Thread: Free 2D Drafting Software

Geee! You sound like you like it!

Still find a pencil and piece of paper easier.

I did a cut & paste of their blurb but I got the link from a bloke who has used it for work.

He posted it on an electronics forum.... 2D drafting suits electronic circuits.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

I did a cut & paste of their blurb but I got the link from a bloke who has used it for work.

He posted it on an electronics forum.... 2D drafting suits electronic circuits.

Will show the "Other Half"

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

I did a cut & paste of their blurb but I got the link from a bloke who has used it for work.

He posted it on an electronics forum.... 2D drafting suits electronic circuits.

Sounds good Cliff.

There are some demos here but they all seem to be mostly for the 3 D package.

Demos: PLM

You have to register to see demos?

You have to register to get the free download & I found the demos once I installed the program & ran it.

I tried solid edge but found that it was limiting in the way that it did things. I actually own autocad but have used progecad smart for a little while before I got it. It is very much like autocad, only the tools are in different places.

Only a 97mb download, also free for non commercial use.

And if you need other choices. Go Here

Robert

G'Day all,

I'm not a drafts person or engineer but I too have downloaded the solid edge 2D. Installed and have tried using it for the last week just to do a simple drawing for my saw cabinet. Got really frustrated trying to find where to set the scale, units of measurement (default is mm). Still haven't found where.

Tried doing research to find out where there's info on the upgrade version (pro I guess) and what are the extra goodies. Never did find anything on their site.

Have returned to Cadstd Pro for now, at least you can set the scale, unit type, paper representation and 'life size scale'. But I'll keep practicing with the solid edge - just stubborn about some things I guess. Maybe its my thinking !!.

There are many free cad packages nowdays. SE is a good one if you are familiar with the cad workflow. There is no "professional" version of SE2D, they are giving away the full blown 2D component. The version you pay for is the modelling package, 3D if you like. The trouble is for someone wanting to just do a basic 2D drawing a full blown package like that has an overhead you have to get past to get anything out of it and that's offputting.

Siemens own both solid edge and unigraphics. I use unigraphics at work, now known as NX. I've trialled solid edge and believe it's as good as solid works but 2/3 the price. Very intuitive and does a lot of things really nicely.

I have turbocad pro platinum at home which I got on ebay for about $300 or something ($1500 in aus). It's not a modelling package but it does 3D cad very nicely and nice rendering and raytracing so if you can live without the analysis functions it's ok. Basci versions of turbocad can be had for as little as $7 delivered Deluxe is the 2D product.