Does anyone know of a cheap CAD program for designing furniture? And where I can get it? Woodworking is just a hobby to me so if possible I’d like to spent no more than $200. If you know of a program (freeware) I can download off the internet that would be great.
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Replies
Thermwood.com has e-cabinets and alibre design has a free download version. don't know if either is what you are looking for.
ray
Quite often on here, there's recomendations to use Ecabinet for design. I got it and tried to use, not to impressed at first glance.
My question is, does anyone here actually use it on a regular basis?
I got it and used it to design a set of 6 cabinets I was building for someone. It's not totally intuitive!!! It took me several hours to get through it, but I'm a retired computer guy so that may have been a stumbling block! But it worked well for my purposes. I finished my design just before they came out with they came out with the new manual. The design was fairly simple so don't yet know if it is satisfactory for all cabinet design. But, the cut list was complete and accurate. I didn't use it to make any shaped parts. Plan to continue with it until I find a point it doesn't work.
I also downloaded a copy of Alibre Design Express(free). It's a 3-D design program. I haven't had the time to learn it yet and am not sure it does what I want. I think it cost about a $1000 for their paid version, but they frequently run sales for several hundred off.
Don't know if it fits your needs or not. There are several comments about it on knots.
hope this helps
Ray
JMadson.
I use eCabinets most every day. It will draw pretty much anything you can dream up.
It takes some time to learn but is worth it in the end. Not only do you get a drawing, you get an accurate cutlist and bill of materials.
Here is a link to some of my design drawings done using eCabinets.
http://www.kerryfullington.com/cab_design
Kerry
Holy smokes Roscoe... Nice work! I got E Cabinet but got discouraged with making time for the rather steep learning curve and still actually getting work done ;) You've inspired me to take another shot at it...
I'm in awe and inspired.
Did you make any changes to the base system they provide? Did you add materials, surfaces or shapes? If so, how?
thanks,Joe
You have to add all of the materials that you want to use. You create tools to cut edges, flutes, etc. with the Shape Manager. You can also import objects such as carved corbels etc. Make sure you have the latest version and build. There is also a new simplified learning guide available for download or online viewing on the eCabinets website.
Kerry
Holy Smokes is right. I have tried TurboCAD, and have eCabinet though I haven't tried it. I can't draw four intersecting lines in TurboCAD!! Guess I'm stupid; but I never had any cad training. I did order some "instructional videos" with my last TCAD upgrade (Ver 7?) but they were like drivers training for a blind man.
When using CAD do you draw the pieces in three dimensions (ie l, w, h) or do you use a single line to represent the edge of a board that has thickness? Also what about joinery, is that drawn in (dovetails, biscuits)?
Thanks for the link and nice work.
...the ecabinets program is on my list of things to learn...I can see it's well worth the effort. Thanks for the inspiration...
silver
I did 2D & 3D CAD work in aerospace for over 10 years using 2 different softwares and have used a 2D program at home. I recently purchased DesignCAD V.15. Despite my experience, or maybe because of it, I have been unable to do anything with DCAD. It is totally foreign to my CAD & drafting logic. My home-based 2D program is Generic CADD. It ran on early PCs using MS-DOS. It runs very well on Windows 95. I suppose to run it, any Windows version must include DOS, which the latest don't.Autocad bought out Generic then dropped all support for CADD. (A most effective way to beat out competition.) That was years ago. I don't know the legality of sharing such software or buying it used. But, if you can find it, give it a try. If you are a decent draftsman you should be able to make drawings with it without ever opening a manual.Cadiddlehopper
Roscoe...
I've spent all day today tryinggggggg to get the basics of ecabinet. I always thought I was reasonably intelligent but this has got me bouncing off the walls. Did you really learn it from their "manuals"? Maybe it's me but they seem almost totally worthless. Trying hard not to give up on it...
PaulB
I agree. I gave up on the manual a while ago.
So how are you learning? I've spent hours trying to attach a piece of face molding to the edge of a partition...I can't be this dense (can I?)
Everybody, I've been using CAD/CAM systems for a little over 25 years. I'm a CAD/CAM analyst in my day job for a little aircraft company here in Seattle. I support hundreds of users and I can appreciate your frustration with CAD systems. Bottom line, the more CAPABLE the system is, the HARDER it is to learn. I wish I had some magic solution, but the reality is they ARE hard to learn, especially if they are worth learning! Took me two years to learn my first CAD system, and I didn't think I would EVER get it, I absolutely HATED it. After I did finally get comfortable with it, I couldn't figure out why it was so hard. LOL. and I got very good with it. Seriously though, it was hard becasue there was many ways to do everything and figuring out just one way to do anything took time. So hang in there, it's worth the time and effort. After you figure it out, you will have a very valuable tool to use for design and it will greatly enhance your ability to design furniture, cabinets, your cabin, whatever. You'll be able to whip stuff up in no time, and being able to output a cut list or a 'bill of materials' is why you go to all this trouble to learn the system. So when you get frustrated, remember, it's not you, it IS hard. But it's worth doing. Good luck.
