Designer Folk - I need a software recommendation

Flagship K Series Creality Flagship K2 Plus & CFS
1

TinkerCad has finally failed to provide something I need. Well, it’s never done it, but in the past I’ve always managed to find a workaround, but for various reasons this time I can’t.

It’s a basic 3D design operation; rotate a shape around an axis to enclose a volume and thus define a 3D shape. However, I need the ability for the created shape to have a void around the axis…so in effect creating an open ended cylinder.

I also need it to be preferably free, or at least available for a one-off reasonable price, not some ridiculous overblown two thousand dollar a year subscription that will not reflect the once-in-a-blue-moon use I will get out of it. Why, yes, Autocad, I am looking at you.

So, any suggestions?

Edit; third criteria. Easy. It needs to be easy. I’m in “FreeCAD” now and well…it’s not.

2

I use OnShape for all my design needs. Essentially Solidworks but free for the basic model and browser based.

3

I’m a fan of Fusion. It’s free (for non-commercial users). I think it’s easy to use. You may or may not agree, depending on your CAD experience (the methodology is a lot like SolidWorks) and your definition of “easy.”

The model you’re referring to is pretty much a 4-step operation in Fusion:

  1. Select which plane you want to sketch on

  2. Sketch 2 concentric circles (the OD and the ID)

  3. Dimension the circles to the size you want

  4. Extrude the area between the circles so the resulting cylinder is as long as you want.

[Edit:] I re-read the OP…To do a revolve, it’s only 3 steps in Fusion:

  1. Choose a plane to draw on

  2. Draw the enclosed shape you want to revolve, including the axis of revolution

  3. revolve the shape around the axis.

Easy.

1 Like
4

It IS easy…once you know where to find those three steps in the other forty million options!

5

Fusion 360 is the best if you don’t want to pay anything

6

Fusion360 will tempt you with some kind of free license, then switch this on you down the road. It may be great software, but for me, that’s a big no-no. They’ve done this multiple times in the past (trying to force all their free users to buy a license) but for some of us, that isn’t ever going to happen, so it becomes a huge headache. For that reason, I suggest to avoid it.

Here’s the list of software I show others when they ask about how to create a 3D model. The easier software is listed first, while the more capable (and complex) are listed last.

Autodesk TinkerCAD – web-based, very simple, geared towards kids and education. Good to start with if totally new to 3D modelling.

Trimble SketchUp – very easy-to-use; free version runs from web browser. Paid version has more features.

Shapr3D – easy to use, much more CAD-like and intuitive, limited free version or 14-day free trial of pro version (free for students and educators), $25/mo or $300/year. Windows/iPad/Mac.

OnShape – Full CAD capability in a web browser, but all designs on their free plan are public and non-commercial.

Autodesk Fusion 360 – very capable software, quirky, Windows-only. Regularly changes “free” policies. Tries hard to be the “one solution” for all of CAD/CAM, including electronics (this is what forcibly gobbled up Eagle.)

Plasticity – Advanced 3D modeler that is easy to use yet very powerful. 30-day trial, all OSes, $150.

FreeCAD – a “parametric” 3D CAD package, which can work well but has quite a steep learning curve. Very different from traditional CAD software. All OSes.

OpenSCAD – Create geometry from text script, even booleans; quite complex but quite capable. Good for simple parts only. Previous programming experience helpful.

Blender – a very complex package for 3D modelling, render, and animation. Not really CAD software per se, so challenging to use for precise modelling. Hundreds of addons available to help with CAD work though (3d-print toolbox, meshtools, fastcarve, etc.)

2 Likes
7

I swear by Onshape! - it’s truly professional design software, but completely on-line, so you can access and work on your designs from any computer in the house (and even your 'phone!), no need to worry about saving files, as it all happens automatically in the cloud, and every time you log in the software is completely up to date! Lots of training resources online (youtube etc). I moved from tinkercad very quickly after getting my first printer (nearly 10 years ago, now) and Onshape was just starting up as a company, so I got in early. I’ve grown with it ever since, although I’m still only scratching the surface of it’s capabilities.

8

I am going to take an Onshape course later this week, so that may become my go to. For the last few years, Tinkercad has met my simple needs.

What you are describing sounds very easy using T’Cad. Make a cylinder; copy it and shrink the copy; make the second part a Hole,… Insert…Group… What am I missing?

10

Everything, lol. , :grin:

That’s not what I want at all. Imagine I have a “stick figure” man. I want to spin him round a maypole so that I have a donut, but with the cross section of a man.

Damn but it’s hard to explain!

