Oh this one’s a nightmare, there are many many different CAD packages available but the more well known one’s tend to be used the most. There’s good reason for this, the command structure (or command line) in most of them follow the same instruction sets, LINE in Autocad is the same in Solidworks, the same in DolphinCAD, the same in Rhinoceros, the same in Fusion360 and so on. What does differ is price and by huge amounts. From Free for private use to literally 10’s of thousands of £££’s per seat. Maybe you want to make a point accurate 3d render of a Cyclotron or 60mW research reactor, or maybe you just want to solve a simple point of intersection of two circles to work out a radius on a piece of steel bar.
Some packages will do all of it, all packages will do some of it. The one thing you DO need to take into account? Ability or Training..
In man-hours this can easily cost the same as the actual software, lets use AutoCAD (2020 version as an example), there are 1,499 commands available, add on the 1,249 variables. Then you have hundreds of industry standards for drawings to learn as well as the differences in file formats. Now imagine something like Solidworks or DolphinCAD, they can make Autocad seem simplistic. But you may say “We are going to go on a 3 day Autocad course to learn”…yep right, in 3 days you are going to learn just about enough to draw a box or measure two distances.. I did the Instructors Course, that took 5 weeks of 9 hour days, 5 days a week on top of 20 years of using Autocad beforehand and I STILL learn new stuff every time I use it. The course cost my bosses around the same as a really nice luxury car with the included software licenses. In blunt terms, a short course if you have no previous experience is a total waste of money.
Did I really need to know how to construct “Hatch patterns” or “Dynamic Blocks”..in truth, not really but it’s all in there. So do you *need* Autocad for example? or Solidworks with full collision detection? I’d generally say no but of course this is entirely dependent on what you want to achieve. I’ve listed the one’s I use on a regular basis and have paid licenses for.
DeltaCAD: It doesn’t get much more basic than this, so simplistic and easy to use that the maker actually discontinued it, even when it was a fully paid item the price was still under £40 for a lifetime license. You can get version 7 totally free now and it is handy for little things like triangle or shape solving as well as distance checking between two unknown points. Very limited file formats. Zero training is really needed as you can work out what each button does just by trying it, an average weekend starting from scratch will give you enough working experience for it to be useful.
Honestly? at the now zero cost it’s a handy thing to have if you really don’t want to bother with all the complex stuff (read: expensive stuff)
Price: Free
Available: HERE
AutoCAD LT: This is the 2D version of the industry standard AutoCAD. There isn’t really much to say about this package and it has been the standard in pretty much most Drafting offices for decades. A steep learning curve if you have never used it before but well worth it if you have a drawing office. There is little point in me going into all the functions as that is a website in itself but suffice to say if you want to produce drawings you will be sending out for quotes then this is the one to go for. So many different add-on functions are also available via both plugins and .lisp files to automate many jobs, blocks, both user and dynamic can usually be found on the web freely as well. I still use the 2010 version even though I have a license for the later versions as it has been set up the way I want it and I find it very stable with little resources being used.
The LT or “Lite” version is considerably cheaper but doesn’t have the 3d functionality of the full version.
Price: £492 per year or £60 per month.
Available: HERE
AutoCAD (FULL): The same as above but with a lot more specialist functions. Those functions come at a price as well. Again, not much point in going into all those functions here but suffice to say it is an excellent package. The first big drawing project I was involved with was a development in London with a £12,000,000 budget so this software is no toy.
Price: £1,986 per year or £246 per month
Available: HERE
Autodesk Fusion 360: An almost budget offering from AutoDesk (the makers of AutoCAD), offering both a free and commercial version. To be honest? not my most favoured bit of software, yes the home user version is free and the commercial version is reasonably cheap but it’s need for “online connectivity” is a bit of a bongo to say the least. I’ve always found it to be a bit of a memory hog as well. The same command structure as all AutoDesk products so useful in that regard and many CAM add-ons and other plugins can be obtained freely. Think of it as the “brother” to AutoCAD just with a bit more for the model makers, sculptors and 3d printing folks with far more easy 3d model generation (read: less training to get there)
Price: Free / £642 per year commercial
Available: HERE
Rhinoceros 8.0: My personal choice for 3d work and solid models. (Yes that’s a Pancor Jackhammer in the image) A really good package and unusual in that you pay one very reasonable fee that last for ever for that version. (Old school before companies got fecking greedy) Then come a major version upgrade (like 7 – 8 or 8-9) and you pay a small fee if you wish to get the latest version.
Unlike many others Rhino has a very useful 2d editor as well with most commands and their structure the same as AutoCAD and other mainstream cad programs.
Hundreds of available plugins for Rhino and many of them being free as well as low cost CAM add-ons for creating and DNCing programs to your chosen CNC. Truthfully? I can’t speak highly enough of this excellent software.
Price: £790.00 Permanent License
Available: HERE
Now’s a great time to get a chair, it’s going to get expensive, it’s also a good time to be REALLY sure what you need vs what it would be nice to have as well as some quite “eye watering” training costs for the “Big Boys” in the CAD/CAM world. This is the bit that makes the company accountant say “FML!”
Dolphin Family: A top drawer line of CAD/CAM products with more functions than I have years left so I’m not going to bother even going there. Packed with options, add-ons, functions you will need a masters to understand BUT incredibly powerful. The family of products from Dolphin cover every eventuality when it comes to design and manufacture.
Overall a budget for everybody (just about) but if you want everything then…well…Put it this way, I have the worlds most ZEN Boss you have ever met, the most genuinely calm person I have worked with who I have never heard use even the lightest of profanity. If I asked him to get this lot I’d imagine he’s going to learn a whole lot of new words to reply with.
Price: Options from £395.00 – £3,295.00
Available: HERE
Solidworks: Ok Let’s do it, the beast of CAD software, Massive learning curve and not quite like regular CAD. You make / design projects using parts then build the whole from that. A previous employer got a few of the “new user” free courses with the purchase and they lasted (If I recall correctly) 2 or 3 days. Honestly? absolutely and utterly pointless, in 3 days you are going to learn just about enough to consider throwing yourself out of the classroom window or other such means of stopping your fillings melting. Prices even for semi decent sized businesses are eye watering but even though I seem to be bashing it, this really is likely the most advanced *normal CAD/CAM system you will ever come across. Massive overkill unless you are running a new Mazak multi-axis or other such £1,000,000++ system.
The chances of needing to use this for CAM’ing into a 2 axis lathe is pretty much zero (to be fair if you need to CAM a 2 axis lathe you probably made the wrong career choice anyways with a few small exceptions) Included for completeness only really. (And yes, I’ve used it extensively)
Price: £1,760 per year – £12,000+ permanent with support. (PLUS VAT)!
Available: HERE
So there we are, some CAD/CAM choices and some opinions that will likely piss off a few people (heyho). Buying something expensive that is difficult for the average crayon chewing engineer to pick up to achieve something like a £30 bolt making program is pointless. It’s not just software cost, it’s the downtime while people learn it and to be blunt, the capability of some folks to learn it. Horses for courses really, Me personally? AutoCAD for anything 2d and Rhinoceros for anything 3d, having DeltaCAD on my laptop is handy for the odd times I just need an intersection point and nothing too complex.