Jumpman
I am not new to computers, but I am new to CAD/CAM. Is there a low cost, easier to learn product available for a home craftsman. I do not have an interest in the "industrial" type products that are common in the aerospace or die design world.
Thanks for your comments,
Craig1to6
Check out deltacad.com. I love this program. Very easy to use and very inexpensive. Have used it to make drawings for a complete kitchen reno as well as many pieces of furniture.
I use DesignCAD from IMSI. I bought an older version from NothingButSoftware.com for about $20. The software works just fine and I have designed several pieces using it.
I just got DesignCAD 3D MAX V16 and so far so good. I have never used cad before so I ordered the "kit" that included designCAD, 3D macros and the training CD. $149.00.
Can't remember which issue but last year FWW ran an article on software and DesignCAD won hands down...
I use the older V14 and IMSI keeps calling up, asking me to upgrade. I figure I won't until I upgrade my hardware. V14 works OK, though there are a few things that drive me crazy that might be fixed in V16.
My experience with DCAD is get to know the keyboard shortcuts ] . , m and v to speed up work considerably. I can DCAD out parts of a cabinet as fast as I could draw them using these commands!Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
I'm in the learning curve and think I will make a cheat sheet with the short cuts and the CAD terminology. Have you ever seen one or have any suggestions??
I've picked up CADD jargon over the years, so I don't know where to point you. I would suggest that you check out the introductory chapters in the manual, as such chapters tend to go over some of the program nuances.
The shortcuts you can learn either from checking the commands in the manual, or noticing the keyboard shortcut that is shown next to the menu item. But like I said, ] ' . v and also : are ones that I use lots. You'll develop your own favorites with time and use.Recommending the use of "Hide Signatures" option under "My Preferences" since 2005
Thanks, I have put your's on the list and will just keep adding as I learn..
There is an extensive set of TurboCad tutorials at http://www.textualcreations.ca. Don't be afraid to make a donation if you find them helpful.
Edited 2/17/2006 7:58 pm ET by DonStephan
Tried the link but it will not open???
My apologies for including the wrong extension. I corrected the original listing above.
Try SketchUp (http://www.SketchUp.com). There is an 8 hour trial period, which is a bit short but I bought it well within that time - it is just so easy to use, and not too pricey either.
Since you didn't say I assume you are using Windows. For Mac users there is a free program called Cadintosh. A google search on cad turns up a lot of sources.
I've used an old version of TurboCAD for years with good results. It appears that you can shop around and find older versions for very low cost that would be perfectly fine for straitforward 2D furniture design.
Another CAD for Mac is "Design Intuition", it runs on Windows as well. It's billed as "woodworking" software. You can download a free trial, I've downloaded it but have little time to get into it. Has anyone has used this? If so, I'd be interested in your thoughts.
The address is: http://www.gizmolab.com/software/index.html
Edited 2/16/2006 6:44 pm ET by pqken
I've been happy with the 2-D CAD program from Microspot - MacDraft and PCDraft. I've been using MacDraft for blueprints for my new shop, furniture designs, and even yard planning. The personal edition (PE) is fairly inexpensive and gives me all I need without the cost of the professional edition.
I use cadstd light. it is a free cad program that you can download in about 2 min. it took me all of about an hour to figure out how to use and now i can draft out my projects in about an hour. you can get it at http://www.cadstd.com
I am just learning CAD and seem to be in the same position as you are. I have down-loaded a free program from Google called SketchUp. It is an incredibly simple to use 3-D CAD with on-line video teaching tool. I have tried and abandoned other programs as being too complex for some of the simple things I need. In SketchUp you can set the scale easily and play with the drawings all you want. In the end you can even up-load your drawings to a public forum and borrow other's drawings.
Sketchup isn't a CAD program. It's more of a design visualization tool. In Sketchup's own words...
"It's our view that while traditional CAD software is necessary for developing detailed drawings, it's simply too complex for most conceptual design work."
I've just started using Sketchup, and find it a bit awkward but maybe thats because it's new for me. Still can't figure out how to add joinery easily once I've got the "outsides" looking good. For example, someone posted a dovetailed piece here recently, darned if I know how they did that!
Still I've found it useful. I'm making a pair of clocks for presents, and easily got the overall look done, with proportions I like. I'm not trying to put the joinery in, though, I'm just manually adding to lengths for my cutlist as I transcribe off the screen.
What I'd really like is to be able to design the appearance with something like Sketchup, then easily "cut in" the joinery. So if I've got a horizontal piece butted against a vertical piece, I could just click loose tenon or tenon or dado or stopped dado, and the program would adjust the two pieces. Then, if life was perfect, I'd be able to drag off the two pieces (and all the other pieces that made up the project), and virtually "assemble" them right onscreen. That would help us newbies who are nervous we'll mill up pieces that can't go together; a virtual dry run assembly would bring that to light.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
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