Somewhat OT: mechanical drawing software?

[Walter Harley]

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter

 

[Roy Battell]

In article <cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65>, Walter Harley
<walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> writes

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter


Vutrax PCB CAD has a reasonable 2D technical drawing repertoire

in Metric and/or Imperial with dimensioning, radiusing etc.
It can output DXF. You can introduce text in any Truetype Font
you have on Windows or import them to Linux.
You would need to go though the basic tutorial (but not
library building etc.) to get the hang of it.
It's free up to 256 pins, but such limits don't apply to
2D drawing without component tags and pads.

You can download the whole thing (about 10MB) from

http://www.vutrax.co.uk (Main UK site)
http://www.protonique.com/vutrax (Central Europe Mirror)

Available for PC based LINUX (Red hat, SuSE, etc)
and Windows 95, 98, NT 3.51 & 4.0,2000, ME & XP
--
Roy Battell.
To use this address remove the digits included to remove Spam ...
Mail: Roy Battell <news@vutrax666.co.uk>

 

[Leon Heller]

"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65...

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and
so
forth.

IntelliCAD is very good:

http://www.cadopia.com

The free demo will probably do everything you want. It isn't very expensive
if you want to buy it, but you can use the demo as long as you like.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller

 

[Tony Williams]

In article <cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65>,
Walter Harley <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote:

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical
drawings, of things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's.
Been using Visio, because it's what I have at hand, but it's just
awful when it comes to getting accurate dimensions, trying to
make precise radiused corners, and so forth.

I use ProCAD+ by David Snell and there is a Windows
version called wProCAD+. For a free demo goto.......

<http://www.zynet.co.uk/dsnell>

--
Tony Williams.

 

[Frank Bemelman]

"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> schreef in bericht
news:cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65...

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and
so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without
too
much pain.

Autosketch. Easy to learn, just install it and start drawing. Cheap too,
hundred bucks or so. Has DXF import/export.

--
Thanks, Frank.
(remove 'x' and 'invalid' when replying by email)

 

[Ken Moffett]

Walter Harley wrote:

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter

I've used AutoSketch from AutoDesk, the AutoCad company, for several
years. It doesen't have the power of AutoCad, but then again it only
costs $99 for version 8 (I started out on V2). It does have the accuracy
and a lot of nice features.

 

[Martin Riddle]

CMS INtellicad $200
A great Acad knock off, full 2d, not sure about the 3d tho.

"Walter Harley" <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message news:cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65...

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter

 

[Frank Bemelman]

"Ken Smith" <kensmith@violet.rahul.net> schreef in bericht
news:cb4msd$j91$4@blue.rahul.net...

In article <40d5664c$0$79702$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Frank Bemelman <f.bemelmanx@planet.invalid.nl> wrote:
[.....]
Autosketch. Easy to learn, just install it and start drawing. Cheap too,
hundred bucks or so. Has DXF import/export.

I tried AutoSketch a couple of years ago. It is awful.

It's okay for simple work, and meets the OP's budget of $200.

--
Thanks, Frank.
(remove 'x' and 'invalid' when replying by email)

 

[John Jardine]

Walter Harley <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65...

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and
so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without
too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter


DesignCad express. Cheap. Very effective. Been using DesignCad for years not

only for mechanical drawings but for those general, publication quality
drawings that go down well at meetings etc.

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <cb36es$6hi$0@216.39.172.65>,
Walter Harley <walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> wrote:

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

I suggest Turbo CAD for $99. It is fairly straight forward to use but a
bit clunky.

QCAD is free so you may want to look at it too. QCADs user interface was
obviously written by a fan of adventure games. If you are trying it
remember you have to into something then into something then back out and
back out to get to make it happen. When you have given it enough
information to do what you want done it adds the option to the context you
started in not where you are now.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <40d53207$0$283$cc9e4d1f@news-text.dial.pipex.com>,
Leon Heller <leon_heller@hotmail.com> wrote:
[....]

IntelliCAD is very good:

http://www.cadopia.com

It is *way* more powerful and easy to use than Turbo CAD but about 2x the
price.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <40d5664c$0$79702$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Frank Bemelman <f.bemelmanx@planet.invalid.nl> wrote:
[.....]

Autosketch. Easy to learn, just install it and start drawing. Cheap too,
hundred bucks or so. Has DXF import/export.

I tried AutoSketch a couple of years ago. It is awful.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <HXhBc.7865$bs4.3207@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
Martin Riddle <martinriddle@hotmail.com> wrote:

CMS INtellicad $200
A great Acad knock off, full 2d, not sure about the 3d tho.

Intellicad does do 3d.

Unlike thinks like solid edge etc. it doesn't make realistic pictures
automatically and allow rotations etc. It does allow a 3d wire frame to
be viewed rotated but it can't hide hidden surfaces.

