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best CAD app for industrial machining/molding?
hi.

i want to design complex shapes, and then
send them to some manufacturers. so my
drawings need to be very accurate, and
compatible with the manufacturers.

plus, it would be nice to have the ability
of being able to test how structurally
strong my design is. e.g. how well it
supports loads, and where are the pressured
points, etc.

a piece of extra information in case it helps:
my 1st project has to do with car parts.

thoughts on what to use? should i use
autocad? else? how should i think? any
tips?

notes:

- i'm on linux.
- i'm not a very RMS-moral person.

rgrds,
cm.
Re: best CAD app for industrial machining/molding? [ In reply to ]
Have a look at FreeCAD. Not the best cad app in the world,
but imho it reached the point when it can be quite usable.

Jarry

On 19-Apr-21 4:47, caveman ??? ????? ??? wrote:
> hi.
>
> i want to design complex shapes, and then
> send them to some manufacturers. so my
> drawings need to be very accurate, and
> compatible with the manufacturers.
>
> plus, it would be nice to have the ability
> of being able to test how structurally
> strong my design is. e.g. how well it
> supports loads, and where are the pressured
> points, etc.
>
> a piece of extra information in case it helps:
> my 1st project has to do with car parts.
>
> thoughts on what to use? should i use
> autocad? else? how should i think? any
> tips?
>
> notes:
>
> - i'm on linux.
> - i'm not a very RMS-moral person.
>
> rgrds,
> cm.
>


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Re: best CAD app for industrial machining/molding? [ In reply to ]
On Sun, Apr 18, 2021, at 9:47 PM, caveman ??? ????? ??? wrote:
> hi.
>
> i want to design complex shapes, and then
> send them to some manufacturers. so my
> drawings need to be very accurate, and
> compatible with the manufacturers.
>
> plus, it would be nice to have the ability
> of being able to test how structurally
> strong my design is. e.g. how well it
> supports loads, and where are the pressured
> points, etc.
>
> thoughts on what to use? should i use
> autocad? else? how should i think? any
> tips?
>

As the other poster has suggested, FreeCAD can *technically*
do all of these things. But the biggest issue with it is that its constraint
engine is not as advanced (by way of heuristics) as that of Autodesk
or Solidworks. Practically what this means is if you change a base feature
FreeCAD will give you gibberish instead of what might make sense in
context.

If you are a hobbyist, and are not very RMS-inclined, then just using
a subscription to Fusion 360 will be fine. It is what a lot of hobbyists
use. In fact, even if I were RMS-inclined, I'd probably use Fusion 360
for prototyping and *then* put the design into FreeCAD.

Fusion 360 will do stress analysis for free, I think. The other CFD
analyses are paid, and can run upwards of $13k/yr, so in case you need
them it would be worth it to use FreeCAD.
Re: best CAD app for industrial machining/molding? [ In reply to ]
Technically Blender can do everything (i feel like this sentence needs no context).

But Blender is also hard to learn and might be overkill. If you arent also interested in Cinematic Scene Design or the thousand other things blender can do

??????? Original Message ???????
Am Montag, 19. April 2021 05:40 schrieb Sid Spry <sid@aeam.us>:

> On Sun, Apr 18, 2021, at 9:47 PM, caveman ??? ????? ??? wrote:
>

> > hi.
> > i want to design complex shapes, and then
> > send them to some manufacturers. so my
> > drawings need to be very accurate, and
> > compatible with the manufacturers.
> > plus, it would be nice to have the ability
> > of being able to test how structurally
> > strong my design is. e.g. how well it
> > supports loads, and where are the pressured
> > points, etc.
> > thoughts on what to use? should i use
> > autocad? else? how should i think? any
> > tips?
>

> As the other poster has suggested, FreeCAD cantechnically
> do all of these things. But the biggest issue with it is that its constraint
> engine is not as advanced (by way of heuristics) as that of Autodesk
> or Solidworks. Practically what this means is if you change a base feature
> FreeCAD will give you gibberish instead of what might make sense in
> context.
>

> If you are a hobbyist, and are not very RMS-inclined, then just using
> a subscription to Fusion 360 will be fine. It is what a lot of hobbyists
> use. In fact, even if I were RMS-inclined, I'd probably use Fusion 360
> for prototyping and then put the design into FreeCAD.
>

> Fusion 360 will do stress analysis for free, I think. The other CFD
> analyses are paid, and can run upwards of $13k/yr, so in case you need
> them it would be worth it to use FreeCAD.
Re: best CAD app for industrial machining/molding? [ In reply to ]
Technically Blender can do everything (i feel like this sentence needs no context).

But Blender is also hard to learn and might be overkill. If you arent also interested in Cinematic Scene Design or the thousand other things blender can do

??????? Original Message ???????
Am Montag, 19. April 2021 05:40 schrieb Sid Spry <sid@aeam.us>:

> On Sun, Apr 18, 2021, at 9:47 PM, caveman ??? ????? ??? wrote:
>

> > hi.
> > i want to design complex shapes, and then
> > send them to some manufacturers. so my
> > drawings need to be very accurate, and
> > compatible with the manufacturers.
> > plus, it would be nice to have the ability
> > of being able to test how structurally
> > strong my design is. e.g. how well it
> > supports loads, and where are the pressured
> > points, etc.
> > thoughts on what to use? should i use
> > autocad? else? how should i think? any
> > tips?
>

> As the other poster has suggested, FreeCAD cantechnically
> do all of these things. But the biggest issue with it is that its constraint
> engine is not as advanced (by way of heuristics) as that of Autodesk
> or Solidworks. Practically what this means is if you change a base feature
> FreeCAD will give you gibberish instead of what might make sense in
> context.
>

> If you are a hobbyist, and are not very RMS-inclined, then just using
> a subscription to Fusion 360 will be fine. It is what a lot of hobbyists
> use. In fact, even if I were RMS-inclined, I'd probably use Fusion 360
> for prototyping and then put the design into FreeCAD.
>

> Fusion 360 will do stress analysis for free, I think. The other CFD
> analyses are paid, and can run upwards of $13k/yr, so in case you need
> them it would be worth it to use FreeCAD.
Re: best CAD app for industrial machining/molding? [ In reply to ]
thoughts on onshape.com?

rgrds,
cm.

??????? Original Message ???????
On Monday, 19 April 2021 03:40, Sid Spry <sid@aeam.us> wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 18, 2021, at 9:47 PM, caveman ??? ????? ??? wrote:
>
> > hi.
> > i want to design complex shapes, and then
> > send them to some manufacturers. so my
> > drawings need to be very accurate, and
> > compatible with the manufacturers.
> > plus, it would be nice to have the ability
> > of being able to test how structurally
> > strong my design is. e.g. how well it
> > supports loads, and where are the pressured
> > points, etc.
> > thoughts on what to use? should i use
> > autocad? else? how should i think? any
> > tips?
>
> As the other poster has suggested, FreeCAD cantechnically
> do all of these things. But the biggest issue with it is that its constraint
> engine is not as advanced (by way of heuristics) as that of Autodesk
> or Solidworks. Practically what this means is if you change a base feature
> FreeCAD will give you gibberish instead of what might make sense in
> context.
>
> If you are a hobbyist, and are not very RMS-inclined, then just using
> a subscription to Fusion 360 will be fine. It is what a lot of hobbyists
> use. In fact, even if I were RMS-inclined, I'd probably use Fusion 360
> for prototyping and then put the design into FreeCAD.
>
> Fusion 360 will do stress analysis for free, I think. The other CFD
> analyses are paid, and can run upwards of $13k/yr, so in case you need
> them it would be worth it to use FreeCAD.