Solid face cad package has anyone else tried it?

Marc Dobson

Western Thunderer
Has anyone else used it?

Having lost use of AutoCAD2016 when my machine was rebuilt. I was recommended Solidface, which is a 2D and 3D package. It's taking some effort to unlearn 22year of AutoCAD and get used to the new package.

So far I have done 9 2D tutorials and drawn the side of a brick factory wall. Turning it into a 3D model is my next goal.

Marc
 

Brian McKenzie

Western Thunderer
Did you have to provide your credit card number first to get a free trial download?
There are online reviews stating that attempts to "unsubscribe" from it before the 30 day trial period was up were ignored - and a charge put through.

Some of the Solidface online pages are blank, so I would be very wary about investing time or funds with this software - especially when there are other reliable alternatives.

Brian McK.

Edit: Further to the above, check out complaints made to "Better Business Bureau" at:
https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/austin/pr...ace-technology-inc-0825-1000190717/complaints
 
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Marc Dobson

Western Thunderer
Thanks for the tip off. It's been a struggle using it. I did realise that I had signed up for a subscription.
Marc
 

Marc Dobson

Western Thunderer
I checked the credit card last night nothing has been taken, yet. But I will be keeping an eye on it. I'm trying out Fusion 360 now. A lot better but not great for 2D but I have got my hands on a old XP laptop to run AutoCAD 2002 which will cover some of the design work.

Marc
 

J_F_S

Western Thunderer
When I lost my use of AutoCad I moved over to an IntelliCad-based programme. There are several, but I went for ProgeCad. As far as 2D and 3D CAD is concerned it "is" AutoCad (becuase it unashamedly copies the functionality) and uses DWG and DXF natively. All of my old AutoCad DWG files work fine including layers, hatches and coordinate systems, Block definitions etc. and it can import and export any format of DXF. The only thing it does not have is Parametrics - but then not many of the "popular" CAD packages do AFAIK - unless someone can tell me differently.
It is not however free - but it is less then a tenth the price of AutoCad at around £200 and that for me represented good value.

And MUCH better than relearning 20 years of ecperience!

Details:-
Pricing for ProgeCAD Pro 2021 SLM from AxonWare UK. Special Offers | progeCAD21. Where to buy cheap/low cost ProgeCAD Pro 2021 SLM in England Scotland.

Best Wishes,
Howard
 

Marc Dobson

Western Thunderer
I have bit the bullet so to speak and payed for a years subscription to fusion 360. Now I have got my head round it it's better for the 3D design stuff than AutoCAD. I probably should have moved across years ago.
In the the last week I have drawn out a new body for my LYR 3 plank, and new one piece body for my GNoSR cattle van and a LBSCR dead buffered single bolster. The last one took me about 10 hours work and no need of an orthographic drawing.

Marc
 

michael080

Western Thunderer
I am not sure if I mentioned it before:

The EAA membership (Experimental Aircraft Association) includes a Solidworks student license. I am not really interested in experimental aircraft and I am certainly no longer a student, but the 30USD per year seems like a good price for a fully functional SW license.

Michael
 

richard carr

Western Thunderer
Michael

Thanks for posting that about the EAA, it's now $40 a year but I am now a member.

As it happens Oshkosh isn't too far from Chicago and if this pandemic ever comes to an end I'm sure I will be going back there as often as I used to.

Richard
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
There's another free version of a heavy end 3D CAD around - Solid Edge Community :-

Hobbyists and Makers | CAD Software | Solid Edge

I downloaded a month or two ago and I've had a look at it and found some tutorials on YouTube but I haven't really had a chance to get under its skin so far. But it has few restrictions for the hobbyist - the main one seems to be that its files can't be read by the main Solid Edge application.

Jim.
 

Ian_T

Western Thunderer
" the main one seems to be that its files can't be read by the main Solid Edge application "

To be clear the Solid Edge Community Edition is exactly the same software as the commercial product (e.g. it's the full product) but as Jim says, it's files cannot be opened by a commercially licensed version (and vice versa I assume). For most hobbyists, this really isn't a problem in practice - and as the commercial software license is over £2k per annum (per seat) - getting the Community Edition as a free lifetime license is a real bargain!

I'm also not sure that the link Bob provided will load the latest SE Community Edition (there are links to older SE products around the Siemens sites). I'd recommend using the link below, which I think may be later...

BTW - I'm running SE on a five year old i5 laptop with Win 10 Home. It's an excellent and very powerful 3D CAD product which all runs locally - no cloud storage etc involved !! Try it, it's really good!

Siemens Digital Industries Software Online Store

Regards,

IanT
 

adrian

Flying Squad
For 2D artwork - drawings, etching etc. Despite trying other contenders I still think that QCAD is the best for hobbyists, it's free, fully featured and works across all platforms.

I have bit the bullet so to speak and payed for a years subscription to fusion 360. Now I have got my head round it it's better for the 3D design stuff than AutoCAD. I probably should have moved across years ago.

I've just started experimenting with Fusion360 - however I use a mix of Apple and Linux machines at home (hence why I like QCAD) unfortunately Fusion 360 doesn't appear to have a Linux version, unless anyone can tell me different, so I'm still a little bit reticent about diving completely into the Fusion360 environment.
 

Ian_T

Western Thunderer
Solid Edge is just Windows based, so not an option for Mac or Linux users I'm afraid Adrian.

However, something I didn't appreciate when I first started out with SE was that it is a very usable 2D CAD system too.

Originally, I jumped straight into 3D CAD with SE by designing 3D 'parts' and 'assemblies' but I later discovered that by simply opening a 'draft' document, I could use the same SE sketching tools to just draw 2D items. Everything is there including the sketching tools, relationships, dimensioning, annotation and layers etc. It's essentially Solid Edge 2D CAD (with 3D already installed and available when/if needed).

For some people this might be a much easier transition into Solid Edge & 3D CAD. Exactly the same drawing tools are used to sketch in 2D & 3D, so it is possible to learn SE as a 2D system and then step up into 3D when/if required. The same 'draft' documents are used to produce 2D drawings for 3D designs and of course they are parametric, so any changes in the 3D design can be automatically reflected/updated in the 2D drawings - a big time saver for me (after using TurboCAD for many years).

The online documentation and tutorials are also extremely good, as one would expect from a commercial product.

Regards,

IanT
 

Ian_T

Western Thunderer
Still learning how to do things here (on this forum) - so I didn't think I could post images earlier (without a 'URL' that is ) but then I spotted the 'Upload File' option at the bottom ( Duh!) - so here is an example of my progress with Solid Edge (I've been using SE in fits and bursts for about a year or so now).

I'm sure others can post much more impressive work but I'm quietly pleased with what I can now draw. I'm still very much in learning mode but I'm over the first few learning hurdles and (importantly) my confidence has hugely improved. I'm now sure I will stick with 3D (having given up on previous 3D efforts/products). However, 3D CAD is certainly a very useful tool to have (whatever software you eventually settle on) so well worth investing time on.

Regards,

IanT

Front_Bogie_050721.jpg
 

Rob R

Western Thunderer
I admire all of you that manage to get to grips with a decent (or even half decent) CAD package.

I tried FreeCad but just didn't have the free time in large enough chunks for it to sink in to the grey matter, so I have gone back to basics with TinkerCad.
If Primary School kids can use it then I might stand a chance. :)
1923 RCH Tinkercad screen shot.jpg
1923 RCH No End Door 7 plank (in S of course), currently printing on the Mars 2 Pro to take to the SSMRS Autumn meeting on Saturday.

Marc, sorry for the hijack.
 
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