heartless wrote:

I am still trying to learn Solidworks, and have made a few things in it, but it is far more complicated, lol

Keep at it, soon enough it will become second nature. 

There still lots of functions I don't know how to use, but I can always google it and find an answer.  There are more Solidworks how-to's and tutorials on line than you can shake a stick at.

And it's a good skill to have under your belt if you ever need it.

Oh yeah.. I found some pretty good ones from a professor at a school out east somewhere.. Maryland, I think - learned a fair bit following his videos..

but recently had an unrecoverable system crash, so have to get everything installed all over again.. and trying to locate the files I need.. oh joy.. Solidworks is on a thumbdrive, somewhere around here.. just need to find it and make the time to install it again.

I am still trying to learn Solidworks, and have made a few things in it, but it is far more complicated, lol

Keep at it, soon enough it will become second nature. 

There still lots of functions I don't know how to use, but I can always google it and find an answer.  There are more Solidworks how-to's and tutorials on line than you can shake a stick at.

And it's a good skill to have under your belt if you ever need it.

Thanks
Dale

Just FYI https://all3dp.com/1/best-free-cad-soft … s-design/.  Some basic information about free CAD software. Personally using Onshape and Blender (long ago).

If you had bothered to actually read the thread, the OP does not want to use "cloud based" programs - Onshape IS cloud based.

Please take the time to read through the existing conversation before posting. Thank you.

I use Blender frequently to check, fix, and/or modify existing stl files - for this it is an excellent tool
I have used it a few times to trace & extrude some simple logos for printing as well

But for actual, specific measurement design work, I use other programs - mostly 123D for speed & ease of use. I am still trying to learn Solidworks, and have made a few things in it, but it is far more complicated, lol

I really should take the time to learn DSM a bit more.. it seems it could be a very useful tool.

I went with Fusion 360 (F360) after I took a Udemy course that tough me how to use it in one evening.

I am transitioning to Design Spark Mechanical (DSM) which I believe is just as good and stays on my computer and does not use the cloud. The transition requires lots of googling to find out how Design Spark does some functions differently such as repeat pattern. DSM is not as elegant a F360 but is just as good.

I do not think I would be using Design Spark if not for Vladimer Marinos F360 course on Udemy.

I will always keep F360 for its Thread modeling tool and its CAM module.

F360 only needs to connect to the internet for license verification. It also stores your files and version information to the cloud which in a corporate environment is good. I export all my completed production files to my own computer in STL, OBJ and F360 proprietary format. Internet connection is a deal breaker for me but it is the compromise I have to make for free CAM and Thread Modeling.

Blender is open source and was my hope for years while I was building my CNC equipment. But when I really needed 3DCAD and CAM, I had to drop my ideology and go with what works. I would probably still be screwing around with Blender instead of trying to get my product out the door today. All my trade magazines are filled with adds about the"Internet of Things" and having every piece of equipment connected to the internet. Seems like a great recipe for disaster and IP theft.

Also while fusion 360 is cloud bases it will work off line.  IIrc you do need to log in one a week for whatever reason. Updates ,them monitoring whatever.

I am after something actual software based not browser or cloud based as internet for me is very expensive. It seems that the term software is being applied very loosely in some cases... more cloudware than software.

I know EXACTLY what you mean! I do not like the cloud based stuff either. I live out in the country where internet access is pretty limited.. and often has issues.

123D Design is probably going to be the easiest to learn and is visually not too bad. Would probably be a good option for your son. You can change the color of various parts with a couple of clicks.

I have made some rather complicated parts using 123D and while it is not a "perfect" solution, it is very capable.

Sounds to me like he is after something far more robust than Tinkercad will ever be.

and one should not need to change their mouse settings to use a single program.. that is just silly.
If the program will not work with the common settings used by most people, then the problem is with the program, not the user, or the user's settings.

Yes, I am after something that will allow me to quickly learn and teach my son as he is partially sighted, makes it difficult learning new software, so unless I can make inroads in to teaching him a new skill, he does give up and its often not because of trying, its because of programmers failing to understand that ACCESS ALL AREAS means that some programs fail where others make things like access possible for others.

