By trade I was a machinist for 12 years (mostly CNC machining), then became a teacher in a Quebec trade school, teaching mostly CNC machining (using SmartCAM and then MasterCAM). I retired at 69 (at the beginning of Covid). I built a CoreXY 3D printer from parts (build volume 300x300x300), have been 3D printing since then.
I bought a 2nd hand Creality Halot Mage resin printer and have been working on a ventilation system for quite a few months.
I used to teach MasterCAM, but no longer have access to it, Years ago I bought a 3D CAD program called ViaCAD V8 (don’t laugh - works pretty well). Now I’m trying to decide which 3D I want to learn. Sort of leaning towards FreeCAD.
Having fun 3D drawing and 3D printing, retired guy!
I have been using Fusion, there is a free licence it is good for geometric shapes. Welcome!
I use Solid Edge CAD. Professional program that is full featured and “FREE” for hobbyists. You do have to set up an account, like anything else but that gets you in to their forum for help.
Thanks for your responses. A year ago I spent about a week comparing all the 3D CAD programs and what I found was: it wasn’t the drawing functions that each program had or didn’t have but what bugged me was the STUPID licensing! What I was looking for: fully parametric, Free, not Internet based (i.e. I wanted to download the CAD program onto my computer), and be able to use to make a small amount of money. So for a so-called “Free” license some of the programs required (in no particular order, or mentioning any names): you weren’t allowed to make any money all (another said you could only make a $1000/year), one program said all my drawings would be visible to anyone on the Internet, one program said I could only have 10 drawings open at the same time, one program on 2 occasions tried to eliminate the importation/exportation of .STEP files etc, etc. I finally said OK, it seems to narrow down to FreeCAD (even though the interface is a bit weird). To each his/her own I guess.
As for SolidEdge Community Edition, I really wanted to use it, found the interface superb, but you’re not allowed to make even one cent business with it. Bummer. Though I haven’t made one cent with FreeCAD either, just wanted to have that option available. I cannot afford to pay anything for CAD (I’m retired)
Ignorant question - how would they know if you were making money off of final prints or uploaded files? I also went down the same path as @lornetw and fell upon FreeCAD and OpenSCAD. I am nosing around for good tutorials w/ software I can sit down with and go through the program at the same time. May sniff this out myself. Thanks.
E.T. Phone home!
These companies sell CAD to clients, something about making profits or some silly thing, so they really try to make sure you can’t use them for profitable use without paying for it. Solid Edge , as an example, uses a different non-compatible file format for the free version compared to the payed version so it will show up. Plus you can’t send useful files to someone using the payed version. That is the only real difference between them. They also know that hobbyists are not going to buy expensive CAD programs and will just pirate the programs anyway so why not just give it to them. It’s also free advertising and expands the user base. Most of these programs have some kind of limitations varying from a little to a lot. Solid Edge’s free version doesn’t have any, that I have found and has a perpetual license. No strings attached. You can’t beat that.
HISTORICAL NOTE: The reason Autocad became the defacto Standard for CAD back in the 80’s, prehistoric times I know, was because it didn’t have copy protection and was one of the most pirated programs out there. This meant more people knew how to use it at a time when CAD operators where in very short supply. This gave Auodesk a big leap up over all other CAD programs. Engineering companies could get CAD draftsmen and engineers that had some exposure to it when other programs didn’t.
I remember AutoCAD, kind of a smart move on their part, never had time to get involved, now I wish I had. “There is the law, then there’s what’s done.” Kinda like Bill Gates strong arm of IBM - if ya want my software on your new computers, ya gotta load my software on ALL of your PCs. Look where he is today.