Free/inexpensive CAD programs

[n00blike]

Wanted to post info about free/inexpensive CAD programs out there in no particular order. Please share your experience with these or other CAD software.

1. Fusion360 (Autodesk Fusion for personal use) - This is what I use for personal projects. I have tried a few others but keep coming back to this.
   
   
   - If you are coming from Solidworks or Creo the workflow can seem a bit wonky at first, but their sketch tool offers great tools to make things like slots and other shapes easy.
   - It offers free cloud storage, so if you have multiple computers you don't have to juggle with a flash drive. Note: only a few files can be in an editable state at a time. But it's easy to change old files to read only mode
   - It can do some STL editing. The paid version is supposed to be better at editing STLs. This is only needed if you only have the STL version. Some people like to edit STLs they download.
   - Version control
   
2. Tinker CAD - Not my cup of tea, but might be yours!
   
   - Make objects out of simple shapes
   - Browser based CAD
   - Simple to use
   
   
3. OnShape - I have been meaning to try this out. A lot of people seem to like it.
   
   - Collaboratively work on CAD projects
   - Version Control
   - Browser based CAD
   - Cloud Storage
   
   
4. OpenSCAD
   
   - If you are into programming or math this CAD is for you. This CAD lets you use formulas to make shapes.
   - Some of the projects I have seen made by this look extremely complicated
   
   
5. FreeCAD
   
   - I have not tried this

Here is a video with some more info on free CAD software

 

[Icetech]

Have a buddy that uses freecad for 3d printing designs... loves it and it's not a steep learning curve.

 

[Tsully]

I use Fusion 360! Yes there is a bit of a learning curve…once you get the basics you can pretty much start your project without any issues!

The free version only lets you create and edit 10 projects at a time… if you want to do more than that… you need to mark your file as a read only and toggle them off and on as needed.

If you get stumped… just go to YouTube!

There’s a ton of info on there… so much that it will make your head hurt…

 

[RattyBarracuda]

Sololidworks for makers. If you're going to use it a lot its only $50/year.

 

[gzig5]

I started with FreeCad but have transitioned to the free version of Fusion. I feel Fusion is more intuitive for me than FreeCad but I think they each have some features over each other that a more accomplished user could leverage. Both have lots of how-to videos but I think there are probably more Fusion users out there in industry. I started on AutoCad about 35 years ago but never really used it as a developer. I could really use a CAD class to become more efficient and will be looking at the local community college classes next year.

 

[Cuda416]

If all you need is 2D drawings, all of those are overkill. They are all great but overkill.

LibreCad (formerly "qcad") is a free and open source 2D cad program that I've used for a couple decades and works well for most things. Works on multiple platforms too.

 

[furrystump]

I use Onshape, very happy with it. I just wish it was easier to modify scanned mesh file in it.

 

[Cuda416]

I use Onshape, very happy with it. I just wish it was easier to modify scanned mesh file in it.

MeshMixer will do what you need to a mesh