Looking to upgrade my Autocad, need advice.

SeymourDumore · Dec 9, 2022

MountaineerMiner said:
To be blunt, the 3D tools in Autocad suck. Pretty much worthless in my opinion. It’s 2D functionality is still very useful however. I use it for plate work on the plasma all the time and for electrical schematics.

Horses for courses.

^^^THIS^^^
In my view, if you use ACAD for 3D work, it's because someone stole your bed of nails and you're desperate for pain.
At the same time, if you're "freewheeling" and need 100% accuracy, there is nothing else but ACAD or one of it's clones.

EmanuelGoldstein · Dec 10, 2022

SeymourDumore said:
In my view, if you use ACAD for 3D work, it's because someone stole your bed of nails and you're desperate for pain.

I do not care for autocad myself but still ... this misunderstanding of 2D and 3D is mentally retarded. Autocad has been 3D since what, 1987 or something ? As a CADKey user (contemporaneous with whatever they jumped to after 2.52 -- 12 or something ?) there is a total bunch of bullshit being spread here. Someone doesn't know the difference between wireframe and solids, so we're getting kindergarten criticisms and totally invalid claims made. For many parts, wireframe is easier and faster to deal with than solids. Has nothing to do with 2D 3D.

Thunderjet · Dec 10, 2022

EmanuelGoldstein said:
For many parts, wireframe is easier and faster to deal with than solids.

Thank you for that^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Many times, I simply use AutoCAD as a calculator. Instead of trying to trig out an angle, three lines and a dimension button....BOOM! Angle figured in about thirty seconds.

I did try out the Bricscad thingy and it's pretty cool. I may switch to that one soon for work.

I discovered that I can't use the personal version for work unless we pay for it.

memphisjed · Dec 10, 2022

I can not imagine what I did wrong if I ever have to use autocad again. 2d, 3d - nope d. So why would I want a knock off clone?

Thunderjet · Dec 10, 2022

memphisjed said:
I can not imagine what I did wrong if I ever have to use autocad again. 2d, 3d - nope d. So why would I want a knock off clone?

Price.

Just to be clear, I'm NOT a huge tech guy.

I've burned thru three different releases of autocad. 12, 2000I and LT2010. After a while they simply stop working.

That's why I'm interested in the clones.

magno_grail · Dec 10, 2022

Acad 2000 works fine for 3D. It does not do variable radius fillets or fancy 3D operations and it is not parametric so errors may require fixing several parts but it is good enough for me to design things such as this clutch for a BSA A65 that uses KTM parts.

I did not bother with the chainwheel teeth, although I could have, because I was checking fit of the plates and fit on the mainshaft.
It can also do port modelling for testing on a flow bench:

This uses a cubic curve fit between the carb and valve areas.
Plus I do not have to pay every time that I use it.
If you are just doing 2D for wire cutting the only detractor might be file imports.

Thunderjet · Dec 10, 2022

magno_grail said:
If you are just doing 2D for wire cutting the only detractor might be file imports.

We've had really good luck with saving as an Autocad 2000.dxf.

This file type seems to by able to be used by many different cam systems.

Your mileage may vary.

Volitan · Dec 13, 2022

Thunderjet said:
We've had really good luck with saving as an Autocad 2000.dxf.

This file type seems to by able to be used by many different cam systems.

Your mileage may vary.

We use Autocad for die design here too. We last year we upgraded my boss from 2008 to 2022, he had no problems. I think a couple menus are in different places but that was about it. No problem opening older files.

wdevine · Dec 14, 2022

SeymourDumore said:
You mean parametric tools?

AutoCAD does do parametric, both, dimensions and constraints, but it is nowhere as convenient as either Inventor or Solidworks's drawing/sketching tools.
At the same time, ACAD and it's clones can do shit those others cannot even dream about, let alone the ease with which it can be done.

I don't care what anyone says, both of them have their places and neither of them can be ignored.

Not necessarily parametric, moreso the way the UI lets you draw things, it feels a little more freeform and intuitive than ACAD does, in my opinion. It works very well for the weird extrusion die shapes I need to draw. However, the way ACAD works it's much better when it comes to laying out multiple die blocks on one drawing. Just wish I could mash them together for my stupid special case.

I agree they both have their uses depending on what you're doing, neither one just happens to be the perfect case for me.

Bigdawg · Dec 22, 2022

I have Autocad LT 2023 on my desktop, it's pretty much the same as the old versions, but with the newer ribbon menus and a few other changes cosmetic changes. WIth customazation you can set it up to fiction very similar to the old versions. I use Solidworks for 3D stuff, and my Auotcad when I need just simple 2D porfile type stuff. Like others have said if you doing simple things there are other packages at a cheaper price.

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Looking to upgrade my Autocad, need advice.

SeymourDumore

Diamond

EmanuelGoldstein

Diamond

Thunderjet

Hot Rolled

memphisjed

Stainless

Thunderjet

Hot Rolled

magno_grail

Cast Iron

Thunderjet

Hot Rolled

Volitan

Hot Rolled

wdevine

Aluminum

Bigdawg

Plastic

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