I am looking for 2D or 3D, freeware or low cost woodworking cad software?

[Chris]

I am looking for 2D or 3D, freeware or low cost woodworking cad software so I can design my own wooden toys, clocks, cabinet, furniture, kichen tables and more at a beginner level?

Thanks,

[Sam the Cat]

[Dan White]

Look into QuickCAD. I paid maybe $80 for this a few years ago...don't know what it goes for now. It can do a lot of stuff but there is some learning curve. You can do basic stuff pretty easily though.

dwhite

[Rolling Thunder]

The only free CAD I know about is bCAD by ProPro Group. It is DOS based. An internet search should find it.

I'd suggest Woodworking Project For Everyone as a low cost CAD that is by DesignCAD.

Thunder

[Bob]

went through two 15 day trial periods with it and threw in the towel and I consider myself exceptionally strong in computer applications.

Bob

[John Doe]

Can your QuickCAD dimension an arc? I don't mean degrees, I mean distance along a curved line. Thanks in advance.

[John U]

I you can wait to find someone with a copy to sell (try ebay), I would give a recommendation to an early version of a product from Autodesk called AutoSketch. I have used version 2.1 for over 8 years and love it. I have purchased a later version (6.0??) but it was too powerful and difficult to learn so I only use it to save one of my drawing in a .dxf format to email to someone. I bougth my copy used for about $20.00

Version 2.1 of Autosketch has everything a basic woodworker needs. (if

2D is OK.) It has a couple of basic templates for starting drawings (one is for a shop project) It has very basic tool bars for drawing, editing, measuring, viewing, etc. The basic drawings can easily be set up to draw in inches, feet and inches, metric, etc. I has most of the "special" tools that a beginning CAD user can comprehend and use without a learning curve that takes more time than it saves (snap, trim, extend, curves/radius's, layers, group, break, etc). I even used it at an engineering company I used to work for because I could train the office assistants/typists to make site drawings of properties the engineers were evaluating (it only took an hour or two to get them up to speed).

[skimhoff]

[Charlie Self]

skimhoff posts:

Charlie Self "Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing." Redd Foxx

[Lawrence L'Hote]

I found this list somewhere. Maybe it will help.

Drafting Software:

(Free Demo - Pay) - DeltaCAD

(Free Demo - Pay) - PowerCADD

(Free Demo - Pay) - CADstd

(Free Demo - Pay) - HighDesign

(Free Demo - Pay) - MacDraft

(Free Demo - Pay) - RealCADD

(Click on the CAD radio button)

(Several to choose from)

(Free Demo - Pay) - ideCAD

(Free) - emachineshop

(Free Demo - Pay) - Dexterpen

(Free) - Corus Construction Centre

(Pay) - Ashlar-Vellum

(Pay) ProDesktop 3D

(Free) SmartSketch

(Free) - JustCAD

(Free and Pay) CADSTD

(Free) - FreeCAD

[Phil]

You can pickup an older version of turbocad cheap. I started with their learning edition which was 2d and free. Got pretty proficient with it, just bought version 8 which is also 3d for $20 off the web. The current version is 10.

Phil.

Chris wrote:

[skimhoff]

Oops, sorry. Try this. It was supposed to be a link to an Ebay search for DeltaCad. It's the older 3.1 version but its adequate for beginners and you can't beat the price. No affiliation...

[Korny]

CADstd is easy to learn and they have a freeware version. It is missing a few features, but they can be worked around. Need assistance, e-mail me

[e-mail]

[WoodchuckCanuck]

[CW]

Version 10.5 actually. Yes, the .5 edition did add features.

[tillius]

Last time I looked, Rhino Academic version including Flamingo was about $199.00. If you sign up for local community college woodworking classes, you may be able to get a student ID and qualify for the academic price.

An example of what you can do with Rhino and Flamingo can be found at

took me about an hour to do. It's not hard and the Rhino news groups provide LOTS of help for the beginners.

[tillius]

Actually, the URL for the picture is:

about that.

[Lawrence L'Hote]

Sorry about that.

Went there and the filter looks interesting. An error message appeared above the rendering(see below) but I couldn't find the nudity in your picture :

Query was: SELECT galleryid FROM gallery LEFT JOIN gallerysection ON gallery.sectionid = gallerysection.sectionid WHERE author = 'tillius' AND nudity='N' ORDER BY uploadedon DESC LIMIT 0, ???

[tillius]

Nudity = 'N' means no nudity. :D

I'm going to try that filter, by bubbling the DC output air up through water with various bubble breaking screens in the tank. I'm not really sure how to test it's effectiveness, except by how dirty the water gets and by putting an additional 0.5 micron filter on the tank exhaust and see how fast it gets dirty.

[Lawrence L'Hote]

Some canister vacuum systems for home use water as you may .know. I'm not sure, but you may need to add a surfactant and anti-foaming agent to the reservoir. I can just imagine the mess out the top if all that wood dust accumulates on the water surface and the system starts up.

Larry