Looking for a CAD program

What's your budget/application? For pro use, I would highly recommend SolidWorks, but at around $5k it's not really a home user type app.

SW is very intuitive. It is also very easy to go back and make changes. Since it is feature based, one can make an edit and it will replicate down through the tree and make all relating changes for you.

For a home/personal use, I can't make much a recommendation. Several here have lauded TurboCad. I have heard Alibre is pretty good too. I believe Alibre has a downloadable demo.

JW

My preferred CAD package is Design Cad 3000 published by Upperspace Corp. Maybe because I am used to it I find it easy to use. It does what I need (and a whole lot more) and is affordable at about, I believe, $100.

I also use MasterCam for CAD/CAM application but at 12K it is a bit steep.

Errol Groff

Instructor, Machine Tool Department

H.H. Ellis Technical High School

643 Upper Maple Street Dantieson, CT 06239

New England Model Engineering Society

Hi, James, try

I love mine and they even have an evaluation program that you might qualify for.

Lewis.

************ James Holbrook wrote:

drawings

Any of the Parametric Technology type programs (Pro Engineer, SolidWorks, etc...) are the best at making changes in the middle of the design process.... and YES they cost ALOT.

TurboCad does this function using the stretch command. I've used TC for a number of years and find it a good bang for the buck.

DesignCad 3DMax has the ability to select an object and scale it up and down in size. You can also scale it up and down in the X & Y axis separately. Handy for resizing doors and other rectangular objects. I've used it and its predecessors since 1990 and find it about as useful and easily learned as any.

I've used SolidEdge and found it fairly easy to use and to make changes. It's constraint based, so when you change one thing, everything that would depend on that dimension changes with it (assuming you constrained everything properly to begin with, which I have messed up. doh). However, I was using a free (compliments of GA Tech) educational version- I'm sure the real version isn't cheap. And I never modeled anything that was actually built/machined, so I don't know for sure that it is useful in that area. I only used it for a design class.

I would recommend taking a look at Alibre Design

Fully parametric 3D CAD for less that $1,000 per seat. I see lots of suggestions for SolidWorks and SolidEdge but I think you'll find that Alibre does almost everything they do for a small fraction of the price.

I used to be a diehard AutoCAD user but Alibre completely blows AC away for

3D solid modeling.

Robert

I've been using Alibre for a little over a year and would agree that it's a terrific program. Easily one of the best software purchases I've made in the past 5 years. Never could get the hang of DesignCad or IntelliCAD but I was pretty productive after just a week or so with the downloadable tutorials.

Mike

if you are willing to run linux there are several cad programs available for free. the one of the best cad programs is brl-cad. developed by the ballastic research laboratory it is now an open-source project hosted on sourceforge.net.

another cad program is qcad. it is free. debian linux distribution includes it. more information on qcad is at

information on debian is at

I'm glad to hear that it is easier to get. They used it where I used to work (an Army R&D lab) but it was a bit of a pain to get as an individual at that time -- especially with a slow feed thrown into the game.

I'm downloading it as I type, now.

Looking at it, it seems that it can be compiled for almost any modern unix. I've got both Solaris and OpenBSD running here, so I'll have to compile it twice.

Thanks, DoN.

yes i remember the old way of obtaining brl-cad.

i have it running on debian sarge with linux-2.6.10 kernel. it works extremely well.

compiles cleanly.

you are welcome.

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 22:21:45 GMT, Errol Groff vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Now DesignCad 3d 15 Max Plus (or whatever other crap they stack on that name! ), by IMSI (who bought out UpperSpace AFAICS)

I also like this package. I tried it from cold, and had no trouble.

Interestingly I tried a Rhino demo a few years back. IT was horrible. I think Rhino was new then, but boy, based on that demo I have no idea how they survived!

Yup. Down to around US$60 from some places. But only sell in the US :-<

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:52:56 -0600, James Holbrook vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

DesignCad 3d. Tried it. Liked it. Bought it. I was comparing it to DeltaCad, a 2D package that seesm to be acknowledged as the easist CAD package ever. It has just started languishing, because I was able to suss DesignCad 3d so well.

You can alter the dimensions of any object, in any x,y,z, direction, and reference it from any point, so it only stretches from that point, not both ways etc etc. If the object already has a dimension on it, select the dimension as well, and it will also readjust.

Excellent support and a good forum.

I tried Turbo Cad, and found just _Selecting_ was weird. It may have changed.

I also tried Rhino years back, and hated it.

I think you need patience. You are possibly too tied up with Rhino's ways. I have struck that even when a company brings out a new version of the same programme.

As I said, for me there is good documentation, support and a forum.

I tried Pro/Desktop when PTC had free downloads of it. The parametric approach as well as the simulation of mechanical assemblies helped me to easily design a steering linkage. I was impressed.

Alibre is interesting, and the price seems decent for the features. Does it do similar mechanical assemblies that you can move?

"Siggy" wrote: | I would recommend taking a look at Alibre Design

| Fully parametric 3D CAD for less that $1,000 per seat. I see lots of | suggestions for SolidWorks and SolidEdge but I think you'll find that Alibre | does almost everything they do for a small fraction of the price. | | I used to be a diehard AutoCAD user but Alibre completely blows AC away for | 3D solid modeling. | | Robert | | "James Holbrook" wrote in message | news:gJxLd.6829$HZ.4768@okepread07... | > Hi, | > Just getting started in metalworking and looking for some ideas on a CAD | > program. | > I've used the CAD that came with eMachineShop and Rhino and like both of | > them as they seem to be pretty logical in creating drawings. | > I've tried TurboCAD, PowerCAD, CadStd, 3D MAX Plus, BobCAD-CAM, 3DS MAX 7 ...

I think that full mechanical simulation requires buying the Expert version of Alibre, which includes MSC.visualNastran Motion as an add-in. This is a link to Alibre's short description of what it does and there are a few simulations that can be viewed on-line:

I have the Pro version ($1300) and the Expert version is $1,800. I'd love to play with the simulations but can't justify the expense for a hobby. The regular and Pro versions will let you set up constraints that will move one part in an assembly when another is moved or rotated but that's a static operation.

Mike

Mike - I don't understand why you say that AD/AD Pro constraints are a static operation? Are you just referring to the fact that it isn't a hands off operation? I have models of steam engines that I have built that are fully functional - all the valves slide, crank turns, pistons move up and down, etc. I can click in the crankshaft, and using the rotate part command watch my electronic engine run all day long if I wish. To be sure, for dynamic analysis of that motion you need the other module but you can "run" your models with the base package.

Robert

Robert,

Sorry - that wasn't a very good explanation and I may be using the wrong terminology. Let me try again using an example from a recent project, a model of Jerry Howell's V-Twin model engine, which has two pistons oriented

90 degrees apart from each other. In Alibre Standard or Pro the connecting rods and pistons can be constrained so that they have the proper orientation with respect to the crankshaft but are free to move up and down along their respective axes. If the crankshaft is rotated within the model the pistons will move up and down along their axes as they would in the working engine but the model can only show one particular position of the crankshaft and pistons at one time and that's what I meant by a static display. With Alibre Expert it would be possible to animate the rotation of the crankshaft and the resulting movement of the pistons. I assume that the animation can be saved as an external file that others can view, but am not positive since I dont have the expert version.

Clear as mud, right?

Mike