The CAD thread

[kev211]

Not free, but not horribly priced IIRC, Rhino. With RhinoCAM it exports to CNC, 3D printer, etc flawlessly. I used it almost exclusively in school. Its a NURBS program so its excellent for creating organic shapes like that. Couple Rhino with grasshopper and its unstoppable for organic shapes

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'd look at fusion360 for that. (I have zero onshape experience). The scult tools in fusion are pretty good, and make freeform stuff like that really easy.


I've been using fusion for over a year now for anything personal outside work. Was very skeptical at first, but I hardly miss solidworks anymore. As long as you can get past the cloud aspect it's a fantastic bit of free software.

OIC. I did not realize that Fusion360 was free to use. ALL 3 of the CNC machine I have been coveting recommend Fusion360 and include licensure with purchase. Knowing that it is free to use changes some things for me.

Not free, but not horribly priced IIRC, Rhino. With RhinoCAM it exports to CNC, 3D printer, etc flawlessly. I used it almost exclusively in school. Its a NURBS program so its excellent for creating organic shapes like that. Couple Rhino with grasshopper and its unstoppable for organic shapes

Not horribly priced, no. But a bit too high priced for hobby work. Thank you for the suggestion tho'.

 

[kev211]

OIC. I did not realize that Fusion360 was free to use. ALL 3 of the CNC machine I have been coveting recommend Fusion360 and include licensure with purchase. Knowing that it is free to use changes some things for me.



Not horribly priced, no. But a bit too high priced for hobby work. Thank you for the suggestion tho'.

Looked it up after posting. Ya probably a little high for hobby. I bought my license a while ago so couldnt remember. Any chance you have a Mac? 645 isnt too horrible.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Looked it up after posting. Ya probably a little high for hobby. I bought my license a while ago so couldnt remember. Any chance you have a Mac? 645 isnt too horrible.

Nope. Don't have a MAC. Only way I'd consider going MAC is if CrawlBot opts out of developing for PC. they currently only support MAC and that is the machine I like most for MY interests/budget.

 

[gromitdj]

I don't believe Fusion 360 is free. They have a 30 day trial, but you have to subscribe after that. It is Autodesk after all.

ETA: I do see that they offer it to hobbyists/start-ups for free on a 1-year basis, as long as you make less than $100,000 a year. That's a pretty cool deal.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I don't believe Fusion 360 is free. They have a 30 day trial, but you have to subscribe after that. It is Autodesk after all.

"A free 1-year startup license is also available for hobbyists, enthusiasts, makers, and emerging businesses that make less than US$100,000 in revenue per year. At the end of 1 year, you can reselect the startup entitlement or transition to a commercial entitlement."

 

[gromitdj]

"A free 1-year startup license is also available for hobbyists, enthusiasts, makers, and emerging businesses that make less than US$100,000 in revenue per year. At the end of 1 year, you can reselect the startup entitlement or transition to a commercial entitlement."

I saw that shortly after my response. (hence the edit)

I have access to it at work, but have never tried it. I'll have to give it a go sometime.

It's great that Autodesk is providing that kind of use. In the past, they were not so friendly to the casual user.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I saw that shortly after my response. (hence the edit)

I have access to it at work, but have never tried it. I'll have to give it a go sometime.

It's great that Autodesk is providing that kind of use. In the past, they were not so friendly to the casual user.

Ayup. I started off with AutoCAD products thus they all have a familiarity. But they were all too cost prohibitive for hobby use. Switched over to draftsight for 2D stuff and learned SU for Basic 3D. But the more I do, the more freeform I want to go with designs and SU isn't working for me. It feels like I am pushing it uphill.

 

[cegan09]

Fusion is free for home use, education, and businesses that make less than $100,000/year.

When you install you sign up for a license, pick either hobbyist or educational. It's either a 1 or 3 year license, but you just renew at the end. They have promised it will remain like that forever. If you want to use it at a company it's like $300/year or something silly. The free version is the full 100% version of the software.

I use it at home, as well as at my local makerspace. It's fantastic to have CAD and CAM in one piece of software. I can go from thought, to model, to tool paths, to CNC mill amazingly easily.