Fusion 360

[DavidR8]

Thanks for the replies Guys!
So, I guess the table comes with the Fusion 360 software according to their site when you buy one of their pkg's.
Is that going to be all I need to draw parts and get them to cut?
Have watched several videos on the "tube" but they jerk around so much, camera and all plus the mouse moving all over the screen it's darn hard to keep up with them, by the time I read what they are saying (ears are not the best) they are already on to something else
The local library is getting some books on on Fusion 360.
Hoping one will be "Fusion 360 for Dummies"

I have four CNC machines in my shop; my CNC router which is capable of full 3D work, a CNC plasma cutter (2D), a CNC laser cutter (2D), and a 3D printer.
Based on my use of my CNC plasma cutter that I built, the parametric 3D modelling capabilities of Fusion 360 are overkill.
For a plasma cutter I think you really only need 2D capability so something like SheetCAM makes a lot of sense.

I dropped Fusion360 in favour of Alibre Atom3D because I find it easier to understand. Got it for $100 USD on sale, lifetime, on-premise licence.

 

[WobblyHand]

The time it takes to learn any CAD program is what has kept me illiterate in the subject. I start trying to learn it and after about one hour, get a pencil and paper and go to the shop. I am going to have to force myself to learn it since I would like to have the program do all the math for me. And I really want a printer.

It's not a one hour learn. Took me 21 days at roughly 6 hours per day to get it to sink in. There's a lot of material to take in, especially if your exposure was limited. Now I can model stuff that would be really tough to do by hand. But it did take commitment and time to get there. I decided I wanted to learn it last year, right around this time. Not going to lie, it was hard the first couple of days. After that it lightened up a little bit, but there were some butt kicking lessons to get through. I wore some headphones to block out sounds so I wouldn't get distracted. When things are hard it's easy to think of something else to do!

I should have learned this decades ago, it would have made my professional life a lot easier. I didn't. So I made up my mind last January, that I would learn it and wouldn't quit. Got through it and I'm happy that I did. It's proven to be quite useful.

 

[Just for fun]

The time it takes to learn any CAD program is what has kept me illiterate in the subject. I start trying to learn it and after about one hour, get a pencil and paper and go to the shop. I am going to have to force myself to learn it since I would like to have the program do all the math for me. And I really want a printer.

I learned a lot from this Lar Christensen, his videos are kind of old and most of them are with the older browser / interface, but the info is still relevant.

There is a lot of good info out there, I have picked up info from several different You Tubers. I still use the free one for hobbyists. The big difference that I know of is that you can only have 10 active designs, there are some others but for a beginner I don't think you will notice. The 10 active designs have not been a problem with my level of CAD drawing. You will be surprised how soon you will reach the 10 active designs; you can change them to Read Only and if you need them later you can change them back to active designs if you have the room.

 

[finsruskw]

Messing with it some more this morning.
So far I have not even been able to draw a dam line on the screen.
Frustrating.

 

[Ischgl99]

I used Arnold Rowntree’s videos to learn Fusion 360. I was struggling at first, but his step by step teaching style helped a lot and I was proficient within a few days.

 

[3strucking]

Does anyone here use FreeCAD? I think thats the one I am going to dedicate the time to. I also have a student version of Solidworks.

 

[Winegrower]

I use Solidworks, and while there is a rough learning curve, if you limit your skills to what you can do with a mill and a lathe, forget the exotic curves and many many features, the ability to extrude, cut and drill and do nice dimensioned drawings is not so tough...but a friend who could sit with you for a couple of hours right at the beginning will reduce your frustration immensely.

For the most part all the drawing packages I have tried are all the same, except they are all different.

 

[7milesup]

Does anyone here use FreeCAD

I think if you start out with FreeCAD it would be OK. I tried it and found it to be lacking and frustrating, but I am proficient in Solidworks so I am comparing a Cadillac to a Chevy. There are many that use and like FreeCAD so it is most likely just me not wanting to learn a new CAD package.

I tried the 30-day trial of Alibre and found it to be decent. They currently have a sale going on and came close to pulling the trigger but SW Educational version serves my purpose well (3D printing). The huge advantage that I see with Alibre is that you own the product; none of this subscription crap. Subscriptions are eating up consumer dollars without many realizing how much they are spending every month.

 

[DavidR8]

I think if you start out with FreeCAD it would be OK. I tried it and found it to be lacking and frustrating, but I am proficient in Solidworks so I am comparing a Cadillac to a Chevy. There are many that use and like FreeCAD so it is most likely just me not wanting to learn a new CAD package.

I tried the 30-day trial of Alibre and found it to be decent. They currently have a sale going on and came close to pulling the trigger but SW Educational version serves my purpose well (3D printing). The huge advantage that I see with Alibre is that you own the product; none of this subscription crap. Subscriptions are eating up consumer dollars without many realizing how much they are spending every month.

That Alibre is on-premise was what sold me on it.

 

[WobblyHand]

Does anyone here use FreeCAD? I think thats the one I am going to dedicate the time to. I also have a student version of Solidworks.

There are quite a few of us that use FreeCAD. There is a FreeCAD sub forum under the CAD forum. If you have any questions, feel free to post there. Take a look in that sub forum, there is some good stuff there.

There are a series of videos that I found helpful. In the beginning, I slowed them down quite a bit until I could understand all the mouse movements. Once I knew where some of the functions were located, it got a lot easier. Here's a tip, rearrange all your icons so they match the same locations in the video. Saves a ton of time during the video, since you don't have to hunt them down! That lets you concentrate on what is happening in the video. Afterwards you can arrange them to your liking (or not).

One other thing - you "own" your copy, it doesn't require internet access to use, it is yours for as long as it will run on your system. No fees, no screw you later by de-featuring, and no baloney.