I am after something actual software based not browser or cloud based as internet for me is very expensive. It seems that the term software is being applied very loosely in some cases... more cloudware than software.

I am really looking at an all in one software not cloud based option, not a fan of cloud based on many levels, primary one being cost, very expensive for me to be online all the time I am using a program. Computers will be making queries and all sorts of traffic activity going on, my system if left on doing nothing will generate an easy Gigabyte of traffic a day if left doing its thing. So I am only online for as long as I need to be.

Really appreciate the assortment of possibilities on offer, a few years ago I don't think that there were even a hundredth the number of choices.

It may take some trying but you can get F360 for free. I do think you have to re register every so often.

I also am learning Design Spark because I do not expect F360 to always be there. It also does its best to keep your work on their cloud. I have no Idea if they respect my Intellectual Property. I do expect to fully transition to Design Spark because it is stand alone on my computer. The only thing F360 has over Design Spark is that is has a stone simple tool for creating usable threads. It also has a  CAM program which is an expensive piece of software. Think of it as a slicer for your milling machine. There are so many tools in F360 I will never have any use for.

I still use my DesignCAD 2D to start off designing any part with critical dimensions or interactions and movements. 3D software can do that but I do not have the time to climb that learning curve especially if the software can be taken away from me at any time. I own my DesignCAD software and do not need to be connected to the internet.

The best thing about F360 is that I learned most of it in one evening.
This Udemy course is worth paying for if you value your time:
https://www.udemy.com/designing-for-3d- … 4/overview
If you poke around the web you can get it for $10. You get discounts regularly on his other lessons.
Vladimir Mariano the teacher has other web sites so just do a search for him.

Spend time go through their online lessons. It takes about one hour, there are video and some keyboard shortcut that can be very handy. I do find some other apps that is more powerful than tinkercad, but never see one that is easier to use than tinkercad.

https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/

The keyboard shortcut list should be able to help you get the view you want. If mouse is too sensitive, change mouse speed in your system settings/control panel. Also try different internet browsers such as google chrome. Also as Carl mentioned, change the size of grid should help you put object wherever you wanted. You can also use the align function after select multiple object then select where you want them align against.

Sounds to me like he is after something far more robust than Tinkercad will ever be.

and one should not need to change their mouse settings to use a single program.. that is just silly.
If the program will not work with the common settings used by most people, then the problem is with the program, not the user, or the user's settings.

Just tried Tinkercad.

Too fiddly, can't get the view I want, mouse moves too sensitive, putting together a basic shape was fine, rendering with holes, impossible, they NEVER lined up where I was putting them, make one minor change, the whole design was all off. Gave up on it.

So, on to the next.

Spend time go through their online lessons. It takes about one hour, there are video and some keyboard shortcut that can be very handy. I do find some other apps that is more powerful than tinkercad, but never see one that is easier to use than tinkercad.

https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/

The keyboard shortcut list should be able to help you get the view you want. If mouse is too sensitive, change mouse speed in your system settings/control panel. Also try different internet browsers such as google chrome. Also as Carl mentioned, change the size of grid should help you put object wherever you wanted. You can also use the align function after select multiple object then select where you want them align against.

Just tried Tinkercad.

Too fiddly, can't get the view I want, mouse moves too sensitive, putting together a basic shape was fine, rendering with holes, impossible, they NEVER lined up where I was putting them, make one minor change, the whole design was all off. Gave up on it.

So, on to the next.

On tinker cad you have to set your grid to .1 or holes will be offset by the default grid value. You also have to make sure curved objects have the maximum 64 faces selected for proper smoothing and rounding. It's the only program I use right now since I don't have my rocket engineers degree that gives me the knowledge needed to use cad packages like free cad or autocad.

Too fiddly, can't get the view I want, mouse moves too sensitive, putting together a basic shape was fine, rendering with holes, impossible, they NEVER lined up where I was putting them, make one minor change, the whole design was all off. Gave up on it.

So, on to the next.