CAD freeware?

[jaybee]

As a home builder it's a little hard for me to justify (or budget) the price of a fancy CAD program. Sometimes there's no substitute for a good visual representation of what you're working on, though, and I'm not much of an artist. I don't need anything with extreme detail or downloadable to machine tools. Is there anything available in freeware to allow creation of such drawings?

[65chevelle''ss'']

Google Sketchup might work? You should check it out...

[minendrews68]

I ould Google "free cad software", and see what comes up.

[jaybee]

I downloaded Google Sketchup, looks like it has a lot of potential.

[amx2334]

I have been using this. I haven't ordered anything though. works alright for small stuff.
http://www.emachineshop.com/machine-shop/index.php

[69stang]

SolidWorks and Autodesk have incentive programs going on. I'm doing Autodesk Inventor right now as I already know Solidworks. Inventor is the full program but prints with a student banner across it. I believe the license is good for 13 months. Both are free but I think SWX offers some in house training for $50 - $75.

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/esp/engineering_stimulus_package.html
http://students6.autodesk.com/?nd=assistance_home&und=761&lbon=1

[jaybee]

Thanks, all good suggestions. I downloaded Sketchup and have been playing with it. Works pretty well and I've arrived at a method that probably will never be accurate enough to produce blueprints but should do the job for my intended purpose.

Starting with a photocopy blown up as large as possible I put it against the screen and draw over it with a series of straight lines. Then use the arc and other tools to smooth out the image and fine tune until it looks as much as possible like the photocopy.

[65chevelle''ss'']

Glad to hear that's working out for you. The program is pretty easy to use and it does have a ton of features... Lots of tutorials online too, check them out if you get time
T

[Boatmark]

I would go with SolidWorks if you can. Nothing beats dimensionally accurate 3D, especially if you want to have parts done with CNC or Waterjet. The shop can work direct from your digital parts. Also, many people forget you can easily flatten SolidWorks into a 2D print, and it is faster to get there in most cases than if you had used AutoCAD. Rhino is still the coolest, but the program is mega dollars.

At the risk of being non-PC, find someone in design school . . . there is always good bootleg copies floating around. SolidWorks is pretty intuitive to teach yourself . . . Rhino is at a higher level. I spent the 500 to go to their school, and it still took me a year to become decent at it.

[Brandon Miller]

You can check out Alibre. It is a free program, the larger program is the one you have to buy. It'd be perfect for what you want. It's similar to Solidworks and Pro E. We downloaded it at work just to compare and play with. One word of warning though, they will hound you on the phone to try and get you to buy the software.

[jaybee]

I've checked out SketchUp and Alibre. There are a lot of similarities between the two, but I think I'll get more out of Alibre than Sketchup. I'm learning the program now in my (minimal) spare time and am impressed.

[GRNOVA]

Try Plan 3D (http://Plan3D.com) I built my entire house on here and it has virtual walk throughs. You can also buy it buy the month. If you can import your blueprints you can build right off of the program.