First time user. Best Cad software is?

Bambu Lab X1 Series Troubleshooting
1

had zero experience on 3D printers.
One week ago Took the plunge & purchased a Carbon X-1
Wow! so glad I did. Even trying to learn Fusion 360??!! Boy, that’s a real challenge & not so intuitive!!

My only complaint is,
For example, my CNC machine uses Carbide Create a very simple & intuitive piece of software I could use instantly & so easy to self learn. Same for my X-Tools Laser. Again uses its own design software Creative Space which is so easy to use & design very complex shapes so quickly! I absolutely love it, you can center, weld together, copy & pager or import anything effortlessly & effectively.

If Bambu had the same, your machines would sell out even quicker. I am sure many 3D printer users soon become despondent with just printing other people’s designs. Is this something you are looking at going forward? I am very happy to try out any new design software/ working with you to evaluate it. It would be fantastic to have the same or dare I say even better than Creative Space.

Kevin. Browne.

When asking for help, please provide as much information as possible about your inquiry.
Including pictures and detailed information about the print speeds, filament type and settings used will help get the appropriate solutions.

3 Likes
2

Fusion 360 is a good CAD. It’s not too hard to use while flexible enough to create complex models.

I saw some use Tinkercad. It’s supposed to be easier, but it may not be able to create sophisticated models.

Bambu Lab also makes some tools that are easy to use for specific kinds of models. Go expand the Generative 3D Model and one can see these. Starting from Make My Sign all the way down to Make My Desk Organizer, these are the tools made by BL.

Screen Shot 2024-07-29 at 3.54.59 PM

3

The simplest answer is; Whatever CAD works for you.

However, since I use a number of CAD products, I did post about this topic some time ago.

Last week I took the plunge and started down the path of learning SolidWorks, the Maker’s license. I still favor Onshape as my go to resource but my company has recently asked people in my role to start using SolidWorks more. So now I figure that I can use this hobby to enhance my professional knowledge. So far, I can say the learning curve is very steep but I also am starting to see the appeal of a well made piece of software that runs locally. I do not hold the same opinion of Fusion 360. While it is adequate, I am unimpressed by AutoCADs commercial practices and it shows in how they really set up road blocks to user enjoyment of their software. That is typical of the company who’s software I first started using in 1989.

3 Likes
4

Do you use their free tier? I’ve seen good things bout Onshape, but I struggle with the idea of all my projects being public if I stick with the free tier.

5

The saving grace of this that the search system for “public” projects is so bad it’s near impossible to find anything :slight_smile: “Hidden in plain sight”

3 Likes
6

Any CAD is better than no CAD :slight_smile: - without CAD I wouldn’t need a 3D printer…

I don’t recommend my CAD, the English language licenses are too expensive for someone starting out.

Furthermore, materials science, the simplest construction theory, supports (solid sliding), force theory such as torsion, force flow (notch effect) - just play around and learn…

And the most important thing of all: risk assessment. The first question before each drawn line is whether it could put someone at risk. And the devil is a squirrel.

Search for CAD here in the forum, you will find a lot… But at some point commercial use will come and an upload will no longer be a “private application”. An upload is public, even if it was done by a private person…

And no, it’s not a challenge - it’s just practice. Learning to ride a bike is also a challenge for a 5-year-old - the only difference is that the 5-year-old doesn’t yet know what the word challenge means and just tries again and again… That he doesn’t think about the word challenge and just has fun.

3 Likes
7

Yes, I use Onshape’s free tier. But in all fairness, anything that might be proprietary in nature, I wouldn’t use Fusion 360 either because they force your stuff into the cloud. Yes, I know, this can be controlled but the default settings make it all too easy to mistakenly close down the app and before you know it, you’re design is in their hands.

3 Likes
8

I feel your pain about Fusion (no longer Fusion 360). But, you’re going to have to learn somebody’s CAD, and if you suffer through learning Fusion, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you know the most popular CAD program out there. I’m 79 and still learning it.