At least I couldn't figure out how to automatically hide them.

--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge

 

[Chris Carlen]

Walter Harley wrote:

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter

Seems no one mentioned Varicad, which runs on Linux. I checked it out
but the interface was so different from AutoCAD which I know that I
decided I could afford the time to learn another program, as much as I
want to be doing my mechanicals on Linux.

There is Qcad, which someone mentioned.

Pro-E or whatever it is called, was supposed to be porting to Linux.
They have some free 2D package which might also run on Linux.

Good day!


--
_____________________
Christopher R. Carlen
crobc@earthlink.net
Suse 8.1 Linux 2.4.19

 

[Chris Carlen]

Chris Carlen wrote:

Walter Harley wrote:

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners,
and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,
- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),
- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D
without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter



Seems no one mentioned Varicad, which runs on Linux. I checked it out
but the interface was so different from AutoCAD which I know that I
decided I could afford the time to learn another program, as much as I
want to be doing my mechanicals on Linux.

There is Qcad, which someone mentioned.

Pro-E or whatever it is called, was supposed to be porting to Linux.
They have some free 2D package which might also run on Linux.

Good day!

Also check this out:

http://www.tech-edv.co.at/lunix/CADlinks.html



--
_____________________
Christopher R. Carlen
crobc@earthlink.net
Suse 8.1 Linux 2.4.19

 

[Mike]

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 18:57:01 +0000 (UTC), Ken Smith wrote:

QCAD is free so you may want to look at it too. QCADs user interface was
obviously written by a fan of adventure games. ...

When it starts up, does it open a window that says, "YOU ARE STANDING AT
THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING. AROUND YOU IS A FOREST. A
SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND DOWN A GULLY" ?

-- Mike --

 

[Carl Ijames]

This question comes up on rec.crafts.metalworking about as often as the
"what should I use to layout pcbs?" comes up here. A little time on
google should give lots of info.

--
Regards,
Carl Ijames carl.ijames at verizon.net

 

[RoyalHeart]

Walter Harley wrote:

I need to get something halfway decent to make mechanical drawings, of
things like chassis, faceplates, assemblies, PCB's. Been using Visio,
because it's what I have at hand, but it's just awful when it comes to
getting accurate dimensions, trying to make precise radiused corners, and so
forth.

AutoCAD costs a gazillion dollars, and I don't really want software that
needs user groups and two-day seminars to learn how to use anyway.

Can anyone recommend something simple that:
- costs < $200, preferably free,

QuickCAD from Autodesk. I purchased the latest version, V8, from my
local Staples (office supply store) for US $49.95. Very easy to use
(IMHO) and has an accuracy of something like 0.00000001 inch (or mm),
give or take a right-hand zero or two.

- runs on Windows (or maybe Linux, but Mac is not gonna happen),

The version I have runs on Windows. I think it is also available for
Linux. Not sure.

- ideally, can save in a format that others can read, such as .DXF?

QuickCAD can import and export DXF format files.

I don't need 3-D, although that might be nice; just accurate 2-D without too
much pain.

Thanks,
-walter

QuickCAD will also do 3D, if you need that.

--

RoyalHeart

A thoughtful pause, then resumes the prince, "Thou hast to learn from
Yesterday, live for Today, and look forward to Tomorrow, for The Past is
The Present, and no less The Future."

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 21:47:24 -0400, the renowned RoyalHeart
<royalheartREMOVE@barnwellscREMOVE.com> wrote:

QuickCAD from Autodesk. I purchased the latest version, V8, from my
local Staples (office supply store) for US $49.95. Very easy to use
(IMHO) and has an accuracy of something like 0.00000001 inch (or mm),
give or take a right-hand zero or two.

I had occasion to check an analytical solution of intersection of a
line with an an arc with the drawn version on a CAD program and found
a rather large error (a good fraction of a thou in a few inches)
compared to the (correct) analytical solution. So, depending on your
construction methods, the CAD programs may not yield nearly as high
accuracy as their resolution.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

 

[Ken Smith]

In article <40d5eaf8$0$35784$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Frank Bemelman <f.bemelmanx@planet.invalid.nl> wrote:

"Ken Smith" <kensmith@violet.rahul.net> schreef in bericht
news:cb4msd$j91$4@blue.rahul.net...
In article <40d5664c$0$79702$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com>,
Frank Bemelman <f.bemelmanx@planet.invalid.nl> wrote:
[.....]
Autosketch. Easy to learn, just install it and start drawing. Cheap too,
hundred bucks or so. Has DXF import/export.

I tried AutoSketch a couple of years ago. It is awful.

It's okay for simple work, and meets the OP's budget of $200.

Its awful awful awful nasty nasty nasty, their manual is poorly arranged
and their dog's ugly too.


--
--
kensmith@rahul.net forging knowledge