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On Sun, Apr 18, 2021, at 9:47 PM, caveman رجل الكهف 穴居人 wrote: |
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> hi. |
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> |
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> i want to design complex shapes, and then |
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> send them to some manufacturers. so my |
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> drawings need to be very accurate, and |
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> compatible with the manufacturers. |
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> |
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> plus, it would be nice to have the ability |
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> of being able to test how structurally |
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> strong my design is. e.g. how well it |
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> supports loads, and where are the pressured |
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> points, etc. |
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> |
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> thoughts on what to use? should i use |
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> autocad? else? how should i think? any |
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> tips? |
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> |
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|
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As the other poster has suggested, FreeCAD can *technically* |
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do all of these things. But the biggest issue with it is that its constraint |
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engine is not as advanced (by way of heuristics) as that of Autodesk |
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or Solidworks. Practically what this means is if you change a base feature |
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FreeCAD will give you gibberish instead of what might make sense in |
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context. |
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|
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If you are a hobbyist, and are not very RMS-inclined, then just using |
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a subscription to Fusion 360 will be fine. It is what a lot of hobbyists |
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use. In fact, even if I were RMS-inclined, I'd probably use Fusion 360 |
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for prototyping and *then* put the design into FreeCAD. |
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|
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Fusion 360 will do stress analysis for free, I think. The other CFD |
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analyses are paid, and can run upwards of $13k/yr, so in case you need |
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them it would be worth it to use FreeCAD. |
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