I have been using pencil and paper to create designs from day dot.
Are the free CAD programs worth considering, and if so which should I take a look at? I don’t want anything too complicated, but it would be nice to get design perspective, without making a prototype, and have the dimensions fill themselves in without too many calculations.
Mike
Replies
I use CAD software everyday and in an industry that requires the use of software that is not free, and I wouldn't know where to look for free software other than say http://www.tucows.com for Alibre Design Xpress or CadStd Lite neither of which I have tried ...
...but I can say that once you get the knack of drawing something out fully before building it you likely would never do it any other way. By drawing in real or full scale you can see so much more about the finished product. I find the drawing part of the project to be creative and a fun process of discovery
As you have been drawing by hand since day dot there will be a sense of being disconnected from what you are drawing, you will likely want to print it out often and experiment on the paper, it can actually take a lot of CAD work to get past this, many people never do, but for the exact dimensioning alone it should be valuable and as you said - free!
Try DeltaCad. You can download a test copy for free. It is a great program - simple and fun to use and will draw anything you can make.
Thanks for the info will try some of it!!!
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