The Chopper Compendium

Hi all,

Thanks again Dan, BigJim and others for the website and keeping this going!

I came across some software called "DraftSight" which works like Acad for the most part;

http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/

This is what I've been using at home drawing up the trailer I'll be making this winter.

HTH someone!

Steve

good stuff there! and good to see you man.

-dan

Cool

Maz xx

gotta learn how to use that stuff any sugestions on reading material ?

sorry I don't have anything specific to recommend, I had class room training for SW, Inventor and AutoCAD. There are some tutorials included with the those packages, but not with DraftSight.

I just did a search on "free autocad tutorial" and found a link which seems to have alot of information;

http://www.we-r-here.com/cad/tutorials/index.htm

Even though you may not have a copy of AutoCAD, you could still apply what's shown there in DraftSight. You could get a 30-day trial of AutoCAD from Autodesk and use that in the beginning.

What will really help is a having a good general grasp of visualizing something in 3D inside your head - without that I've seen ppl dread doing CAD work.

While I don't post alot here, I do try to keep up on the latest posts - you could always drop me a note and thru screenshots and emails, I could help out.

most of my projects are thought up in advance i can usually visualize something fairly easy i also have bend tech pro a tube bending software in 3d i can usually get it to do what i want . and thanks i ll probly take u up on that

earlier this year i went and enrolled at independence community college in their 3d cad classes. after being out of school 25yrs didnt know how it would go, but have had a blast and learned alot we are working with autodesk 2010.

I have been using AutoCad since 1992. When I first saw the Draftsight software, I downloaded it and I am very impressed with it. The user interface is very similar to Acad. It has most of the tools for 2d and if you are familar with the Acad 3d commands it will accomplish a lot of 3d tasks. If you Google Draftsight, there are numerous free tutorials. Just remember there is a learning curve for all programs . For someone wanting a good solid drawing program, I strongly recomend it. The best part is, it's FREE!
Jim

I also use draftsight drawing program, still learning it but seems to be a real good drawing program for alot of stuff.

I haven't tried this one yet.

Question - Will draftsight save as a PDF file? Does it import autoCAD or any other file types? It may prove to be the solution to a pesky problem I'm having currently.

yes it can do pdf's, under the File menu > Export > PDF Export

It opens and saves to .dwg, .dxf and .dwt file types.

It can export out to many different picture formats (bmp, png, jpg, etc)

This has provided me with CAD software that's been missing from linux - it's the single thing preventing me from ditching M$ completely. Although there are a handful of other CAD packages that work on linux, maybe I'm just getting to old to learn anything new and prefer to stick to AutoCAD.

HTH
Steve

Wish I had the time but 3 jobs does not allow that I just go to my machinist and he makes the dxf file for me based on my dims, sometimes you just dont have the time maybe when I retire around the age of 80

I took a certificate course in CADD last year at a not so local community college and a large part of the training was exercises in visualizing from 3D to 2D and back again. I'm fortunate in that I understand all of that visual spacial stuff and normally think that way anyway. (But, of course, I won't get it if you tell me directions - you've gotta draw me a map.)

I thought it was sort of cheating to conceptualize something in solidworks, and then use that to demonstrate to myself how best to represent it as a 2D autoCAD drawing - until I saw some pros do basically that same thing in their work flow.

The best programs do seem a bit expensive, so I'm still eeking by on the student versions.
I'm using them in my business, at home for shop setup and some project stuff, and I'm starting to freelance a bit. Emphasis on the word "free" as I'm trying to get some miles under me in terms of experience and variety, I can't legally use these versions for income. So the Opensource type programs are awesome and I'll probably lean on them heavily if/when my licenses run out.

...

Oh, Draftsight is put out by Dassault Systems (makers of Solidworks.)
That explains alot.
Now I HAVE to try it.

does sort of make you wonder, the company that produces SW, has created "freeware" software that mimics how AutoCAD works!

I'm just friggen happy they put together something that works in linux, is free and works like something I am used to!

ampster wrote:does sort of make you wonder, the company that produces SW, has created "freeware" software that mimics how AutoCAD works!

I'm just friggen happy they put together something that works in linux, is free and works like something I am used to!

Cool! A fellow linux user!! You can try out SagCAD and LibreCAD. Those are linux programs.