I have been a happy user of LibreCAD for a long time but a) they don’t seem to have the resources to develop for Apple Silicon and b) …I would like to branch out into the third dimension !
I started some FreeCAD tutorials on YouTube but it’s not quite hitting the spot. I think that some of that is due to the fact that 3D modelling has it’s own process and ‘language’ and I believe that I could do with a guiding hand.
If anyone here is comfortable enough with FreeCAD to offer some skills-exchange, perhaps spend an hour or two (not necessarily in one session!) to guide me through the process of designing a metal switch panel, that would be marvelous!
To paraphrase Joe Barnard:
May your projects come to closure and may you have a great next project lined up already!
Hanry
I know you’re probably looking for FOSS, but I found FreeCAD to be very buggy, had a lot of non-intuitive workarounds required for pretty basic operations (making a feature/sketch on a computed surface being unstable for example), and had a pretty pretentious online help community. Most people here use either the fusion360 hobby license or more rarely openSCAD
I’ve gone through OpenSCAD, briefly FreeCAD, and now onShape. I liked OpenSCAD because I write software for a living and it felt natural. FreeCAD was overwhelming. onShape was the right balance of easy to use but powerful, they now have a free trial of their CAM studio as well.
I’ve heard that GenAI (ChatGPT and similar) is quite good at helping you through a lot of the CAD solutions, so it could be worth trying that as a learning resource as well.
My experience with freecad was similar. There was a lot of publicity for it last year when they released their 1.0 so I thought I’d give it a go, but I found it unusable and it would regularly crash and lose my changes unless I aggressively saved. It’s a shame because I really wanted to use the parametric/procedural design features.
I usually use Shapr3D, which I get for free with an academic .ac.uk email address. It’s not that cheap if you have to pay for it. It’s very quick and easy to use, but it really annoys me how editing sketches retroactively doesn’t update the 3D body. And it doesn’t have any of the parametric stuff.
I’ve used fusion 360, autodesk inventor, solid edge, free cad and onshape. Inventor was the best but not available for hobbyists, on shape is by far the best free option in my opinion.
Thank you, Max - yes, I would like FOSS to work but I have been around the FOSS houses long enough to know that some things (lack of funds, snow-blind communities, schisms and the lot) never change.
I found LibreCAD so much easier to get on with three years ago when I tried both of them next to each other, so I learnt to live with that, but… it does not understand the third dimension :0)
Thank you, Gareth - I have to admit that I had not come across openSCAD. I would say “I don’t mind about the coding to make it go” but of course I will only know if I try. I will look into it though because I would rather not spend a lot of time working my way into something that is going to frustrate me :0)
I hear a lot about onShape from people like Joe Barnard of BPS.space on YouTube and it looks nice, but while I am learning right now, my 3D modelling uses are a) sporadic and b) ultimately for commercial use… I would be interested to know how much of that workflow and skill is transferable, otherwise I lock myself into an expensive tool… again :0)
That is very kind, thank you!
I will be moving house next week, so I may be a bit busy for April, but I’ll be in touch after Easter and set up a meeting at the space!