2 Likes
9

It seems to me that the difficulties you are experiencing moving from Carbide Create and X-Tool laser software are due to now having to work in 3D, instead of mostly 2D vectors. Extra complexity comes with the territory, unfortunately. It will take time to wrap your head around it, no matter what CAD software you end up settling with.

The three most favored are Fusion 360, OnShape, and SolidWorks. The latter used to be prohibitively expensive but now offers a hobbyist license. Personally, I chose Fusion 360 — though lately, I am dismayed by its declining performance on the same hardware.

These three all share the same basic (recommended) workflow of creating a 2D sketch and extruding those shapes into 3D space. Sketches can be created on any existing plane, including previously extruded faces.

Google’s SketchUp is also popular but not as much for physical 3D design work, for no particular reason I can figure.

There are beginner options such as TinkerCAD and free software like OpenSCAD and FreeCAD, but I’ve tried them all and would recommend starting out with the software you intend to continue using. These beginner options have hard limits you will hit quite soon, and having to redesign your projects from scratch in new software can be highly frustrating.

For me, the top two choices are OnShape and Fusion 360. There are arguably other options that are as good or even better in some ways but relatively obscure. The only problem with those is trust in their longevity. Many are start-ups or based in countries with questionable stability. That matters a LOT to me when it’s a cloud-based solution.

SolidWorks is an industry old-guard product and, if I recall correctly, can be downloaded and run on your own machine without a cloud login requirement, but it only runs on Intel Windows, not natively on Mac of any kind.

Finally, both OnShape and Fusion 360 have tons of online resources to help you learn their tricks, as well as currently active and vibrant communities. The rest, not so much.

Good luck!

1 Like
10

Thank you everyone.

Yes, I was searching for a short cut.

I will persevere with Fusion!

11

I’ve tried a loooot of CAD softwares and here’s my take…

First of all, Bambu can’t easily make a CAD software like Carbide Create did with Carbide Space - because of the added complexity. Carbide Space is just a 2D vector program, which in itself takes some time to develop, but there a lot of open source libraries to do that - such as Inkscape.

When working in 3D, there are a lot more things to consider and parametric 3D complicates things further.

There are no great free options, except for Blender which isn’t parametric (well, the CAD Sketcher add-on tries to remedy just that, but more on that later). But it all comes down to personal preferences and the complexity level you want to delve into.

  1. TinkerCAD. Free to use but very limited. Very intuitive and easy to learn, and can be used to make a lot of stuff. Great starting point for beginners with a fast reward in terms of being able to make things. But… there are no array or mirroring functions, there is no way to bevel/crease edges for softer edges and softer corners - and all basic shapes (spheres, cylinders, doughnuts etc.) have limited resolution.

  2. Fusion 360: Free to use personal and non-commercial. This is the golden standard which can do anything fairly intuitive. It seems very overwhelming at first, but that’s due to the sheer amount of freedom and tools you have available. Just learn to use a limited set of tools at a time, and you’ll be spitting out cool sketches in less than a month. Even when you feel like giving up, try and try again - and you’ll get there.

  3. OpenSCAD. Free and open source - great for programmers, very hard to understand for anyone not so inclined. Personally, I love OpenSCAD. It’s by far the slowest way that I can make anything, but it’s so cool to see my code becoming something that can be changed with mere sliders. Want to make a hinged box but you’re not sure which size it should be? OpenSCAD gives you the opportunity to manipulate width, height, depth, latch placement, latch type and more, by just changing some numbers. No more remodelling or repositioning.

