Does anyone have experience with freecad? I'm looking for a program to teach myself CAD and be able to draw up a bolt design to have it milled. Will this program do the trick?
Printable View
Does anyone have experience with freecad? I'm looking for a program to teach myself CAD and be able to draw up a bolt design to have it milled. Will this program do the trick?
It will but not very well. if you send the bolt or dimensions. I will model the part and give you detailed print
Reviving this thread - has anyone used it recently?
At work we're setting up a 3D printer for a 'Makerspace' area - Problem is that CAD licenses are individually controlled and of course expensive. Looking into FreeCAD for this use.
Use case being simple things for personal projects and lab jigs - sensor mounts etc.
I've used FreeCAD for making models to print. Latest one being holder for 2mm thick piece of lexan to protect GoPro Hero Sessions lens/front glass from paintballs.
It does its job ok, but probably misses some of the features and ease of use compared to commercial CAD programs.
Have you already looked into Fusion 360? I haven't used it myself, but I hear a lot of good things about it.
Fusion 360 is great for personal/startup use. I've used it a couple times at home, works great. However, my company isn't really small and couldn't get away with using Fusion360 free. Getting a recurring license for something like this is kind of out of the question at the moment.
Oh, gotcha. Sorry, I missed the "at work" part.
new ion, I am an amateur CAD guy, but some days I want to be a real one, especially as I am a 3D printer owner. So over the years I dabbled with it. Also I always want to see where open source/free software stuff stands and help improve it out if I can, so every once in a while I check out stuff like FreeCAD and try to learn it a little more each time. FreeCAD seems alright to me for what you are talking about.
I find myself doing fine with Blender for making many things though. Despite the fact it is a 3D animation package, more and more people are using for 3D printing work and developing plug-ins to help adapt it to that use. Blender does fine for me stock though. Mind you I use it to do what you would consider simple items.