What Do You Use To Draw/design Projects?

Other than cost what are some of the differences between SolidWorks and Fusion 360? From reading some other articles online it seems that Fusion has a simplified user interface making it more user friendly to those who aren't SW gurus in the commercial world. From others experience does Fusion stack up against SW as far as features, power, versatility, etc? Or is Fusion just a viable option due to the expense of a SW license? I have access to SW and have a fair amount of experience with the program. Not sure how much longer my access will be as it is through a college VPN that I have to log in to. Feeling out if I should break up with SW and move to using Fusion?

The biggest difference is the cost. I bought a SolidWorks seat because I had been using it for 8 years, was fairly proficient with it, and it fit well with my CAM and Tormach CNC. Fusion wasn't available at the time or I would have gone that route. My SW is 2012 and it is already obsolete in regard with interfacing with the outside world. $1400 a year to keep it current is out of the question for a hobbyist.

I also have Fusion loaded although I haven't done much with it yet. My intent is to put some time into learning it this winter. They approach parametric modelling in a different fashion and it well take some exposure time to get used to it.

From what I have seen, the two are fairly well equivalent as to their capabilities. Fusion has CAM built into it which is nice. Their rendering is also great. SolidWorks handles rendering well as well but you have to have the Professional version at an additional cost of around $2K. Fusion also has the sculpting feature which could be useful. It is relatively painful to do anything like that in SW. Fusion is also always up to date with the latest version. Fusion uses cloud based storage of files which can be inconvenient although you can store files locally. It does allow you to access your files from any computer or smart phone provided you have the software loaded and it allows you to share your work with others.

If I were doing it from scratch, I would definitely go the Fusion route. I have directly asked their reps on a number of occasions if there was any intent to eliminate the free access for hobbyists, startups, etc. in the future and their answer was unequivocally no. If the intent is to use it commercially for businesses with more than $100K in anual revenue, the monthly subscription fee is modest. As I recall it was $60/mo. on a month by month basis and $30/mo. if you buy a year at a time. If you buy it a month at a time, you only have to pay for the months you actually use it.
 
If cost is the driving factor then the 360 route seems the obvious way to go. I cannot comment on 360 because I have not used it. however unless I'm mistaken 360 is essentially based on/is the Inventor software possibly repackaged to work cloud based. I used Inventor from its original release back in the mid 90's until 2005/6 at which point I converted our entire Engineering staff over to SW. BEST move we ever made. In spite of having 10 years +/- with both SW and Inventor, there will be folks who will disagree with me. Totally respect that because It's a personal thing I believe on what people prefer and get used to. It was tough the first 2-3 months getting used to something new.
I'll give but one example of something horrible (again my opinion) in Inventor and that is PROJECT files. , .ipj file structure, etc. What a complete boondoggle. If you like the look of a cherry tree in the model history upon opening an assembly then .ipj system is for you! Works great if evrything is perfect and no files have been moved, renamed, deleted cuz that never happens right? LOL
 
What I use most for less complicated projects is just my brain. If it gets more involved, I add a pencil and notepad. If I need to show someone else before I start, I might use vellum, t-square, compass, and clear plastic triangles along with real drafting pencils. I was once a architecture student, so I know how and have the tools, that was in a time well before CAD or CAM was around, at least at my level. I have tried multiple times to get going on CAD programs but find I can usually get the project done before I can get the CAD drawing done... I find none of this limiting in any way, but then I am only making things for my own pleasure. Maybe someday.
 
What I use most for less complicated projects is just my brain. If it gets more involved, I add a pencil and notepad. If I need to show someone else before I start, I might use vellum, t-square, compass, and clear plastic triangles along with real drafting pencils. I was once a architecture student, so I know how and have the tools, that was in a time well before CAD or CAM was around, at least at my level. I have tried multiple times to get going on CAD programs but find I can usually get the project done before I can get the CAD drawing done... I find none of this limiting in any way, but then I am only making things for my own pleasure. Maybe someday.
Or, maybe not?
 
I am from the other side of the coin. Have never used SW and have never worked in an environment where CAD was used although I have messed around with the likes of TurboCad, etc. When Fusion 360 came out, I was probably one of the first to sign up for it. I really like the interface and find the capabilities of the program to be exceptional. The Fusion 360 team is updating the program quite frequently and are VERY open to suggestions from the user community. Did I mention that I really like the interface?!
Now, I may be starting a part time job and the boss (really, just a great friend of mine) wants me to learn SW. So, I downloaded SW for my own personal use at home, which is available from the EAA for the price of the membership fee. I find the SW interface to be cumbersome at best. I would like to say that maybe SW has more power to do complicated instructions, but I really don't know.
If you look at YouTube videos and search for "NYC CNC", that guy uses Fusion 360 exclusively and has a lot of help videos posted. His personality is awesome too, that is a plus.
Fusion's native file is *.f3d. It will work with *.ipt, *.iam and *.dwg files. You can easily export *.STL files also for sending to a 3D printer for example. It has HSM toolpath baked into it, so that is a huge plus.
If I was starting a new business I would use 360. Paying Solidwork's exhorbinant fees just seems crazy to me.
 
I'm starting to learn Unigraphics; my wife is a designer and we have a copy of UG at home. I've used PowerPoint, graph paper and pencil, and a free CAD/CAM package called TechNe CAD/CAM.

You can't beat the cost of paper and pencil and a calculator to do the trig when necessary. However, hand calculations take time. The free TechNe program is a case of you get what you pay for. It works, but my biggest gripe is it lacks dimensioning. There may be a later version with that feature. You can manual select items to find the locations, but each feature has to be selected to get their centers.

UG will go much faster once my wife walks me through the "sketcher" part of the program. Extremely powerful design tool; should be for an initial licensing fee of something like $10K!

Bruce
 
What I use most for less complicated projects is just my brain. If it gets more involved, I add a pencil and notepad. If I need to show someone else before I start, I might use vellum, t-square, compass, and clear plastic triangles along with real drafting pencils. I was once a architecture student, so I know how and have the tools, that was in a time well before CAD or CAM was around, at least at my level. I have tried multiple times to get going on CAD programs but find I can usually get the project done before I can get the CAD drawing done... I find none of this limiting in any way, but then I am only making things for my own pleasure. Maybe someday.


I have been working on a special machine design for a client to be able to test toilet paper dispensers. As usual I started by sketching concepts on used envelopes or other sources of paper like bar napkins etc. when away from my office. Once I had the basic concept I used copy paper to close in on configuration design using sketches of components that I'll be using. After I feel confident with the design I verify the design on Autocad Inventor 2012. For working drawings I sketch parts from the Cad layouts and head to the shop. Being ancient permits me to design things even if the power goes out.
 
Solidworks costs $40 for the hobbyist utilizing the student/educational version.

Join the EAA and there is a link to download SW for free ( except for the cost of the EAA membership).
 
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