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Steve22

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Hi I’m trying to find out if you need a cad app or not I don’t understand it all or how it works I’ve got no excuses other than I think I’m thick since my 2 strokes. If you do need one is there any that are free and good designed for idiots on woodworking I’ve got a prusa printer. I’m looking for some advice or help
Many thanks everyone
Steve 👨🏼‍🦽👨🏼‍🦽
 
What do you want to do with it if you get one?

Let me start with what you say about your prusa printer. The "input" to that is a 3D model. There are many places you can download 3D models of almost anything that you can print on your printer.

However, if you cannot find the exact thing you need or the thing you find is not quite right, you either need to model it from scratch or modify an existing design. That would be called 3D CAD or 3D modelling.

If you only want 2D drawings (plans, elevations and dimensions) of something related to woodwork, you may only need a 2D CAD program. A 2D program will be of very limited use with your prusa. 2D CAD is like a computerised old-school drawing board that a draftsperson would have used.

A free 2D CAD is LibreCAD. A low cost 2D CAD is QCAD.

There are various options for 3D modelling programs. Fusion360 is about the best known, followed by Onshape followed by DesignSpark. These are commercial programs that offer a feature-restricted sub-set of their capabilities for free. Fusion and Onshape are quite easy to learn the basics. All three programs are 'in the cloud'.

Another even more free 3D modelling program is FreeCAD. It has a very steep learning curve.

A popular low cost 3D modelling program is Alibre.

If you could find or describe some examples of the things you want to make or print, that would help us make better recommendations.
 
What do you want to do with it if you get one?

Let me start with what you say about your prusa printer. The "input" to that is a 3D model. There are many places you can download 3D models of almost anything that you can print on your printer.

However, if you cannot find the exact thing you need or the thing you find is not quite right, you either need to model it from scratch or modify an existing design. That would be called 3D CAD or 3D modelling.

If you only want 2D drawings (plans, elevations and dimensions) of something related to woodwork, you may only need a 2D CAD program. A 2D program will be of very limited use with your prusa. 2D CAD is like a computerised old-school drawing board that a draftsperson would have used.

A free 2D CAD is LibreCAD. A low cost 2D CAD is QCAD.

There are various options for 3D modelling programs. Fusion360 is about the best known, followed by Onshape followed by DesignSpark. These are commercial programs that offer a feature-restricted sub-set of their capabilities for free. Fusion and Onshape are quite easy to learn the basics. All three programs are 'in the cloud'.

Another even more free 3D modelling program is FreeCAD. It has a very steep learning curve.

A popular low cost 3D modelling program is Alibre.

If you could find or describe some examples of the things you want to make or print, that would help us make better recommendations.
Hi I was looking design or layout my workshop/ shed and design something I might need so my 3D printer might be able make it. Plus some of the plans I’ve downloaded have c.a.d. Files I can’t open or use. It takes me 4 times longer to get things as I’ve lost my short term memory from strokes and some people get annoyed or don’t reply to me because I’ve ask same thing before. I don’t understand cad I only just understand the basics of my pursa printer. I don’t understand it I would like to. And maybe design something for tools to hang on or something. I’m going to try and build the hooked on wood workbench I’ve got the plans there is a cad file but not sure what is on it. I was looking at shaper or fusion 360 people say there ok on YouTube. It’s only thing I do as can’t get out and my shed has taken 2-3 years now doing inside.
Thanks Steve p.s. sorry for going on part of strokes I can’t find right words
 
What do you want to do with it if you get one?

Let me start with what you say about your prusa printer. The "input" to that is a 3D model. There are many places you can download 3D models of almost anything that you can print on your printer.

However, if you cannot find the exact thing you need or the thing you find is not quite right, you either need to model it from scratch or modify an existing design. That would be called 3D CAD or 3D modelling.

If you only want 2D drawings (plans, elevations and dimensions) of something related to woodwork, you may only need a 2D CAD program. A 2D program will be of very limited use with your prusa. 2D CAD is like a computerised old-school drawing board that a draftsperson would have used.

