Free CAD software for 3D printing

[fractured]

What CAD programs are you folks using to draw items for 3D printing? I used to have access to AutoCAD 2016 for 2D (used 2d AutoCAD for years) and Solidworks 2013 for 3D which I was just starting to learn. Unfortunately I lost access to that about a year ago and not really looked at getting myself set up again as I have been doing other things.

So what is good and what should be avoided. I need the software to be free as I don't use it commercially and don't use it enough to warrant the huge costs for legit copies of CAD, especially now as it seems to be 12 month licenses they sell.

I hope there are some viable options out there as I want to get a 3D printer and start doing a bit with it.

Hope you can help.

ATB

Mick

 

[daedalusminos]

Autodesk Fusion 360

 

[Dr.Al]

The best (by a wide margin) free one I've found is OnShape. However, it's only viable if you don't mind the fact that others could (in theory) get hold of your designs - they're all available online. For most hobbyist applications, that really doesn't matter (in practice no one will ever find them amongst the millions of online projects). It's only likely to be an issue if you later want to patent something or possibly if your plagiarising someone else's work!

Other free options:

• Autodesk Fusion 360: powerful, but bear in mind that you'll have to renew the free licence every year and they have a history of removing features for the free version so you might get stung in the future. It also works a little differently to many other CAD applications so can be a little hard to transition to/from it.
• SolidEdge community edition - no idea what it's like: I haven't tried it, but SolidEdge professional is very good.
• FreeCAD: Not as capable as Fusion or OnShape, but for simple-ish models (those without complex assemblies) it's very powerful and being open source it'll stay free and available for ever. Once you've figured out you need to use the "Part Design" toolbench, it's fairly easy to transition back and forth between FreeCAD and OnShape (or SolidWorks or ZW3D or SolidEdge or...).
• DesignSpark Mechanical: the free version is lacking a lot of (arguably) essential features so I would give it a miss. Also a bit of a quirky interface.
• NanoCAD: not a patch on those above
• SketchUp. Completely different way of working to parametric CAD applications. It suits some people but it's very hard to work parametrically and hence tweaking a dimension on which other stuff depends will result in a huge amount of repeated work. I think the free version is a bit limited, but I don't know the details of what is different.
• OpenSCAD & CADQuery - good if you like programming, not good if you want an interactive GUI. I've used CADQuery a lot when I want to produce lots of similar models as it can be automated easily.

There are plenty of others, but those are probably the most widely used options. SolidWorks now have a "budget" version as well. It's not free, but it's not that expensive and I'd definitely consider that as an option if I hadn't already built up a library of designs drawn in other tools.

 

[ajlelectronics]

Design Spark Mechanical.

 

[clift_d]

Autodesk Fusion 360

This is what I'm using - it seems to be pretty much an industry standard alongside other offerings like Solidworks, but Autodesk also offer the free annual license to hobbyists mentioned by Dr.Al. The learning curve to get to basic shape making is pretty easy if you've used CAD software before, and there are plenty of tutorials available on youtube. Also the hardware requirements don't seem excessive - I'm currently running it on a 10 year old Mac laptop.

 

[mtt.tr]

I like freecad now I'm conversant with it, assemblies are easy now than they have been. I'm currently designing a machine with it

Though SOLIDWORKS is only £90 a year that is £90 for a software that crashes for fun.

Fusion360 is good but I suspect it will become a charged service.

 

[fractured]

I am cautious of using a CAD system that may become chargeable as these companies have a habit of trying to squeeze whatever they feel they can get from you. As we do this for a hobby there are periods of time where I may not use this for months - I can't afford to pay £90 for something I may use for 2 weeks in a year. I also don't want to save something in a file format I can't open with something else.

My primary uses will be 3D printing (considering a Prusa) but also items fabricated using laser cut steel plate (anything up to 12mm).

 

[Onoff]

Etch A Sketch...

 

[RWD3M]

I was introduced to tinkercad, an online package and I've found it really easy to use. You won't be designing the next range of spacecraft on it but it deals with the simple stuff quite well.

 

[fizzy]

My brother uses Blender - which is a 3d modelling prog. He then uses slicer.

 

[Agroshield]

My primary uses will be 3D printing (considering a Prusa) but also items fabricated using laser cut steel plate (anything up to 12mm).

What sort of 3D items in general do you want? Stuff that is 2 1/2D (draw a plan view and extrude it to give it thickness) gives you more options than full-on 3D modelling. Do you want to draw/model individual parts or to make assemblies of more than one part (so you can see how they fit together)?

For the laser cut stuff, would a 2D CAD suffice e.g. LibreCAD, QCAD, Draftsight (DS is not free)?

I know nothing about it, but Blender is good for more organic/artsy stuff and AIUI, there are some add-ins available for more engineering-type work.

 

[Onoff]

Etch A Sketch...

My brother uses Blender - which is a 3d modelling prog. He then uses slicer.

My lad opened his new 3D printer, printed the benchy. Same night he said down and "learnt" Blender, Fusion and Cura plus one other. Batted on about the differences/similarities etc. Quite astounding really. Guess his computer science degree helped as they teach them loads of languages. He's stuck with Fusion and Cura for his stuff.

I keep meaning to learn Fusion but do all my stuff in AutoCAD and send him the .STL to print. Old dog etc...

 

[fizzy]

Etch A Sketch...


My lad opened his new 3D printer, printed the benchy. Same night he said down and "learnt" Blender, Fusion and Cura plus one other. Batted on about the differences/similarities etc. Quite astounding really. Guess his computer science degree helped as they teach them loads of languages. He's stuck with Fusion and Cura for his stuff.

I keep meaning to learn Fusion but do all my stuff in AutoCAD and send him the .STL to print. Old dog etc...

