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SillyOldDuffer19/02/2021 13:24:16
10668 forum posts
2415 photos
Posted by Nicholas Wheeler 1 on 19/02/2021 12:37:31:...
... I would suggest that they're a lot easier to understand than those needed for 2D drawing!

Much truth in that! We elder statesmen are prone to believe what we already know is easy and anything new is impossibly difficult. Even when the opposite is true!

Famously difficult for 2D draughtsmen to make the change to 3D CAD, and I think it's because they have to unlearn one complicated design approach before the alternative starts to make sense. Experience is wonderful but it can gets painfully in the way when our poor old brains are asked to tackle new problems.

Despite being 100% metric since leaving school, I am still 5' 11" tall...

Dave

mgnbuk19/02/2021 15:26:59
1394 forum posts
103 photos

If you will want to design parts to 3D print and have no 2D CAD experience, I would go straight to 3D. That way you won't have to "unlearn" the 2D approach before you start on 3D.

I started on a a 2D Cad package that ran on Windows 3.11 - can't recall what it was called, but it used a bespoke tablet and stylus to drive. The company had a couple of upgrades on this. but it seemed to die when Win 98 came along. So a change was made to AutoCad LT. There was no formal training on either - just a couple of hours with a colleague who had worked out the basics and then on to the first job - on the basis of "work it out for yourself" or "when you get stuck, you will know what questions to ask". I largely got there in the end !

Change of employer, to one who who had no CAD. I had a limited requirement & the (recent start up) company had an equally limited budget for such things, so the then free 2D package Draftsight from the makers of Solidworks did all that was required on the available budget and, as a bonus, worked almost exactly like AutoCad LT. Until Draftsight chaged from "totally free of charge" to an "paid annual subscription" model a couple of years ago - with added disabling of existing installations if you didn't pay. I now use NanoCad Free - not quite as capable as Drafsight, but close enough for what I need it for & very similar to use. The free version is not as hobbled as some & I have not yet found a need for the extra features available on the paid for versions.

Then I bought a 3D printer - and with that came the desire to be able design "stuff" to print on it rather than just download other people's "stuff" from Thingiverse. To use the "professional" 3D CAD packages available FOC mentioned here (Solid Edge, Fusion 360) would require the purchase of a substantially upgraded computer, so current PC hardware & available budget pointed to FreeCad.

Which is where the familarity with 2D CAD becomes a liability ! The learning curve is very steep and the method of working is very different to 2D & I found a series of tutorials on YouTube to be very useful in making a start and actually progressing to the point of being able to design & print some simple parts. Though I have a very long way to go to become even vaguely proficiant with FreeCad, I am at least not so intimidated by it now.

A tip for anyone who wants inexpensive access to SolidWorks - join the Experimental Aircraft Association for $40 year. One of the member benefits is access to SolidWorks Education Premium

Nigel B.

Iain Downs19/02/2021 16:08:56
976 forum posts
805 photos

I am an amateur with no CAD background.

I tried quite a bunch of 'free' tools but found the learning curve daunting.

What I've ended up using very happily is an online product called OnShape (OnShape.com) which is relatively easy to learn and use, capable of great sophistication (comparable more or less to the likes of Solidworks and other top end tools) and is free to use.

The drawback is that it's only free if your designs are visible to the public. I don't embarrass easily, so it's OK with me.

My current work in progress steam engine (see https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=139184) is being designed in that, and I can even to animation to see if the parts fit (sadly, the don't do so all the time, but it's easy to sort out!). At the other end I can knock up a toolholder stand in a few minutes, download the STL and print it.

One of the nice things about it being 'online' is that you get updates pretty much weekly without complicated installs. I should say that I've barely touched 10% of what it can do.

OH and they have a decent help forum and documentation

Iain

Calum Galleitch19/02/2021 17:14:22
avatar
195 forum posts
65 photos

I was wondering when someone would mention OnShape! My last experience of CAD software was AutoCad, back in the late 1990s, and I've tried nothing else since, but my experience with OnShape has been very good: it works well, seems bug free, and the documentation is excellent. I was a bit suspicious of having an entire CAD package running in the browser but it feels effortless, and my desktop machine is not that up-to-date, either.

The designs being saved publicly will obviously be offputting to some, but I find it easy enough to make up nonsense names for anything I feel proprietary about!

jaCK Hobson19/02/2021 18:18:26
383 forum posts
101 photos

For my 3D printer I learnt Fusion 360 by following these Youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvrHuaHhqHI&list=PLrZ2zKOtC_-AHebQU73jLvjvihmWQYVmC

They are good and very concise. No fluff. That means you have to concentrate and pause. Not everything will go smoothly but you will learn a lot.

