D then I would try some of the free stuff, Q-Cad for example I use on Linux for my plasma cutting, it seems quite good, they also have a Windows version.

http://qcad.org/en/

But there others.

Adrian

 

[MattH]

DesignSpark from RS is free and easy to use to knock up basic 3D models.

 

[IrishDave]

It's for 3d an cheers guys will give them a try as soon as i get the PC setup again

 

[ronan]

Fusion 360 is free for students, hobbyists and home users.

http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview

 

[graffian]

I have just been trying freecad, it seems they haven't got assemblies right yet, other than that it seems to work pretty good.
Try it you haven't got anything to loose.

 

[mike os]

Onshape is well worth a look

 

[Rocketman]

You are only allowed to have 10 private documents in onshape without paying and it's only cloud based.

 

[clift_d]

If 3D, then Sketchup has a free license for non-commercial stuff, which has most of the functionality of the professional paid version.

 

[mike os]

You are only allowed to have 10 private documents in onshape without paying and it's only cloud based.

thats 10 whole project files though, (not parts/assemblies) and you still have unlimited public docs ... ie they can be seen but not edited, but in truth who is going to look?

you can download to your device and free up private docs at any time too

 

[Rocketman]

thats 10 whole project files though, (not parts/assemblies) and you still have unlimited public docs ... ie they can be seen but not edited, but in truth who is going to look?

you can download to your device and free up private docs at any time too

I read a bit on it previously, some of the Solidworks people who refused to pay for the new upgrade path out since Christmas keep on going on about.

It would be interesting what they mean exactly when considering a project. Can you have unlimited parts in that file and is a true assembly or is it simple a file where you are allowed multiple parts modelled in it. Does sub assemblies qualify as another project. I guess they would.

 

[mike os]

Multi parts and multi assembly and project documents all in one onshape project

Written by ex solid works coders, looks like it will be good, I know several people using it that really surprised me as 2 have no and the others are on solid works or edge

 

[Rocketman]

I think you are overselling the free side of it mike. 100mb is nothing private storage, say I do 50 tool designs a year some of them are nearly a gig. In other words I wouldn't even be able to do a tenth of that tool design before it said no stop there. Yes you could make the files public but no-one in business would like this. So it is pretty well limited to training and or the home user.

Apart from it not being able to do what I need at this present time, for many it would probably be OK. I can't ever see me using a cloud base system - from a business point of view that is nuts. No internet - no work. More over I can not ever see how it would be as fast as a workstation for saving/actual function/feature speeds. Time is money, it's bad enough if you have to work on files stored on server (thankfully I don't).

 

[julianthegypsy]

DesignSpark from RS is free and easy to use to knock up basic 3D models.

I use design spark for all my work. It's all 2D, but I find it fast and easy to make drawings to send to my laser cutters. It's actually transformed the way I work as I used to have to grapple with steel sheets, chop them in bits then try to get all the bits to fit. Now I send off a drawing and collect what's basically an IKEA flatpack in the back of my car. Everything fits, and I now have beautiful radii on everything so the quality of the end product is better too. I like technology!

 

[MattH]

I use design spark for all my work. It's all 2D, but I find it fast and easy to make drawings to send to my laser cutters. It's actually transformed the way I work as I used to have to grapple with steel sheets, chop them in bits then try to get all the bits to fit. Now I send off a drawing and collect what's basically an IKEA flatpack in the back of my car. Everything fits, and I now have beautiful radii on everything so the quality of the end product is better too. I like technology!

Do you have the paid for full version? I thought you could only do 2d design work in the full version.

 

[Kent]

I use a drawing board. It generally helps the process of thought better
It's very cheap to set up with the most basic kit

 

[julianthegypsy]

Do you have the paid for full version? I thought you could only do 2d design work in the full version.

Nope, just the freebie. I just use plan view, lay out all my parts then save it as a dxf. I suppose its 3D but I'm only using a 2D view and not adding any depth anyway.

 

[julianthegypsy]

I use a drawing board. It generally helps the process of thought better
It's very cheap to set up with the most basic kit

I agree its easier to visualise things with a sketch, but then if you want anyone to do anything with it you have to pay them to make a drawing that the laser/plasma/mill/etc can understand. Do it yourself and you can easily make improvements/changes too!

 

[MattH]

Nope, just the freebie. I just use plan view, lay out all my parts then save it as a dxf. I suppose its 3D but I'm only using a 2D view and not adding any depth anyway.

Are you on version 1?

 

[julianthegypsy]

Are you on version 1?

Probably, I've had it ages, ever since someone posted a link up here about RS giving it away! Is there a newer version that I should avoid?