Tell him to try Blender - my brother reckons it's pretty good - and it's free

Download — blender.org

The Freedom to Create.

www.blender.org

 

[ukracer]

Etch A Sketch...

Ignore him...everyone has a forum "nutter" you just met him. Lol

His lad is a dab hand with fusion though.

 

[Dr.Al]

I am cautious of using a CAD system that may become chargeable as these companies have a habit of trying to squeeze whatever they feel they can get from you. As we do this for a hobby there are periods of time where I may not use this for months -

I would definitely steer clear of Fusion in that case - there's every chance they'll start charging or at least limit the features. Also if there are long periods when you don't use it, you'll find you have to re-register for Fusion to get yourself a new licence. It's easy, but it's a bit tedious.

OnShape definitely has the risk that they'll stop offering a free version (although in my opinion the robustness of the history system and the general way it works is worth the risk).

If you really want to play it safe and stick to free stuff, it's definitely worth trying FreeCAD. It gets a lot of development effort and is getting better and better with time.

I can't afford to pay £90 for something I may use for 2 weeks in a year.

That's perfectly understandable.

I also don't want to save something in a file format I can't open with something else.

I can pretty much guarantee that the CAD system you choose will use its own proprietary format and I'd advise against picking one purely because of cross compatibility: it'll severely limit your options.

Instead, get in the habit of exporting your projects as STEP files whenever you reach any "landmark" (e.g. you're about to print it or you're about to give up on it and come back to it in a few months time). STEP files are supported by every 3D CAD system worth the name and are about as editable-in-another-package as any of the options. Most CAD systems that support importing other proprietary formats will import it in a form that doesn't retain the history, so you might as well have just used a STEP file.

PrusaSlicer (the slicer made by the same people as the Prusa printers) supports direct import of STEP files, so you don't even need to export STLs if you use that - just save a STEP and it'll import into prusaslicer or any half-decent CAD package.

My primary uses will be 3D printing (considering a Prusa) but also items fabricated using laser cut steel plate (anything up to 12mm).

Laser cut type fabrication drawings can be done with 2D CAD (e.g. QCAD, LibreCAD etc). Of course they can also be done with 3D CAD, but you'd usually export a DXF rather than a STEP file in that case. I used to do a fair bit of laser cut stuff and I preferred to use OnShape to a 2D CAD system as it had the advantages that come with constrained sketches and only having to learn one style of application.

 

[fractured]

Thanks folks, really useful information!

I have downloaded Libracad as I use Libraoffice and have been happy with it in the past. I can use the Libracad for the basic 2D stuff so at least I have that to let me draw shapes for cutting.

The 3D stuff I would like to do the more complex items as I want to use it for learning to draw in3D too. Really miffed that I have lost the Solidworks 2013 as I was starting to do the online tutorials before I lost it!!

 

[Dr.Al]

I have downloaded Libracad as I use Libraoffice and have been happy with it in the past. I can use the Libracad for the basic 2D stuff so at least I have that to let me draw shapes for cutting.

Just for info, LibreCAD is a completely unrelated project to LibreOffice (except in the similarity of name). LibreOffice is an Office suite that was forked from OpenOffice, which used to be StarOffice. LibreCAD was forked from an old version of QCAD.

I don't use either (although I've used both in the past), but as I understand it, QCAD is quite a long way ahead of LibreCAD. The "professional" licence for QCAD is only about £40 (one off payment) and there's a free version with most of the features you're likely to use.

This is worth a quick read: https://geekthis.net/post/librecad-vs-qcad/

 

[daedalusminos]

Erm so you're learning 2D and 3D CAD packages when you could just use the 3D package for 2D aswell, seems a bit counterintuitive.

It's true, Fusion 360 may not be free in the future, but you can export the models you've created.....why not make the most of it whilst it is free?

Like SOLIDWORKS it's a parametric modelling package which is extremely useful when you need to tweak models for 3D printing.

 

[fractured]

Erm so you're learning 2D and 3D CAD packages when you could just use the 3D package for 2D aswell, seems a bit counterintuitive.

It's true, Fusion 360 may not be free in the future, but you can export the models you've created.....why not make the most of it whilst it is free?

Like SOLIDWORKS it's a parametric modelling package which is extremely useful when you need to tweak models for 3D printing.

No, not learning 2D cad as started using AutoCAD way back in 1995. I started learning at night school on the R12 DOS version before we got the first AutoCAD LT version on Windows 3.1 which I then progressed through until the 2016 version. My learning of the 2D side will be more understanding the user interface and commands for the free version I start to use. This will allow me to open and edit existing drawings I have.

The 3D will be a different thing. I always wanted to use 3D as I could see the huge potential but the people I worked for did not have the vision I had. Working at the time with sheet metal, laser cutters and CNC folders, it was frustrating that they didn't understand its potential and I finished my career with 2D.

However, as I would like a 3D printer then 3D CAD is a must. I have always had a 3D vision with my design and being able to put that in to a 3D drawing program will be interesting - such a pity I lost my Solidworks just as I was starting with it!

 

[fractured]

Just for info, LibreCAD is a completely unrelated project to LibreOffice (except in the similarity of name). LibreOffice is an Office suite that was forked from OpenOffice, which used to be StarOffice. LibreCAD was forked from an old version of QCAD.

I don't use either (although I've used both in the past), but as I understand it, QCAD is quite a long way ahead of LibreCAD. The "professional" licence for QCAD is only about £40 (one off payment) and there's a free version with most of the features you're likely to use.

This is worth a quick read: https://geekthis.net/post/librecad-vs-qcad/

Many thanks for that Dr AI, I appreciate the heads up. Is QCAD easy to find?

As I am just starting out with free CAD I would rather start with the better program. It looks like QCAD will support dwg files more as well, which will be a big plus for me due to having many existing drawings.