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Conference noted::woodworking_and_tools

Title:	Woodworking and Tools
Notice:	INDEX see 5.nn, BUY/SELL/SWAP see 7.nn
Moderator:	BAMVAX::GOODWIN

Created:	Sat Mar 01 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Jun 04 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2113
Total number of notes:	20008

2108.0. "CAD Software?" by STAR::KLEINSORGE (Frederick Kleinsorge) Mon Mar 03 1997 15:01

    
    Does anyone out there use any PC CAD tools for doing design and layout
    work?  I'm in the process of finishing several rooms in a basement, one
    of which I plan to library panel in oak.  Right now, I'm playing with
    tradeoffs between material costs and ethetics.  While I can do this
    with pencil, paper and a square, a nice CAD tool would make this a lot
    more plesant task.  The room design packages really are not up to this
    task, and besides, it would also be handy in doing other woodworking
    projects.
    
    Are there any good woodworking design CAD packages out there that people
    have tried and are happy with?  I don't want to blow money on bad
    software (I can write enough of that on my own).

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
2108.1	Good one won't be cheap	TLE::MATTHES		`Tue Mar 04 1997 08:24`	19
	I have not found one yet that I'm happy with. I have tried TurboCAD and Design CAD. TurboCAD does have 3D capability but I don't really want to work in 1.652 feet or 3.185 inches. I'd really like to be able to converse with the program in terms of 3'5-1\2". Course I'd also like to say "Put this point to the nearest 1/4" and be ble to set that granularity to at most 1/32 or 1/64. I'd also like to be able to say "You can't put it there. There's already a piece of wood there." I don't know about the more expensive packages like Visual Cad from Corel or AutoCAD LT but from my experience with these packages $4- - $100, I don't want to buy a $300 package and run into the same thing. The packages that I have support all kinds of printers, plotters, and digitizers. Do I care? I think I'm going to have to write my own in order to be happy. If anyone has a package out there that they are happy wih, I'd be real interested in hearing about it.
2108.2		HELIX::WELLCOME	Steve Wellcome SHR3-1/C22 Pole A22	`Tue Mar 04 1997 11:21`	16
	I've got AutoCAD LT, which can be had for $389 mailorder. Actually, there are two versions of LT being sold now, LTV2, for Windows 3.1, for $299 or so, and LT for Windows 95, which is about $100 more and has some more features like support for TrueType fonts, support for a digitizing tablet, etc. The Autodesk web site (www.autodesk.com) describes the features available. I'm not sure LT is necessarily what you want. While it has a lot of capability, I find some of its conventions to be really arcane. Once you get into the AutoCAD mindset they make sense, but I think some things could be more intutive. It can work in feet and inches and fractions and nearly any other dimension system you might want, to any tolerance. There is also Visual CAD, from Numera Sofware (www.numera.com). About a year ago they were offering a 30-day trial CD of their cad package. I haven't tried it.
2108.3		SHRCTR::PJOHNSON	Vaya con huevos.	`Tue Mar 04 1997 21:50`	5
	I found a shareware package that did what I wanted it to, a few years ago, and I'm sure we discussed it in here. If I get time. I'll try to find it. Pete
2108.4		CIM::LOREN	Loren Konkus	`Wed Mar 05 1997 08:51`	4
	I've tried tommycad (not bad) and draft choice, but always end up going back to paper & pencil. It's faster, and I can concentrate on what I'm designing rather than the tool. For complex stuff (like a deck or room layout) I usually build a model out of 1/4" posterboard.
2108.5		SHRCTR::PJOHNSON	Vaya con huevos.	`Wed Mar 05 1997 11:30`	3
	Thanks, Loren. DraftChoice was what I used to use. Peet