CAD software recommendations

[440bbm]

thats awesome that fusion is so user freindly with that stuff. 

my cad experience is a few years old now with solid edge where maybe those versions were you had to find out from the folders and input the correct details for bend radius, similar to solid works. 

scale factor comment was not because of a problem but it simplifies the operators job. much like dimensioning everything in clear format instead of relying on someone to go, ok to get this dimension, i take that from that. when you make someone have to think, let alone calculate something you introduce a fuckup factor. 

 

[igor]

And you can guarantee that if there is any possible way to fuck it up it will be found by someone somewhere.

[Bearded Baldy]

^^^^..... so i fucked it up....

The crowd i am dealing with seem to be ok with the fact i have no idea what i am doing and have sent me a list of measurement requests.

Appreciate all the help so far fellas.

 

[440bbm]

lols it happens! once you get the hang of a few basics of what they do need, the rest is easy. just figureing out how to draw what you actually want made is the harder part haha

[Bearded Baldy]

They must have figured it out roughly enough as a quote turned up in my emails this arvo.

$340 for 6mm mild steel if anyone is curiois for comparison purposes. I assume around $40 is Taupo tax.

 

[440bbm]

Is that cps? My prev dealings with them were pretty decent and good rate.

[Bearded Baldy]

Yeah thats the one. Have been real patient and good to deal with.

Might save some extra pennies and get 2 made. Sell off one to offset the one i keep.

Back on topic. Fusion beats the shit out of freecad.

[Muncie]

I've downloaded Fusion 360 I have no idea what I'm doing....... any recommendations on how to get started? 

[Corbie]

This is a good crash course that covers a bunch of different things.

 

[Willdat?]

14 hours ago, Muncie said:

I've downloaded Fusion 360 I have no idea what I'm doing....... any recommendations on how to get started? 

Self promotion if you find the guy above a bit long winded...

 

[Bearded Baldy]

I tried using the first guy when i started, bastard moves his mouse too fast for me to see what he is clicking etc.

4 hours ago, Willdat? said:

Self promotion if you find the guy above a bit long winded...

Will give this a watch once i get back from holiday cheers

[Willdat?]

20 minutes ago, Bearded Baldy said:

I tried using the first guy when i started, bastard moves his mouse too fast for me to see what he is clicking etc.

Will give this a watch once i get back from holiday cheers

I think I'm not too bad, but probably far from perfect! Let me know if you have specific issues with it and I can make 'em again.

[Bearded Baldy]

Aww man. Mucked around too much and ran out of my free perks of fusion/somehow lost the ability to export drawings.

Since getting a fullsize pc with a decent screen i have found freecad to be quite useable, i still don't have a clue what i am doing, but can at least see all the tabs and buttons now.

I really dont want to have to redraw this plate again, but the only option i can do off fusion is print it out. Which i might do, give the boys at the sheetmetal shop something to laugh at.

[Willdat?]

9 hours ago, Bearded Baldy said:

Aww man. Mucked around too much and ran out of my free perks of fusion/somehow lost the ability to export drawings.

Since getting a fullsize pc with a decent screen i have found freecad to be quite useable, i still don't have a clue what i am doing, but can at least see all the tabs and buttons now.

I really dont want to have to redraw this plate again, but the only option i can do off fusion is print it out. Which i might do, give the boys at the sheetmetal shop something to laugh at.

Tried Onshape?

[Hemi]

Does anyone have experience with solidworks. is that a good one. I see they have a makers licence and its not an awful price for a year. don't feel like spending money on something that's too hard to use though. 
I tried getting fusion after downloading it and never using it and just got mad at trying to get the free one to work.

[ThePog]

9 minutes ago, Hemi said:

Does anyone have experience with solidworks. is that a good one. I see they have a makers licence and its not an awful price for a year. don't feel like spending money on something that's too hard to use though. 
I tried getting fusion after downloading it and never using it and just got mad at trying to get the free one to work.

I have used Solidworks since 1997, so may have a valid opinion....

Its a steep learning curve but extremely capable once you get there. However the cost and licencing stuff is a real arse, ie you pay real money for it, then a licence fee every year, but basically you don't own it and cannot sell the seat without shenanigans.

They have added a lot of capability over the years but to the point where there are so many options and ways to do a thing that shit gets untidy or confusing or unstable, or all of them. And there are a number of quite annoying bugs that cost me time and money and don't seem to ever get resolved.

This year I have transitioned to Onshape, which is in many ways a superior program, if only cos they have culled a lot of SW dross and made it pretty simple and easy to use, plus structurally it is a much better environment for complicated design. The learning curve is shallow for simple stuff, steep for complicated stuff, but very good once you get there. Unfortunately it is cloud based and if the net goes away you can't work. Also the stuff I am working on is so complicated that I often hit Onshape server limits.

But there is a free fully functional version, the limitation being that your stuff is all public unless you pay a sub.

There are a shit ton more vids and tutorials for Onshape vs SW, this is the main blockage to learning a CAD program

I have looked a bit at fusion and fucking hate it, it seems like a toy TBH. This could be decades old bias against the original 2d Autocad though.

 

If you are going to try SW I would just be sailing the high seas with a pegleg, eyepatch and parrot, this will tell you if you can deal with it.

If Onshape just sign up and use the free version to see what its like.

If fusion then lay your hands out on a sturdy bench and get a hefty chap to smash your fingers with a hammer.

[Bearded Baldy]

2 hours ago, Willdat? said:

Tried Onshape?

 

1 hour ago, ThePog said:

...Unfortunately it is cloud based and if the net goes away you can't work.

The net at home is good but i despise cloud based software. Not a technophobe, but in my head there is no cloud, just some other fellas server, which being the paranoid privacy control freak i am, doesn't sit well with me.

I know it is a stupid mindset, but meh.

Plenty of vids about freecad, i just need to spend time with it i think.

[ThePog]

2 minutes ago, Bearded Baldy said:

 

The net at home is good but i despise cloud based software. Not a technophobe, but in my head there is no cloud, just some other fellas server, which being the paranoid privacy control freak i am, doesn't sit well with me.

I know it is a stupid mindset, but meh.

Plenty of vids about freecad, i just need to spend time with it i think.

Na I am 100% with you on this, but IRL the cost benefit ratio works out in favour of onshape. 

But I would be so fucking stoked if I could work locally.

[ThePog]

And bear in mind I am using it over a 4g network.

[Hemi]

Mint Thanks @ThePog this is what I needed to know. 

I got a year sub anyway and will give it a go. whatever the better option I went with the offline one. was in two minds as being able to mess with stuff on any computer/ chrome sounds nice but then realised i can do with tinkercad...and dont sooo.
might still look into onshape.