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Thread: A Reasonable CAD Program

  1. #1
    Lionelgee is offline YarnMaster Silver Subscriber
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    A Reasonable CAD Program

    Hello All,

    I just brushed off the cobwebs off the box and went to load a copy of TurboCAD Pro 15 onto my 12 month old laptop.

    Hmmm no CD port.

    A closer examination at the box... "for Windows Vista and XP" ... hmmm

    What is a reasonably priced downloadable version of a CAD program that can be used for:

    Landscape and house design, irrigation plans?

    Draw up fabrication plans for projects such as modifications to trailers and construction of things like a mobile tool/work bench trolley?

    Able to talk to a 3D Printer or CNC machines like a lathe or mill drill. Also something that can make sense of input from a scanner too?

    I am a Landscaper, Parks and Gardens by trade and used to use CAD for trade related activities - I would like to learn more about the CNC aspect of things now too. I used to use AutoSketch too.


    Kind regards
    Lionel

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    LibreCAD - Free Open Source 2D CAD


    no idea whether it will do what you want but i have seen it around a bit
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lionelgee View Post
    Hello All,

    Landscape and house design, irrigation plans?

    Draw up fabrication plans for projects such as modifications to trailers and construction of things like a mobile tool/work bench trolley?

    Able to talk to a 3D Printer or CNC machines like a lathe or mill drill. Also something that can make sense of input from a scanner too?

    FreeCAD: Your own 3D parametric modeler

    FreeCAD does not talk directly to 3D/CNC. FreeCAD and most other CAD programs have their work converted through other programs to G Code for use by machines. Some (presumably expensive) CAD apps may wrap all this process up in one program?

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    Sketchup although I'm not sure about scanner input.

    Oh Lionel, do you still have access to an edu email address? If you do then you can access quite a few of them as an educational version without paying up.
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    I use Inkscape, its kind of like a simplified version of Corel Draw and its free. I downloaded it to design display images and menus for Arduino screens and also recently using it to operate a mini cnc mill.
    It can export in various formats. I haven't experienced any issues with it or heavy advertising.

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    Its probably worth mentioning, I export to Easel to interface with the CNC. Cut depths are set in Easel, but i use Inkscape for the patterns. It can probably do 3d, however i have only used in 2d.

    A couple photos of my recent projects:

    Welcome screen on a touch screen interface i am currently making
    20190620_211414.jpg

    CNC radiator fan panel made out of arcylic. This was made on a desk top CNC from China, cost less than $400NZD, well worth it just for learning more about cnc.
    20191231_211421.jpg

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    What CNC mill? Care to share a link?

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    Lionelgee is offline YarnMaster Silver Subscriber
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tombie View Post
    What CNC mill? Care to share a link?
    Hello Tombie,

    It is more of a conversion that someone has done to their machine - not a factory product... Access 19th April 2020 from, YouTube

    Kind regards
    Lionel

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    I haven't tried freeCAD but i tried LibreCAD a few years ago and foubd it frustrating coming from Autocad at work. I'm keen to hear if you try them out which one you like.

    Sketchup is good for house and landscaping plans, though you'll need to buy the pro version to get the ability to easily create dimensioned plans (I think its about $1000 outright or you can pay on a monthly subscription). With some plugins (some paid) you can also get some really nice photrealistic renders from Sketchup. You can use it for 3d printing (not sure about CNC) but Fusion360 is better.

    For 3D printing and CNC Fusion360 is the best i have tried and seen others using. It has a free license for personal use.

    Ive tried Inkscape for vector graphics, and I've used it to create laser cut plywood designs, but its a completely different user experience to any of the other cads. Its seems to be designed primarily for graphics, so creating accurate dimensions and curves is more artistic and I found it hard to create complex objects with accurate dimensions.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lionelgee View Post
    Hello Tombie,

    It is more of a conversion that someone has done to their machine - not a factory product... Access 19th April 2020 from, YouTube

    Kind regards
    Lionel
    Could be wrong, but looks like he has incorporated a TDI300 harmonic balance at 7:50 minutes

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