Easy to use CAD program?

[Stephen Cherry]

Does anyone have a suggestion for an easy to use CAD program? At one time I used autosketch (I think), but it was many years ago. Something cheap, easy, and capable enough to produce some drawings for templates, etc?

PS- I tried to search, but CAD is too short!

[ray hampton]

instead of using CAD, why not use the whole word for C. A. D.

[Jamie Buxton]

Deltacad is what I use for shop drawings. It works well. $40 or so. PC and Mac versions. www.deltacad.com

[Bruce Page]

instead of using CAD, why not use the whole word for C. A. D.

LOL! That will get you there.
There are lots of packages available, from free to expensive. I have always used AutoCAD for 2D work.

[Tony Joyce]

Take a look at VisualCADD. http://www.tritools.com/v6_demo.htm

[David Malicky]

ProgeCAD and Draftsight are great and free Autocad clones.
http://download.cnet.com/progeCAD-20...ml?tag=mncol;2
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/overview/

[Dan Hintz]

See my signature...

[Charles Lent]

You should investigate Sketchup. It's a 3D design program that's available for download FREE from Google. There are many tutorials available for it and within a couple of hours you will become quite proficient with it, mostly because it's so intuitive. I have tried many, but none were as easy to learn and use as Sketchup.

Charley

[Jerome Hanby]

+1 on Sketchup. I won't say it's the best thing since sliced bread, but it is relatively easy to use, it's free, and there are a ton of woodworkers that use it so examples and help are all over the place.

[johnny means]

+1 on Google Sketchup. I bought and tried many before finding Sketchup. It definitely was the most intuitive, while still being highly capable. Did I mention that it's free? No risk in trying.

[Mike Goetzke]

For 2-d drawings I too use DeltaCad. Bought it on a group buy here a few years back. If you don't make drawings all the time this is the program for you - very simple and intutitive. One feature I really like is it's ability to print full size (or scaled).

Mike

[Dan Valleskey]

Sketchup was fun, but I didn't spend enough time on it to get good. For shop stuff, I usually just need a 2D thing. Dassault Systèmes has released a free 2-D version of their excellent software, called DraftSight. It was easy for me to catch on to, but I have a lot of background with CAD, I used Pro-E for 10 years, ComputerVision before that.

-Dan V.

[Carl Beckett]

I use DeltaCAD for basic 2D drawings

And Sketchup for 3D

[Larry Browning]

I am interested in finding something either free or cheap(<$50) that a non-cad user can learn. I have attempted to use Sketchup 3 different times and "fun" is not the word I would use to describe my experience. "Frustrating" would be a better word for me. Recently I built a lectern for my wife to use in her classroom. I did not have a plan to go by, just a rough idea in my (her) head. I needed something to calculate sizes that would take into consideration dado depths and face frame pieces to come up with accurate component dimensions. After spending over an hour in SU and still not having anything useful, I gave up and drew it out on graph paper in about 15 minutes. Is there anything out there that is easy to learn for an total newbie, yet geared toward woodworking? Or am I hopeless and should just stick with paper and pencil?

BTW: If I am hijacking the thread, just tell me and I will start a new one.

[Stephen Cherry]

BTW: If I am hijacking the thread, just tell me and I will start a new one.

No Hijack Larry- that's what I'm looking for also.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions- I'm going to take a look at them. For me it's a little embaressing- I'm about the last of the engineers that learned to draw with pencil and paper. I never learned the drawing programs very well.