A free 2D CAD is LibreCAD. A low cost 2D CAD is QCAD.

There are various options for 3D modelling programs. Fusion360 is about the best known, followed by Onshape followed by DesignSpark. These are commercial programs that offer a feature-restricted sub-set of their capabilities for free. Fusion and Onshape are quite easy to learn the basics. All three programs are 'in the cloud'.

Another even more free 3D modelling program is FreeCAD. It has a very steep learning curve.

A popular low cost 3D modelling program is Alibre.

If you could find or describe some examples of the things you want to make or print, that would help us make better recommendations.
I forgot to say thank you and apologise I couldn’t read all of your reply as words all get jumbled together so I’m sorry for that
 
I'm currently a Designspark Mechanical user (not quite a fan 😀). Like all programmes it has its good bits and those you would like to see improved. I tried Fusion 360 but couldn't get on with it.


Your Prusa needs a STL (stereo lithography) file or a 3mf file. As @Chailattesaid you can either download files from Thingyverse or similar or you have to design it yourself using Designspark (other programmes are available).


I've used Designspark for 3D sketches of non-printing items: sheds, cupboards etc.


Hope this will help. Have fun.
Martin.
 
I'm currently a Designspark Mechanical user (not quite a fan 😀). Like all programmes it has its good bits and those you would like to see improved. I tried Fusion 360 but couldn't get on with it.


Your Prusa needs a STL (stereo lithography) file or a 3mf file. As @Chailattesaid you can either download files from Thingyverse or similar or you have to design it yourself using Designspark (other programmes are available).


I've used Designspark for 3D sketches of non-printing items: sheds, cupboards etc.


Hope this will help. Have fun.
Martin.

Hi Martin, do you need a ‘slicer’ or does the Prusa take STL files directly?
I have an Ender3 and use Designspark Mechanical to generate the STL file then slice it using Ultimaker Cura to get the ‘gcode’ that directly drives the printer.
 
I know nothing about the Prusa so can only guess that you'll need a slicer but I'm sure others here with more knowledge will advise.

I have just bought a Bambu P1S and the slicer is packaged with the Bambu Studio software.

Previously I had a Robox 3D printer and the slicer was built in with the Automaker software you had to use with it.
 
Desigspark and Fusion 360 are both good programs for what you are wanting to design. But, on my present medication, I get brain fog and need to read or follow instructions a few times before it sinks in. So maybe I have some similarities to your stroke symptoms. So, that said, if I was starting out today, I would find Fusion 360 slightly easier to get my head around. Prusa Slicer or Orca Slicer seem to be the most popular slicers out there and are really easy to use.
 
Any designs will need to be sliced before it can be printed with a Prusa. For this, the sensible choice would be Prusaslicer. It is easy to use and can be downloaded from here: https://www.prusa3d.com/page/prusaslicer_424/

This generates a set of instructions for the printer to follow to create your print.

I use Onshape, but this and others can be a bit complicated and if you have memory problems, then you might find yourself having to relearn how to do things over and over. I was left with a lot of brain fog and memory problems from severe Covid and although improving, I do have to frequently refresh myself with techniques and methods. You may be better with Tinkercad which is a nice simple modeling software. There is no download, it's all done via your browser: https://www.tinkercad.com/

As others have said, you can download STL files for all sorts of things from online archives such as https://www.thingiverse.com/ and https://www.printables.com/.
 
I started to learn Fusion 360 about 6 months ago after finding Tinkercad to limited. I followed a 30day course on YouTube and this I found gave me the ground rules. I am now reasonably confident on it.
 
Hey @pops92 that video course looks good. I'll certainly look at it especially as 15 minutes a day for 30 days (assuming it continues to be 15 minutes or thereabouts) is not too much time out of the day - plus his English is quite understandable not like some. Ta! 🙂
 
I use FreeCad. I like the fact that it is open source, and free. No strings "for amateur users only" etc. I could already draw with a 2D package, but even so 3D was pretty opaque at first. I followed several tutorials online, and eventually it clicked. I can draw what I want to make now, and that's all I need.
 
