| Gallery, Projects and General > How do I?? |
| Looking for free drawing program |
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| saw:
I have searching for a simple and free drawing program where a can draw a plan and printed dimensions and be able to print it so that it becomes a working drawing in the right scale. Today I am trying to do something with eMachineShop, it's a very nice program but I can't printed dimensions and I can't scale it up for printing. :dremel: |
| kvom:
I can recommend DraftSight |
| BarryG41:
I have found Solid Edge 2D easy to use. I have never done any CAD before and tried about 6 different programs and for me, having done nothing but T square and set squares nearly 60 years ago Solid edge was the best. Must admit I did find the tutorials a but confusing so gave up on them and did my small amount by drawing lines and circles as required Barry G |
| sparky961:
I'm surprised to see myself writing this, but free software isn't always better. I've used many, many software programs to generate vector-based drawings. AutoCAD, CorelDRAW, Sketchup, Draftsight, SmartDraw, Illustrator, and probably a dozen or so that I've forgotten. I realize that most hobbyists don't have access to the high end 3D cad packages that are used in industry these days, but most of the time they are much quicker to use to generate drawings that consist of more than a few lines and arcs. The best thing is that a well designed parametric model (like those made in SolidWorks, Inventor, and the like) can be changed and everything else adjusts accordingly. Say, for example, you have an engine that you've drawn in 2D CAD. The piston is there with the connecting rod inside a cylinder. Now you want to increase the diameter of the piston by 0.010", and the length by 0.125" ..... oh boy, look at all the things that need to be erased, moved, little lines drawn in there to join everything back together, lines trimmed, extended ..... wow, why didn't I just draw the damn thing on paper??? I guarantee after you become capable using a 3d parametric modeling package you'll agree with me. Bear with me for just a second before you start cursing "YES, I KNOW BUT I CAN'T GET OR USE THAT SOFTWARE" and read on. I'm willing to donate a bit of my time and skill to those who would like drawings and/or models made of various things for NON-PROFIT PERSONAL USE. I can work from sketches, good written descriptions, sometimes pictures and I can even guess missing dimensions in some cases. The more information I have to work with though, the better the result. Of course, it would be on a first-come, first-serve basis and my time is limited so you'd need to be patient. Depending on how it goes, I'll have to decide later for how long this offer stands. All I ask in return is that I am given credit where credit is due. For commercial use, we'd have to discuss terms. I've never used the PM system here, so it would be better to email my username here @gmail.com if interested. Samples attached -Sparky (Brian) |
| PatJ:
I have used Autocad for many years, and I like it alot for 2D work, but even the light version now has a heavy price tag. I tried Draftsight recently (a free 2D program) and found it very similar to AutoCad, except that Draftsight is free. If I had to use a 2D program every day for work purposes, then I would say that a self-customized version of Autocad would easily pay for itself in productivity gains. For hobby work, Draftsight is more than capable, the the price of Draftsight is hard to beat for sure. I got into 3D heavily this year, and found it extremely difficult to make the transition from 2D to 3D. Having struggled through it though, I would never go back to 2D unless I needed some quick rudimentary geometric sketches, which are much easier in 2D. 3D is not for the feint of heart, it takes some serious rewiring of brain connections. If you can rewire your brain, then 3D can take you places you never dreamed you could go, like the flywheel below. 2D drafting work is like drawing lines on a piece of paper. 3D modeling is almost exactly like machining, and is not much like drawing at all. Edit: I better add some blinky things so I willl feel like a real madmodder. : ) :nrocks: :nrocks: :nrocks: :nrocks: :nrocks: :ddb: :ddb: |
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