CAD programs

hq308

hq308

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I've noticed a few of the members here are into CAD drawing and thought it might be good to start a thread about it.

Like a lot of hobby machinists I had zero experience with CAD until recently when I decided to start looking into it. Being that it was only for hobby use I began my search for a good free 2d program about 3 months ago.

I started out trying a product called "Draft Sight" which is from the same company as Solidworks. It's a reasonable product for a complete novice to learn on but IMHO it has it's limitations. Early on I stumbled accross a bug where a feature I really needed didn't work so I went in search of something else that would do what I wanted. I then came across "Solid Edge 2D" which seems to have a much steeper learning curve but is (IMHO) a much more professional package than Draft Sight.

If you're looking for a good free 2d CAD program I highly recommend Solid Edge 2D.

What are other people here using?
 
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I know a lot of guys that use Alibre.

I am quite lucky in that i have access to Solidworks, still learning a lot and not using it often enough to retain anything...
Fun to play around with though!

Andrew
 
I have a degree in "Engineering Computing Graphics", which is a fancy way of saying CAD operator. I've been doing it (mostly as a contractor) for nearly 30 years now. I've learned dozens of systems, many of which don't even exist anymore. I know 2D and 3D systems, with most of my experience coming from Inventor (AutoCAD) and SolidWorks.

Draft Sight is the program that came out of the lawsuit between A-cad and Solidworks. They used to have an A-cad "emulator" that was
nearly identical to the old Autocad 12 (2D). They got sued (and lost), so had to change some things, including the title. Not the best, but very capable. It takes me a lot longer, but I can do most of the stuff I do in 3D in this system. Doublecad and several others are very similar. In my professional opinion, they are all rip-offs of Autocad. One is not a heck of a lot different than any other.

Since I use Solidworks at the office, I have a copy on my home system. I do most of my modeling in 3D, as it's faster and easier than 2D. Not much is out there that I would recommend to home users, as it's either mostly junk, or expensive. I think that Solidworks is about the best overall system, but priced well out of reach of most casual users.
 
Being a designer I have used many CAD programs, and the one I liked the most was Autocad. I have used Medusa, Intergraph (IGES and Microstation) Solidworks and some others, but always came back to Autocad. Since I retired I don't use any for now, but will be using Autocad with Vector and EMC2 for my Sherline CNC. I did like the UNIX versions better than Windows. Autocad seems to be the most common out there.
Paul
 
I've kept mostly to the Rochester, NY area. A couple of years in the Southern tier (Hornell, NY) and around 7 out in the Canadaiguia area. I've worked on everything from subway cars to automotive to optical. I currently do tooling design for an optical/solar company.
 
I have worked in the western PA area, but did field work all over, mainly in steel plants. I did spend a lot of time at USS Gary works, LTV steel in Clev., Ohio and Detroit, MI. I have done design, and built various things for company's like Westinghouse, Alcoa, LLL and US Government. The government was tough to work for because of security clearances, but I first got my clearances in the military so it went easy after that. I hate it when guards follow you with machine guns. A lot of my designs are all over the world and some you might be using also. Some of the stuff I have designed even showed up on the history channel by suprise. I did write a script file in UNIX for the 3 CAD programs to work together, which means bring up and work on any CAD drawing in any one of the 3 programs and add to it in a different program and it worked, surprised me too. I even meet one of the guys that started AUTOCAD and he even bought the beers that night after the meeting.
Paul
 
Solid works modeller here. I was brought up using Autocad but once Solidworks was discovered and a bit of time spent with it, I'll never go back.
After discussions with HQ about solid edge, I thought I'd give it a go. Downloaded the software, held off on the install due to time constraints, received the obligatory phone call from their sales team but hadn;t installed it.
Once I had a spare minute, tried to install but the file was corrupt. Deleted and don't care enough to try again.
 
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I use Alibre. It's got a good bang for the buck factor.

John
 
At work its Autocad 2010, that is where the money is. At home Autocad 2000 because it was free. I do not do much in 3d, mostly 2d with the 3 machines that I use the most.
 
I have been doing CAD back since the 80's when AutoCAD first came out. To be honest I have used so many I can't remember them all. At work I used NX,ProE and CATIA but to be honest I don't use CAD that much at work anymore other than to create training material and write procedures. (Company policy prevents me from using these for home use at any time).

For home I use Rhino3D for organic modeling and Alibre for Mechanical Design or hard modeling. Both have strengths and advantages in different areas.

One thing you will not see me to is trashing a program without giving specific reasons. Why? Because part of my job is also analyzing and making recommendations on different software packages and you have to that with no objections. Sometimes the free packages mentioned are all the features some need.

I know some people who Microsoft Visio or other vector art programs to make 2D drawings.
 
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