3D printing journey begins - CAD help needed!

[Epaphroditus]

So I took the plunge and got a Ender 3 Pro 3D printer.

Sure its not the greatest but it's dang functional and we've (me and my youngest) printed a few things just to get used to running the thing.

Painfully obvios that to do anything interesting I (we) need to learn CAD!

Looking for the braintrust to provide input on free CAD programs. Internet search turns up quite a few options. Something that can import existing SolidWorks models would be ideal.

So far the most interesting things are mods to improve performance and use of the printer.

All in all I think it's ~$200 well spent since I can do stuff and my youngest gets to play with cool tech I never had much of a chance to use in my 30 years systems engineering.

I really hope he gets highly motivated to learn CAD and gets creative with this printer - he already is getting pretty good at welding (he's 14) so it's possible there are many interesting options opening up for him down this path.

[71MUSTY]

Good dad

[baih777]

Maybe a 3D scanner next.

I made good money welding at my friends shop for a second job.

[67Cuda]

I use Free Cad. There a website where you ask questions, see answers. Kind of like here.
YouTube is another good resource. There are many free solutions, so try some and see what works for you.

[tlwhite0311]

Fusion 360 is free for makers. I can’t remember if it’s perpetual or only a year. Solidworks (which is my bias) is 100 dollars a year for the student version (20 if you are a veteran) and I think they have a cloud based version free for makers as well. I think google sketchup is free or used to but I haven’t ever messed with it. It might be called shapr3d now.

[Surf & Turf]

Thingiverse….

[BillyMays]

+1 for student Solidworks if that's an option and you are looking for parametric modeling. At 14, if he chooses a career path in engineering it's very likely Solidworks will still be an industry leader when he's out of high school. If it must be free FreeCAD is ok. If you're more into the artsy stuff and toy models then Blender is the way to go.

[C.G.]

Not anymore, 30-day free trial and then $500/years unless a student. Plus it stores all files in the cloud and you have to import them to your computer. I am not sure if you can delete those files from the cloud or not.

[C.G.]

I use Free Cad. There a website where you ask questions, see answers. Kind of like here.
YouTube is another good resource. There are many free solutions, so try some and see what works for you.

Same here after I found out that Fusion 360 is no longer free, only a 30-day free trial, and also it stores your files in the cloud, probably forever, and you have to download them to your computer. I am trying to learn Free Cad now, the good news is that it is open-source, free, and not cloud-based, the bad news is it is not exactly user friendly, partially due to being open-source, and sometimes buggy. As you mentioned, a lot of good videos on You Tube.

[hey8you]

Take a look at tinkercad. Iv been using them for years to make stuff for my 3d printer, car and home. Its free and easy to use however its only good for making somewhat complex shapes.

[crufflers]

You can definitely do some cool projects and save to stl from Tinkercad. I searched for and downloaded a handful of the free ones and have basically only used Tinkercad and Cura to slice and scale and setup so far. Anywhere is a good place to start. If your printer has a decent Facebook support group, those help a lot. Things are likely to break and wear out faster than you might think. Keep everything tight and level. We have a Toybox, LK-5 Pro, and a Chiron... I think the LK-5 Pro is very similar to the Ender. Definitely a fun hobby. You can find a lot of cool stuff on Thingiverse and Thangs.com for sure.

[sonofeugene]

Start with Solidworks if you can. It’s the industry standard and will continue to be. I design medical devices and use a professional version of Solidworks.

[Epaphroditus]

Not interested in web/cloud based tools.

Until soon shows serious interest will not pay for solidworks.

Will try Free cad.

Not particularly interested in thingiverse or thangs since the deal is to design our own parts.

Printing other folks things might be OK just to familiarize and shakeout printer function but that's a dead end.

[tlwhite0311]

Not interested in web/cloud based tools.

Until soon shows serious interest will not pay for solidworks.

Will try Free cad.

Not particularly interested in thingiverse or thangs since the deal is to design our own parts.

Printing other folks things might be OK just to familiarize and shakeout printer function but that's a dead end.

If you are unwilling to pay for SW then free cad or blender are probably your best bet. Good luck.

[707electrician]

Anyone use Alibre?