Cad programs

[steve-oh]

Looking to purchase a cad program so I can start doing more of the design process to get parts made quicker, any suggestions on a good simple program to get?

[jkrell]

Solid edge 2d is a great place to start for 2d cad drawing...and its free. I draw most of the stuff I cut out on my torchmate on it. Very simple to learn and intuitive software.

[VintageIronFab]

Along these same lines of the original question-- I a few years out from having a CNC plasma table but when I do I would like to have a much better understanding of the computer programs. At this point I'm leaning towards the torchmate line due simply for the customer support but they are overpriced in my eyes. I would really like to take some classes at the CC level but I'm not really sure where or what classes to look for. The table is going to be a fairly decent sized part of my business model so I feel like I need to be fairly well versed in its use.

[Mesozoic]

If you know someone in education you can get an educational license for Solidworks for around $100 and it is well worth it.

[ESHALLBETTER]

Alibre has a free version of their 3D cad software available. Even their program for purchase is pretty reasonable. I used it for years before jumping to Solidworks. Definitely worth checking out to learn on.

[funinthesun95]

http://www.academicsuperstore.com/products/SolidWorks

academic superstore ....solidworks this is how got mine

[ChaseTruck754]

Is it still just a 1 year license for the academic version?

[funinthesun95]

Steve yes think so

[cs_drums]

So I'm sure you all will be as excited as I am about this. The makers of solid works released a cloud based cad program with a free version. It's called
Onshape