For free to hobbyists, Fusion 360 is the way to go in my opinion, not that it's easy to learn but Lars Christensen videos are a great way to start.

I've managed to draw a couple of parts for my next project, the support is terrific and it really does get easier.

Brian

[This posting has been removed]

"Heaven help the Fusion 360 users if Autodesk pull the same stunt"

Just a matter of time I suppose. Sooner or later they are going to want some cash from you. Can't blame them – they are not a charity.

Rik

Well that's a bit of bad news. Can I just alter the clock on my PC so that we never get to 31/12/19? I'm slowly learning Alibre, and prepared to pay their one off price, but $99/year is a big ask

.

It's been a while since I tried QCAD, but it does look very promising

I was originally put-off a little by seeing that the CAM add-on was rather old, and compatatively expensive.

… I now see that it was updated in July 2018 **LINK**

https://www.qcad.org/en/products/qcad-cam

… Has anyone tried it ?

MichaelG.

.

P.S. … Note the prominent disclaimer:

https://www.qcad.org/doc/qcadcam/QCADCAM_Tutorial_en.pdf

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 26/03/2019 10:49:59

I would REALLY like to claim that 33/(3 x 99) = 1/3 was a deliberate mistake and not the reason I rely on CAD and Excel so much

Brian

Err, possibly. I like the way QCAD works.

• The 'AUTO' setting does the all the common sensible snap combinations and can be configured in Application Preferences

• Otherwise selection of a particular snap turns the others off which is usually what's wanted. Most of the time AUTO gets it right but total control is available whenever necessary.

With CAD packages, it's easy to get hung up expecting them to work just like the last one. Actually, they have to be driven a bit differently. If the software behaves unreasonably, check the manual – there's always a learning curve, and beginners often stall, crunch gears, indicate with screen-wipers and jump red lights…

Dave

Duncan,

If I can just chip in here – I've been using QCAD Pro for a number of years and have been very pleased with it. The use of the line tool which you describe is only one way to draw a line. You are not restricted to vertical or horizontal constraints. Using the "line from two points" icon (top one on the menu) allows you to select anywhere on the drawing, with or without the use of snaps, to start the line with the first left click, then reposition the pointer to the end point and left-click again. Further movement of the mouse creates another line, starting from the end point of the previous one, unless you right-click to deselect the tool. I personally use all the snaps except "points on entity" as this suits my drawing style. I consider the £25 I've just spent on my annual renewal as money well spent. That is not to say that I won't be taking out a lifetime licence for Alibre Atom this month, when my trial period runs out, but, until I become more proficient at dimensioning my sketches in Atom, I prefer to export DXF files to QCAD for final presentation.

John

I just bought the e-book as well as the software. There is a preview here. It looks like good value, and easier for me than a printed copy as I normally keep one monitor free for documents. One of the first things I found is that a 2-point line can be started by typing LI. There are plenty of others such as LH for a horizontal line.

I'll let you guess the command line for a vertical line

Brian

So to take a perhaps silly example, to draw a hexagon with side length 2 units in DS or AC I would

set ortho on (this stays on nearly all the time until you turn it off)

Click line tool
Click start point
move cursor up,
type 2 <return> (no need to click into command line)
type @2<30<return>
type @2<-30<return>
move cursor down
type 2<return>
type @2<210<return>
click on start point

9 operations. Try as I might, it takes a lot more clicking of various tools and boxes in QCAD. I need to buy the book!

I was using that as an example, the point I'm trying (unsuccessfully) to make is that in DS and AC you can draw a line from a point in a set direction and a set length with 2 clicks and a command line. To do it in QCAD it seems to be 5 clicks and 2 lots of filling in boxes.

I've also tried LibreCad which is very seems very similar to QCAD but doesn't handle dwg at all well, at least for me, it is very clunky if I open a dwg, and won't save in that format