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Topic starter
I’ve been looking into free 3D CAD packages as a front end to my workflow for 3D printing.
It appears now that Fusion 360 is no longer free. In the last few days I’ve found a package called FreeCAD. It’s open source software that will run on both Mac and Windows.
There are lots of training videos on YouTube. However, it does seem to present a very steep learning curve.
Does anybody know about it and use it? If so what do you think about it?
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Posted : February 21, 2023 9:43 pm
It appears now that Fusion 360 is no longer free
Not too sure that is correct! As long as it is for personal use only then it is still free:
Posted : February 21, 2023 10:59 pm
I’ve been looking into free 3D CAD packages as a front end to my workflow for 3D printing.
It appears now that Fusion 360 is no longer free. In the last few days I’ve found a package called FreeCAD. It’s open source software that will run on both Mac and Windows.
There are lots of training videos on YouTube. However, it does seem to present a very steep learning curve.
Does anybody know about it and use it? If so what do you think about it?
.
Barry
Fusion 360 is very popular, I am not sure what the latest status of Fusion is, but at some stage I have the feeling that the rug will get pulled, the real big bonus if Fusion is available is that it can produce toolpaths for CNC work.
Solidedge Community Edition is a very serious 3D package but has no CAM (CNC tool paths) so is worth looking at if you do not require CNC tool paths for a router or mill. It would be very suitable for producing 3D STL files for feeding into a slicer such as Cura or Simplify 3D. The link below takes you to the FOC community edition.
Siemens Digital Industries Software Online Store
I don't know anything about Freecad.
Most 3D CAD has a pretty steep learning curve !!
Success is the aggregation of marginal gains. Dave Brailsford CBE
Posted : February 22, 2023 12:14 am
DesignSpark Mechanical from RS (Radiospares) is free and according to them will always be so. It is based on the Spaceclaim CAD software. It works well but may not have all the bells and whistles of some packages or indeed of the lastest version of Spaceclaim. An example is the lack of a direct mirror function but there are lots if ways around this, they are just more time consuming. I have managed to successfully produce any drawings I have needed for aeromodelling using it.
This post was modified 1 year ago 2 times by Michael Edgerton
Posted : February 22, 2023 7:58 pm
BMFAAdministrator reacted
@ch3no2 Hello Michael
Would you be able to post a few sample models to the forum, Design Spark may well be a good option for some members and it would be nice to see some models produced with it.
I will ask Andy if it is OK for us to link out to free CAD software and also free trial software.
Regards
Barrie
Success is the aggregation of marginal gains. Dave Brailsford CBE
Posted : February 22, 2023 8:21 pm
@pylonuk Hi Barrie, I have put some examples in the Share Your CAD Files topic. Regards, Mike
Posted : February 22, 2023 11:06 pm
I will ask Andy if it is OK for us to link out to free CAD software and also free trial software.RegardsBarrieYes no problem
Posted : February 22, 2023 11:08 pm
Barrie Lever reacted
Topic starter
Thanks to all of you who replied to my post.
Since sending in my post on Tuesday evening, I’ve started ‘climbing’ the very steep learning curve to master FreeCad. It does look a very capable package.
So I’ll continue for a while to see if I can master it. If I decide it’s not for me I’ll have a look again at some of the other packages I found.
The 3D printer I’ve been looking at is the Ender-3 S1 Pro which is on offer at the moment for £360. It has been given several good reviews.
Anyway, thanks again for the feedback.
Posted : February 23, 2023 8:23 pm