CAD experts?

[archie2000]

Hi
I was just wondering how people make cad models look so effortless.
I have very little experience and am just wondering If someone could link the cad they use to me and a guide on how to use it
Not desprite to spend money so if theres a good free one out there let me know
Thanks
Archie

[kane]

Autodesk Inventor is free for educational use. Its a great tool to learn and you just need to sign up to get a copy.

http://students.autodesk.com/

[Eventorizon]

Another good piece of software is Solidworks, but it much harder to get hold of legally, ie there is no free version to the public only a student version, and you university or collage has to be registered.

However it is much easier to use than Autodesk, but Autodesk does more things...

But that said, I have been using Solidworks for 4 years now and have never encountered a scenario where what I have wanted to do can't be done in solidworks

[Note: DOWN WITH SKETCH UP! Useless piece of software]

[jonny]

Pro desktop gets me by, save your work often though as errors and crashes occur alot. Also it has very little material selection (no plastics!). Got my copy free from my school, you could probably find it on the Internet though.

[PJ-27]

Getting copies of ProD is near impossible and then trying to get it to run on modern machines is equally hard. Stopped making it years ago, but everyone knows it from School.

I use SketchUp to do some 2D stuff, but aside from that it seems pretty useless! I dunno if it's just me not using it properly but I cannot get on with it.

[psycho_fling]

solidworks gets my vote by far ......extremely user friendly taught myself and its used widely at my uni and in the outer world

also used alias and pro engineer which complicated just for the sake of it

[Team Invade]

I've used SketchUp successfully and have designed a chassis for an antweight which I recently got 3D printed

So I'd definitely go for that, easy to use and free too!

[archie2000]

thanks very much for replying
I wiki look into cad in the Easter holidays

[archie2000]

I know it's slightly off topic but if I wanted to build a gearbox what's the best cad and is there anywhere that can cut the tiny gear groves in the gearbox
most places only cut accurately to 1mm
thanks

[harry hills]

buy ready made gears?
or am i missing the point