Mr Matt Foley Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 Guys, I'm curious to know what 3d CAD or design software some are using to create 3d printed items. I just need a place to start looking. TIA Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 The program I've used is Solidworks, but it's very expensive and I can't use it often for personal work. I have been looking for some free alternatives and I ran across the site for this that I want to try out whenever I get an updated computer to run it; https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/mechanical-software I've watched some videos on it and it looks promising. I'll let you know my findings if I get a chance to try it out. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mstor Posted June 13, 2018 Share Posted June 13, 2018 Shapeways lists some free and commercial 3D modeling programs on their site. I have no idea what any of them are like or how good or bad they are, as I have no experience with 3D modeling other than buying other peoples products. https://www.shapeways.com/creator/tools Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cruiz Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 At this time the free version of Sketchup (https://www.sketchup.com/) also Autodesk 123d not long ago but it's discontinued now; Autodesk now offers Thinker CAD and Fusion 360 as alternatives for 123d (https://www.autodesk.com/solutions/123d-apps). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cag_200 Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 I know that Blender (free software) can assist you creating 3D prints. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
huntermountain Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 (edited) Autodesk Fusion 360 all the way. Free to use as long as you make less than 100.000$ a year from it. Not the easiest piece of software to use, but a ton of very good tutorials on youtube. Sketchup might be a nice program to start with, but I soon got frustrated with all sorts of limitations and quirks. After struggling to make a specific simple design for hours, I decided to switch to Fusion 360. 30 minutes of youtube video and an hour of trying later I had what I needed. I just deleted sketchup after that. Edited June 24, 2018 by huntermountain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.