DesignSpark is quite severely limited so I always advise against it. In particular, it doesn't allow (without paying extra) the ability to export STEP files. STEP files are representations of your model that can be loaded into another CAD application and relatively easily edited. You don't get the full history so it's not as easy as editing in the original application, but it's a lot better than nothing.

Let's imagine you're using Fusion 360. If you get in the habit of exporting STEP files regularly (which you should), then if Autodesk decide to further limit the free version of Fusion 360, you'll still be able to load your models into another CAD application to tweak them. If you haven't exported any STEP files, you've lost your model. If DesignSpark limit functionality in some way, you've lost your models and there's nothing you can do about it apart from paying the makers of DesignSpark lots of money.

I would strongly recommend you have a look at the free version of Onshape: https://www.onshape.com/en/products/free

Onshape is completely free and (in my opinion) vastly superior to Fusion 360 - in particular it is a heck of a lot more intuitive and similar in interface to other CAD tools like Solidworks, FreeCAD etc. Fusion 360 seems to have deviated from a few of the norms and I've found that while I can switch between Onshape, Solidworks, Solid Edge, ZW3D, NX & FreeCAD quite easily, Fusion 360 always needs a bit more thought. If you get used to Fusion, you'll find it harder to switch to another CAD package than if you start with something like Onshape.

Onshape runs in a browser. That has some advantages and disadvantages. Advantages are that (1) it runs on pretty much any computer and (2) some of the modelling happens "in the cloud" and hence your computer doesn't have to work as hard (when I use Fusion I find my computer fan is going crazy most of the time trying to cool the processor down). The main disadvantage is that the models are saved in the cloud so there's a risk that, if they remove the free version at some point in the future, you'll lose access (something that is easily mitigated by regularly exporting STEP files). The other disadvantage of the free version is that your models will be publicly available (not that anyone will ever find them in amongst the millions already there), so it's not ideal if you want to commercialise your model.

Another good option (again vastly superior to Fusion in my opinion) is the Solid Edge Community Edition, which is also free (for non-commercial use). The main disadvantage of if (compared to Onshape or Fusion) is that there aren't quite so many tutorials available. Having said that, the tutorials there are seem to be very good quality (vs Fusion, where a lot that you find are for very old versions and no longer applicable). Solid Edge has two different modelling "modes". One (called "Ordered") is much like other CAD applications; the other (called "Synchronous") some people (not me) find more intuitive as it's closer in style to things like Sketchup etc.

FreeCAD is good, but the user interface (especially the different workbenches) can take a little bit of getting used to. It's also not quite as polished as the other ones, but it's getting better every release and, as it's open source, you can be sure that you'll never lose access to it.

Probably the best low-cost (rather than free) option is (in my opinion again) the "maker's" edition of Solidworks (the one on the right-hand side of that link, not the cloud version). About £35 a year ($48) for a seriously powerful and really quite intuitive professional level CAD application.

The only reason I would pick Fusion over the others is if I wanted a free CAD application that I could use for commercial purposes (and even then I'd have another good look at FreeCAD first).

Incidentally, PrusaSlicer (which takes your model and slices it for 3D printing) can read STEP files as well as STLs. I can't remember the last time I bothered to export an STL file (which are bigger and not very easily editable compared to STEP files): I just export STEP files and load them into PrusaSlicer. This has the double benefit of giving me a model that can be printed and also giving me an exported STEP file in case I ever have problems with the CAD application I've used in the future.
 
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I can second Onshape, yes it does irk me a little that it's online only but it really is a good bit of software.
Having said that, if you are totally new to CAD or design software it might be worth considering FreeCAD or Ondsel (Better looking FreeCAD) and putting your energies into learning that.
 
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