Just go ahead and use AutoCAD?

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grievousangel

Active member
Joined
Oct 4, 2017
Messages
39
Location
Statesboro, Georgia
Just go ahead and use AutoCAD? Or .... ?

What if CNC XYZ table is in my future?

Should I use diff CAD systems if CNC apps, console structure design and electrical /electronics are needed? I would think AutoCAD is better choice but cost and learning curve does matter!  Honestly, the learning curve is most important as long as cost is reasonable for private projects (at this point).

Maybe best to farm out to ones who are in the DIY design and machining from a business viewpoint?

Cheers,
GrievousAngelProductions
Billy
 
grievousangel said:
Should I use diff CAD systems if CNC apps, console structure design and electrical /electronics are needed? I would think AutoCAD is better choice but cost and learning curve does matter!

Cheers,
GrievousAngelProductions
Billy
Whatever you choose, the biggest cost you will face is learning curve. If you do PCB layout, the next biggest cost is in building your own parts library (and no matter how big the library the software comes with, you will spend a lot of time  building library parts).
For 2D drafting there are lots of alternatives the AutoCad - QCAD is he one I use. For PCB layout there are plenty of free or open source programs that are very capable.

Cheers

Ian
 
What exactly do you want to do? Generally, there's no one-size-fits-all CAD program. I've seen AutoCAD used for PCB layout, but I wouldn't suggest using it for that for many reasons. It doesn't have all the annotation and tying back to a schematic that a dedicated PCB package has. I have an AutoCAD-compatible program I used for 2D drawings. It does 3D, but I've heard AutoCAD is hard (even harder) to use for 3D, and other pprograms are more popular for 3D stuff.

Recently I've been playing with easyeda.com for schematic/PCB, it does appear easier than many/most other programs, but I keep running into bugs.

There's Openscad, sort of an object description language, that I've used for things to be 3d printed.
 
For drawing 2D parts I use CorelDraw, and 3D parts I use Solidworks.
For designing PCBs, I use KiCAD.
For my CNC laser machines, I use cncKad.
 
Rochey said:
use Fusion 360. it's free for small companies and awesome.

Isn't it only free for 1 year for small companies?

Not sure if the license agreement is clearer now, but that's what I remeber reading. I hope I'm wrong! ;D  ;D
 
I decided to do my own 3D design for a plastic injection molded part.  3D software was cheap (around $100 IIRC) compared to what the same capability cost a couple decades ago.

As Ian noted there will be a learning curve. If you can't design with pencil and paper, a computer will not magically make it easy, but it will support a cleaner output, that can be transferred to another vendor for fabrication.

If you have a vendor in mind for the finished product, perhaps contact them and ask what CAD file formats they support, before you buy cad software and start designing.

JR
 
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