r/cad

▲ 12 r/cad

Any reasonably priced and powerful programs with full compatibility?

I use CAD very seldomly and not really for profit. For my personal projects, Fusion360 has been ok. I can make a model, convert it to .step and send it to JLCCNC and they can cut or cnc my parts.

But I also use it for work, maybe once or twice a year. We commission shops to do laser cutting or section rolling. Currently I have to sketch on a pad what I want and then explain over the phone. Its very frustrating and confusing. I've tried several times to build simple .dxf files that I can send them but with no luck. Fusion360 heavily locks down its files in free version and nobody can make sense of them. Solidworks for Makers at $60/year SEEMS to do the same but I haven't tried it yet. I was going to but did some research and looks like I'll have the same issue. Onshape is too hard to use for me and not at all intuitive. I've heard the same about FreeCAD and NanoCAD. Any suggestions? I'm not advanced and need something easy to use that I can send to shops.

reddit.com
u/Sick_Poor_And_Stupid — 6 days ago