CAD Questions

[Smithdoor]

I use paper, straight-edge, circle templates and pencil more often than CAD. I started learning CAD of various forms back in the late 70's. But, for a lot of my projects I just don't need it and paper sketches are faster and plenty adequate. I go to CAD for really complex parts, parts I know I'll be repeating a lot or for input to my CNC mill.

I think you are talking about 2D CAD, not 3D CAD. For 2D CAD, the big kid on the block is Autocad or Autocad LT. You could do worse than to rent Autocad LT for a month or so. Else, maybe Draftsight, an Autocad clone. I think you can use it for free for a short time. All of those cost money. There are some free ones out there too but I don't have much experience with those so maybe someone could jump in with info about those. I did try sketch-up once but didn't like it. Some people swear by it.

As far as 3D CAD, I think that unless you are needing to visualize things to check how it will fit together or doing CNC, I think it can be overkill for most jobs. It can be fun to use though, after the learning curve... Just my opinion.

You could get old copy of Autocad 2000LT or Autocad 95
Both work on Windows 10 or 11 64bit .

I think Autocad 95 works better on Windows 10 or 11 Than did on windows 95.

I also DoubleCad for when find something in later versions. It is a free download.

Dave

 

[WobblyHand]

Start out with something free. If it isn't good enough for your use case, then start paying money - especially if you are a hobbyist. It makes no sense to invest $$$ in CAD if something free or low cost is good enough. And especially, if one hasn't learned CAD before.

Some folks take to it, and others may not. You will learn soon enough which category you are in. I believe it is possible for most people to learn, but for some the concepts elude them. That was me for a couple of decades. But I persevered and eventually learned. In most cases, it takes a bit of one's time to learn the basic ideas, and flow to build parts and assemblies. But once you "get it", it's enabling.

https://www.freecad.org/downloads.php. Available for Windows, Mac & Linux. Free. No charge, ever. Worst that can happen is you hate it and uninstall it. Won't know unless you try...

There are other programs that are great, to be sure.

But what ever you choose, sit down and watch a couple of videos describing the basics. Those basics are the underpinning of the tool, you need to understand them. It's cool to see the razzle-dazzle but it's more important to understand the basics, the foundation of the tool. Then follow along with your mouse and keyboard to do the same thing, this is important to develop your memory. Keep at it until you can duplicate what is in the video, no matter how many times it takes to replay it!

 

[RJSakowski]

I disagree with the recommendation for the SolidWorks Bible - it was a huge disappointment for me. I had substantial, but not comprehensive CAD experience at the time and found it tedious to learn. (And don't get me started on the ****show that is SW electrical...)

I wholeheartedly agree with the notion that the most difficult part is learning the philosophy - something I've seen little of in most tutorial information. For years I lived in a sort of CAD purgatory where I had to use differing CAD programs (based on customer preference), which meant that I became adequate at a lot of software, but expert at none. Now that that is over, I have committed to Alibre and am much better off for it.

Unless you have substantial reason to do so, I suggest staying away from SolidWorks. It's great software - perhaps the best mechanical CAD there is - but it's outrageously priced, and you never "own" your copy. For the home shop guy, and the small business, I think it's a dud.

Please don't consider this an ad for Alibre. It's what I settled on, but there are lots of options out there and it's just the one that I most favored. *Do* consider this a recommendation for something that you can pull up, 10 years from now, when you want that one drawing again...

GsT

When I retired, I bought my own seat of SolidWorks 2012. I paid just over $4K for a seat of the Standard edition. This was a purchase rather than a subscription. I needed a CAD program capable of generating models for my newly acquired CNC mill and since I had been using SolidWorks for some eight years, it was a logical choice. (It helped that I had come into a windfall which paid for the seat.) AFAIK, the only real restriction is it is a non transferable license although I can transfer it at will from one computer to another by deactivating the current install and activating a new install. (I haven't checked, but that may be a mechanism for transferring to a third party.)

