CAD Software What CAD Program do You Design With

[DRAGON64]

For the designers out there; what CAD software do you use (freeware, company provided software does not matter), to produce your designs?

I am fortunate enough to have access to SolidWorks full-time, but I have been exploring other means for design; maybe post up some useful featured programs available?

 

[Locksmith]

Fusion 360
Not as powerful as solid works but arguably very close and they offer a startup/hobby license for free.
You can also change the controls in the settings to mirror solidworks so your transition would be much easier

 

[lakeroadster]

Neat idea for a thread. Well Played

My CAD Monkey tool of choice is AutoCAD Inventor...

I've been using AutoCAD software since the 1980's. I used Solidworks for a couple years... but prefer Inventor.

 

[cwbullet]

Tinker cad

 

[Ben Martin]

Inventor

 

[Cl(VII)]

Fusion 360

 

[dr wogz]

Creo 3 - PTC

I've gone thru the Autodesk suite as well, since the mid 90's: started on AutoCAD 9, then using the AME extension, them Mechanical Desktop (all versions) then onto Inventor, and finally, for the past 6 years, Pro-E / Creo.. We are due for the upgrade to Creo 5 soon..

Truth be told, I do like Inventor better. Easy, simple, well thought out. Creo is a bear, but extremely powerful!

 

[woferry]

OpenSCAD all the way. The only other programs I'd played with were SkecthUp and FreeCAD, but I'm a programmer by day, and really preferred being able to define my objects in code rather than having to draw anything. And I don't know how other programs work, but the constraint mechanism in FreeCAD totally drove me up the wall, if I had to make any changes to the lower-level objects things built on top of it would blow up in really unexpected ways.

And I've built up quite a library of very configurable pieces that make cranking out custom electronics bays quite easy, as well as drilling jigs and the like. And between OpenSCAD to make the .STLs, Cura to make the .GCODEs and octocmd to relay data to my OctoPi setup, all of which can be run from the command-line, I can simply run a 'make' command from a terminal window and in seconds to minutes later my printer is off and running. And all of my data is in a GIT repo for source control.

 

[jderimig]

Inventor at home as long as my son gets it free as a student.

 

[beeblebrox]

I still use an ancient version of Anvil1000MD. It is relatively simple but extremely hard to print anything, not compatible with ANY hardware I can find, I can only do print screen and then screw with graphics afterwards, loosing detail. If anyone can let me know of something with a short learning curve...let me know. I don't need complex, don't need 3d, just ability to do basic engineering drawings. I have tried a few opensource ones, and found them to be extremely tedious at best to use. one false move and the entire drawing is toast. sometimes I resort to the old pencil and paper method...

 

[K'Tesh]

OpenRocket

 

[BackSeatBryce]

Hey Dragon,
I've been using OnShape (https://www.onshape.com/). It's not very powerful, but it's all cloud-based, so you can run it on a smartphone or an old computer. I find the interface easy to use and intuitive. It also operates like Google Docs - It's constantly saving to the cloud, so you never have to save your work, and you can always revert to an earlier state of the model. It's worth checking out, anyways.

-Bryce

 

[mccordmw]

I'm looking at some CNC machines. I suppose I'll choose my software based on what software works best with that system. Otherwise, I use FreeCAD.

 

[Nytrunner]

I'm fortunate to have been able to retain a copy of Solidworks from my days as a research student

 

[djkingsley]

I use Rhino for my 3d printing and VCarve Pro cnc router (VCarve reads Rhino 3dm files). I also wrote a Rhino plugin that reads an OpenRocket file and generates the Rhino 3d parts for me.

 

[mpitfield]

I am new to CAD and after a brief play with SketchUp and an attempt at Open SCAD I am currently using TinkerCAD for 3D. It is basic but surprisingly flexible, although I am seeing the limits and considering Fusion360. For 2D on the CNC router I am using LibreCAD.

 

[Nacho]

Fusion360 here
~Nacho

 

[Leo]

Autodesk 123D Design but it's no longer available.

 

[dhbarr]

Dassault DraftSight. Caveat: I'm terrible at CAD, hardly more than marginally proficient.

 

[Rocket86]

but the constraint mechanism in FreeCAD totally drove me up the wall, if I had to make any changes to the lower-level objects things built on top of it would blow up in really unexpected ways.

I use FreeCAD but agree totally on the constraints. I'm used to CatiaV5 and find the constraints difficult to work with. I think I will try Fusion360.

 

[DRAGON64]

Dassault DraftSight. Caveat: I'm terrible at CAD, hardly more than marginally proficient.

I have used DraftSight for a couple projects, but it just makes me wish I had AutoCAD.

 

[manixFan]

I use OpenSCAD but I’m learning Solid Edge. It’s similar to Solid Works. Really more than I need but I have a friends and family license. I like the flexibility that comes from OpenSCAD but my math skills hold me back.

Tony

 

[REK]

I use AutoDesk Inventor

I used to be a Fusion360 user, but found Inventor to be more managable in terms of organizing components.

 

[jmuck78]

Neat idea for a thread. Well Played

My CAD Monkey tool of choice is AutoCAD Inventor...

I've been using AutoCAD software since the 1980's. I used Solidworks for a couple years... but prefer Inventor.

View attachment 371678 View attachment 371679

I'm sorry, it's getting hard to type with all of my drool on the keyboard. Love the lifting rocket.

 

[caveduck]

OnShape, for now at least. Tour de force in what you can do with a web interface, continually improving, accessible from anywhere, and free for personal use. Probably will add Fusion360 and/or Inventor to the skillset pretty soon. Just finished planning out a project to CNC convert a PM-30MV mill so I'll be doing a lot more 3D design pretty soon.

 

[vcp]

This would be a good place to remind folks that the Solidworks educational version is available to military veterans for an annual cost of $20. Must show a copy of DD214, but easy to do. Includes Canadian veterans and active duty too. I've just got to sit down sometime and start to learn the thing.

 

[vcp]

Aside from needing to learn Solidworks, I've been using OpenSCAD for a while now...


1515-98mm conformal rail guide

 

[jlabrasca]

Fusion 360 for CAD/CAM


My workflow also includes Maya and Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape, and not a little pencil on cross-section paper.

 

[kramer714]

Rhino..

 

[gwh]

Fusion 360.
I find it to be much easier to just draw move components then in Inventor where I joints/constraints tend to take over and consume my life force.
Will open up AutoCAD occasionally for laying out DXF's on the laser cutter.