Good software for designing 3D prints?

[Sven]

I know we have some 3D printer people in our group, so I thought I'd pick your brains.  

I have been using Google Sketchup Make (after my Pro trial ended) to design and modify 3D models for 3D printing.  It works pretty well, but some others like Autodesk Fusion360 appear to be a lot nicer when it comes to quickly making modifications and pulling/pushing corners in and our while maintaining the structure.  

I've played with some mesh-based software which is great for "sculpting" 3D objects, but not so great for non-art parts.  Have also played a little with designing in Blender, but the learning curve is a bit steep (although, I'd love to hear if you recommend Blender).  

So what do you use?  What do you recommend?  Ideally, I'm looking for something free or at least something that doesn't require a monthly subscription.  Autodesk Fusion360, for example, has a $25 per month cost (with a year-long subscription).  I'd prefer paying $300 once than having to pay $300 every year...

Cheers,

Sven 

[David Vogler]

Hi Sven!

I do most of my work in Tinkercad (https://www.tinkercad.com/), which is free, but also restricted to only working online since it's cloud based.

I have been wanting to make the transition to Blender but as you said, the learning curve is steep.

FreeCAD (https://www.freecadweb.org/) is another option. I don't have much experience with it, but Brad may be able to give you more information.

I haven't looked at any of the non-free options yet. 

Hope this helps!

[Scott Kovaleski]

I use FreeCAD for just about everything and it works pretty well, though I haven’t used as many of the for pay options out there. Brad Collette is *THE* FreeCAD dude.

Scott

scott.k...@gmail.com

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Columbia Gadget Works" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to columbia-gadget-...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Jake]

I've recently switched to Onshape - web based like tinkercad, it's free to use if you make your designs open source. Built by a team previously at SolidWorks.

If I was still on Mac I might choose Sketchup over it, but not sure, have been super happy with Onshape, and on Linux I've not found anything that matches it.

[Sven]

Thanks for the reply, David.  I gave TinkerCAD a try.  Nice UI and easy to play with.  Will be very good for simple scaling and stretching of models.  And I love the ability to use geometric shapes to make holes or just merge them into a model.  

I am still searching for something with the ability to do certain other complex tasks, so I will take a look at FreeCAD.  Also heard that OpenSCAD may be good for someone who is not afraid to write some code.  

[Sven]

Hi Scott,

Looks like another vote for FreeCAD.  I better take a look at that one.  Thanks for the info!

[Sven]

Hi Jacob,

Yeah, I have used OnShape, too.  The only problem that I had with OnShape was that sometimes it got really slow and stopped responding.  It didn't appear to be related to the internet connection or web browser.  Then when I shared with others they would sometimes have the same problem resulting in them thinking that the link was bad or that they didn't have access.  

Thanks for the reply!

[Matthew Stottle]

On the topic of 3d printing.  Is there anyone in the area that recycles used PLA.  Wondering if there's something else I can do besides giving it to city recycling.

On Oct 12, 2017 7:40 PM, "Sven" <desertco...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Scott,

Looks like another vote for FreeCAD.  I better take a look at that one.  Thanks for the info!

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Columbia Gadget Works" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to columbia-gadget-works+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Brad Collette]

FreeCAD, FTW.  v 0.16 is considered the last 'stable' release but is VERY dated now.  0.17 is light years ahead but still in active development.  There are daily builds for linux and windws..  Mac is possible but might be a bit more work 

On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 7:45 PM, Matthew Stottle <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:

On the topic of 3d printing.  Is there anyone in the area that recycles used PLA.  Wondering if there's something else I can do besides giving it to city recycling.

On Oct 12, 2017 7:40 PM, "Sven" <desertco...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Scott,

Looks like another vote for FreeCAD.  I better take a look at that one.  Thanks for the info!

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Columbia Gadget Works" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to columbia-gadget-works+unsubscri...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Columbia Gadget Works" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to columbia-gadget-works+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Brad Collette
573-427-7132

[Sven]

That's a good tip!  I tried the stable version of FreeCAD, but not v 0.17.  I will give that a try.