Autocad for the faint of heart

[Ed Landau]

Hello: I'm looking for a simple cad package to help me visualize simple wood working projects such as a bookshelf. I'm hoping this will help me see where to put the dadoes and rabbit joints. Can someone suggest a good application? AutoCad seems like overkill.

Thanks for any clues.

-Ed

[Jim Helfer]

QCAd is Free. But, it's 2-D, as far as I can tell. Of course, Paper is

2D, and that worked pretty well for people for several thousand years.

Jim H

[Jonathan]

There's a free software called ProDesktop Express that you can download from

.... It's a 3d modeling tool for parts and assemblies, very powerful, and I'm surprised that it's free (there is a paid version for $1000, but everything you would need is in the free version.)... There's no time limits or anything on it. I've not spent much time in it, but I've gone through some tutorials and they're pretty good. This may not be for the faint of heart, though... I've heard a lot of good things about TurboCad, but never used it. Autocad's not that hard for 2D, though, and there's a lot of resources available. The LT version is a few hundred bucks I think and as far as 2D stuff is just like the full version. Not a good choice for 3d, though.

Jonathan Kendall

[WoodChuck34]

Ed,

Try Deltacad. It's simple to use. I've tried some others but this is easy and quick. It doesn't have all the bells and whisltes but it only costs $45 and you can get a free trial.

Chuck

[Thomas Mitchell]

[Ed Landau]

Thanks Chuck but Delta Cad is only a 2-D CAD tool

UltraCAD. That's the ticket. Cheap.... I've spend 2 hours fiddling with it, and it seems like a great 3-D tool.....and easy to use.

-Ed