  4. Blender. Free and open source - best for organic modelling, but hard to learn due to a steep learning curve. Okay, so you find Fusion 360 hard to learn? Welcome to Blender, which will drive you insane at first. It nearly did me, and I’m educated in 3D Studio MAX, which is fairly similar to Blender (lol no it isn’t, but they’re meant to do the same tasks). Actually, remember that thing with OpenSCAD and the how it’s clever we can use sliders to transform our objects? Blender can do that too by using Geometry Nodes. And they work basically like programming, except it’s a drag and pull system. Very cool once you get the hang of it! And this geometry nodes system is exactly what the add-on/plugin CAD Sketcher tries to utilize, to give you that parametric CAD experience within Blender. However, the last time I tried CAD Sketcher, it had so many errors that I just gave up on it. Blender is rapidly developing, and I use it for organic modelling and to visualize things on my job (visualizations, not prints). You can print whatever you make in Blender, but if you want mechanical parts or non-organic things, you’re probably better off in other programs.

6 Likes
12

Hi & thank you very much.
I always say “Never give up” so, I am now on a mission to learn Fusion 100%

1 Like
13

I have used SketchUp to 3d print lots of thinks, like HMI screen holders, small electrical enclosures, gears, ducting adapters…ect.
It’s a cheap and nice bit of kit to use.
I am also learning how to use Siemens NX.

14

Shapr3D if you can afford the subscription, but you can try it for free to see if you like it, the main limitation of not paying is low quality exporting.

Fusion is good but runs like ass on a Mac so keep that in mind (not sure how it runs on Windows)

2 Likes
15

Thank you.
Yes, it’s a bit the same on Windows.

16

I am in love with Shapr3d on my iPad. Has a (in my opinion) intuitive control, but for some things I still have to use fusion 360 (mainly to convert stls to step files or create gears).

1 Like
17

I second this. I use this at work for a lot of development and production modeling. It’s fairly robust for both macOS and especially iPad. OP, if you’re on the fly at all and want to whip up a new drawing, it’s the best program for that use case. Otherwise, it’s down to feature sets for what you need! One complaint I will say about Shapr3D is that you cannot calibrate an image, but other than that, it’s pretty golden.

1 Like
18

@jakobdam

Well, same opinion about blender. At the moment it’s supposed to have CAD add-ons that are really useful - but I really don’t have time to get back in there.

But:

I like Blender, and if you want to do it the right hard way, then Blender is definitely the first step. I really worked on it at least a decade ago like a madman for a year until I got into Blender.

For me, Fussion 360 is simply the cheap version of Inventor - I just don’t trust Fussion and at some point they’ll put the lid on it… And Autodesk, if they ever ask for money, then they want the big piece of the cake… just my Autodesk Inventor training - several thousand USD. By Autodesk, we’re talking about a NASDAQ noted stock exchange company and not about a few programmers who put something online open source… Autodesk is also one of the largest investors in 3D technology, but certainly for sure not in the private field. Autodesk = Big Business, Big Sales and Big Bills. Fussion, just looks too much for me like sowing and at some point the harvest will come… But I could also be wrong. So they definitely have the time and know to programm a counter how many models were created in Fussion and than uploaded and downloaded on Makerworld - and they definitely have the time to wait. And they know well when and how to do the harvest.

Anyway, Blender is the hard way and those who have it under control will be so fast at drawing that they will leave everyone else out in the cold when it comes to drawing at speed. But when you go in there, don’t think that someone with children and a wife will find the time for it. Than you have to be young one without obligations… but 100 times better than wasting your time with, for example, video games… .

19

I haven’t seen it mentioned here yet: Ondsel.

It’s a modified version of FreeCAD, and as such there is a fully free version of Ondsel as well with no on-line or cloud requirement, and it’s much better than FreeCAD (although the expectation is that FreeCAD will use the advances of Ondsel to improve itself.) For now, Ondsel is much more usable for folks coming from other CAD software than FreeCAD is.

3 Likes
20

Another vote for Solidworks home/hobbyist license. Price may depend on region, but it’s pretty inexpensive and you’re basically getting access to a professional level CAD package for peanuts. If you’re young and you’re going to spend time learning something, it has more recognition than the other packages suggested, so is good resume fodder. It can’t be used commercially, so if you’re selling what you design and print, there’s likely a legal issue there.