When I first started using SolidWorks, one of the co-founders of our startup had an extra seat of SolidWorks from his own company. We trying transferring ownership to our startup with no success. We ended up with us "borrowing" the seat and having installation disks sent to me in his name. I still have all install disks from 2003 through 2010.

It was a huge upfront expense and not very realistic for a casual user. I currently have more than 5600 SolidWorks files on my computer so I probably wouldn't be considered a casual user. This has been a pet peeve of mine with all of the "professional" CAD software. One would think that they would realize that a hobbyist or startup business could very well become a heavy user in the future. I understand that there are those business entities who would try to avoid paying for the software by claiming that they were a small business or hobbyist. When Autodesk said that they were going to provide a full featured CAD program in Fusion 360 free to hobbyists and small businesses forever, I thought that someone had finally seen the light. That didn't last very long.

 

[Smithdoor]

Start out with something free. If it isn't good enough for your use case, then start paying money - especially if you are a hobbyist. It makes no sense to invest $$$ in CAD if something free or low cost is good enough. And especially, if one hasn't learned CAD before.

Some folks take to it, and others may not. You will learn soon enough which category you are in. I believe it is possible for most people to learn, but for some the concepts elude them. That was me for a couple of decades. But I persevered and eventually learned. In most cases, it takes a bit of one's time to learn the basic ideas, and flow to build parts and assemblies. But once you "get it", it's enabling.

https://www.freecad.org/downloads.php. Available for Windows, Mac & Linux. Free. No charge, ever. Worst that can happen is you hate it and uninstall it. Won't know unless you try...

There are other programs that are great, to be sure.

But what ever you choose, sit down and watch a couple of videos describing the basics. Those basics are the underpinning of the tool, you need to understand them. It's cool to see the razzle-dazzle but it's more important to understand the basics, the foundation of the tool. Then follow along with your mouse and keyboard to do the same thing, this is important to develop your memory. Keep at it until you can duplicate what is in the video, no matter how many times it takes to replay it!

I agree
Doublecad is a free download and works like Autocad.

Dave

 

[Karl A]

Of late, I've been using OpenSCAD as my 3D modeler. Everything is script-based, you write "cube([5,10,1]);" in the edit window, and you get a block of those X, Y, and Z dimensions in the render window. You make cylinders the same way. With that, and operators to union() things together and difference() to subtract one from another, and a couple of extrusion operators, do enough of them and you get a steam locomotive: ...

Now, I do not recommend this program generally. Get a good interactive program like Fusion 360 if you're just starting out...

However, I think an approach like OpenSCAD has its benefits. ...

ggbutcher,

After reading your post, I think that OpenSCAD will work well for me. I have been using pencil, paper, geometry, and algebra to determine depths of cuts on my vertical mill. For example, I recently substituted the equation of a line into the equation of a circle to determine the depth of cut on a 3/8-inch diameter rod to obtain a flat that is 1/4-inch wide. Also, I want to bring my programming skill and knowledge forward from the 1980s, of BASIC, FORTRAN, and Zilog Z80A assembly language.

Previously, I looked into learning a GUI CAD program such as Fusion 360, The learning curve has seemed daunting.

Karl

 

[ggbutcher]

ggbutcher,

After reading your post, I think that OpenSCAD will work well for me. I have been using pencil, paper, geometry, and algebra to determine depths of cuts on my vertical mill. For example, I recently substituted the equation of a line into the equation of a circle to determine the depth of cut on a 3/8-inch diameter rod to obtain a flat that is 1/4-inch wide. Also, I want to bring my programming skill and knowledge forward from the 1980s, of BASIC, FORTRAN, and Zilog Z80A assembly language.

Previously, I looked into learning a GUI CAD program such as Fusion 360, The learning curve has seemed daunting.

Karl

Cool!

Yeah, I too am finding OpenSCAD to be much handier than when I first picked it up to make models for 3D printing.