It takes a few days to get through them.

I really love Fusion 360 considering it is free.

Edited By jaCK Hobson on 19/02/2021 18:19:15

Packmule19/02/2021 18:28:39
133 forum posts
6 photos

Wow. Thanks a lot guys. Plenty of info there, time to make a list and have a look at the different programs. As always in you don't know ask, and you didn't disappoint.

Thanks everyone ,now to spend time looking and hopefully learning smiley

IanT19/02/2021 19:33:47
2147 forum posts
222 photos

I'm sure you will find something that suits you Bob - there is no lack of choice.

Regards,

IanT

Ronald Morrison19/02/2021 20:41:22
98 forum posts
4 photos
Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 19/02/2021 10:30:33:

I did a thread called Making a start with FreeCAD a couple of years ago, so it should still all work! It's designed to take a beginner step by step through a number of common 3D processes with practical examples and pictures. As FreeCAD is free, there's no cost if you don't like it! FreeCAD parts can be 3D printed.

Though I find FreeCAD useful I'm not banging the drum for it in particular. Though it's a good introduction to 3D and might do all you need, it's also a stepping stone to one of the more advanced products like Alibre etc. Knowing FreeCAD made it a lot easier for me to understand and appreciate Fusion360.

Dave

FreeCAD also contains a decent "path workbench" that produces the toolpath for CNC. At first I found it as confusing as learning CAD drawing but with some practice it got a lot easier. Now I can go from a design, 3D print it if I wish, or just produce the gcode for a CNC mill.

Steviegtr20/02/2021 00:25:12
avatar
2668 forum posts
352 photos

I was an everyday cad user back some 12 years or so ago. I had a phone call from an associate who taught Autocad at a college. He asked me how to break a circle at a particular spot using commands rather than the mouse. He had been teaching for a long time & had forgot how to do it. That is Autocad. So many commends that you end up forgetting some of them in a short time. I have recently started using it again in my retirement & yes it does take some remembering. Best of luck.

Steve.

Model Enginerd15/04/2021 02:03:05
22 forum posts
1 photos

FreeCAD also contains a decent "path workbench" that produces the toolpath for CNC. At first I found it as confusing as learning CAD drawing but with some practice it got a lot easier. Now I can go from a design, 3D print it if I wish, or just produce the gcode for a CNC mill.

I was unaware of that. Sometimes I can pick up on new tools scrolling through suggestions.

I'm kind of on the other path. I picked up "Principles of Engineering Graphics" to learn how it was done the old school way. I have the big pile of Spitfire drawings and am always amazed at how quickly they got stuff done, even with the stack-up errors and such.

I found that after learning one software, the rest follow a similar path.

Gerhard Novak15/04/2021 14:37:27
avatar
109 forum posts
114 photos

I would like join the "free CAD hymne". I am using QCAD, for the simple reason that a guy who is doing custom laser cutting wanted this format. QCAD is mainly a 2D program, but 3D is possible. I think you need to have a good understanding of 2D before going into a 3rd dimension. The free version has of course some limits, one is for instance printing. It doesn't do a print over multiple pages. But you can print a part of your drawing. A feature which is also not working is the single line detection. If you draw exact (what you shoud do with a CAD software) you will not notice if you went twice over a part as long as you are using the same line width. This is not a problem if you just draw something, but it is a problem for laser cutting. As I said the software was free, but I purchased a book (QCAD - an introduction to computer- aided design by Andrew Mustun). The book is a must to get familiar with the software. It allows using the cursor interactiv but also relative or absolute coordinates and if you are really good you could work from the comand line only... See two examples: The railway station of Brackley - rear view. (You may say there is no railway in Brackley - right, but there was - the Great Central Main Line. The station is still there, just in front of the old Racing Point F1 team building. I built this station in 7mm scale and had all window frames laser cut.)

brackley rear view demo.jpg

A second example is the machine I am currently working on (well, if I do not work for money or upgrade the garden to my wifes likings...smiley).This will be very small, as I used a function to print all on one A4 page. But as said before, you can print whatever section you want in any scale you want. Have fun in learning CAD!

z block demo.jpg

 

Edited By Gerhard Novak on 15/04/2021 14:39:12

Edited By Gerhard Novak on 15/04/2021 14:43:18

Edited By Gerhard Novak on 15/04/2021 14:47:26

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