1 Like
11

Yes, I can’t figure that one out…Ha ha…Perhaps a pencil drawing of your intended project would help my old mind get it.

Even if I knew OnShape, I couldn’t create the object without a clean mental picture.

12

I tested a lot and used also FreeCad as well, the started also with ThinkerCAD, used a lot of OpenSCAD (already 10+ years ago) and switched then to Fusion360 first but as Autodesk changed free plan to max 10 active projects I went on to OnShape now for most of my projects.

It’s fast to start on any of my devices (also tablet) and I can handle more or less same as with Fusion but do not need to update local SW or switch or archive/reload projects permanently.

One of my small recent projects for the Grandson was this which I did on OnShape in about 15 minutes.

13

I vote for SOLIDWORKS, let me know if you need the model to be done, will do it for free in return on experience with K2 as I am planning to buy one.

14

OK, watch and laugh as I attempt to use Tinkercad to describe what Tinkercad cannot do…but as they say, a picture paints a thousand words so here goes;

image
image1920×804 82.1 KB

The cylinder X is my centre of rotation, the blue squiggle is what I want to rotate.

I CAN do it in Tinkercad, but it involves many steps as follows,

  1. making a mirror copy of the squiggle so that the axis is in the centre of the pair of squiggles;

    image
    image1920×804 82.9 KB

  2. duplicating and rotating the pair about the centre; here I used one degree, but I’d really like a higher resolution “circle” in practice;

    image
    image1920×804 94.5 KB

  3. until they meet to make the circle, at which point I group them;

    image
    image1920×804 110 KB

The “red” in the image is problem one…Tinkercad does NOT like grouping 180 items (360, allowing for the initial mirror image)…but it does (eventually) give me a “squiggle loop”…kind of like a stick of rock.

…actually this one is NOT grouping, so there really IS the problem…I’d have to use a thicker image and less revolutions, which means it will be blocky - like a 16 sided cylinder compared to a 128 sided one…I increased the thickness on this example form 2mm to 10mm, and the rotation from 1° to 5°. Even that represents (as far as Tinkercad is concerned) 72 objects that it has to join on every reload. Sloooooooowwwww…

image
image1920×804 133 KB

Now when I slice the ring…it has a squiggle profile all the way around;

image
image1920×804 104 KB

The squiggle could in practice be more or less complex, and in some cases may touch the origin (centre of rotation), and in others may not.

Did that help?

It will be even harder to describe WHY I want this…please don’t ask! I just know more professional software can do it quicker and treat the result as a single object…

15

Does experience with yet another extruder clog count? Grrr.

Tonight’s “gift” from Creality and the K2+ to me…I actually think the buildplate didn’t drop and that caused everything to back up, because I have a suspiciously thin smear of PETG that I now have to try and remove from it…

I was pleased that they included a tool kit. Less pleased at how often I find myself needing it!

16

I’ll put in another good word for Fusion; The process is the same for Solidworks. How to revolve a “stick” figure in 5 minutes:

17

The thing with Fusion;

Does it do what I want? Yes.
Is it as quick for basic operations as Tinkercad? No. Nowhere near.

Example; creating a simple cube.

Tinkercad…drag cube from parts drawer onto workspace. Done.

Fusion 360…draw four sides of a square. Make sure they all satisfy the “constraints” Makes sure they’re all bound and that the square isn’t “open”. Then extrude the square to the desired height.

Tinkercad process takes thirty seconds or less. Fusion 360 process is part of the tutorial…and I have to admit I’ve yet to complete it.

I can accept Fusion 360 is more powerful (your video proves it - Tinkercad simply CANNOT do that process without the “fudge” method I described) - but it’s not easy…and actually, watching the video you posted, I still cant see how it went from single stick figure to “stick figure UFO”…I must have blinked and missed what you pressed!

Edit: I since looked again and I can see there’s a specific “rotate” command, but not sure how you brought up the menu that it’s on, or how you told it which axis to rotate about. And of course you rotated around the original axis…how do you tell it to rotate around a different axis?

18

Yes, I admit that the aim of my video was less a tutorial and more of a “this is how quickly the task can be done” by someone familiar with Fusion.

I’ve found that, at least with Fusion and Solidworks, the basic process is the same: Quickly sketch something. Add dimensions to bring it into the exact size you need. Extrude or cut it the exact distance you need.

1 Like
19

I agree. I recently started trying to learn Onshape. It is free, and probably easier than Fusion, but I don’t really know that.

Anyhow… I quickly drew a box, extruded it in seconds and had my cube. No "constraints or other nonsense in Onshape.

The REVOLVE tool would have taken care of your project easily enough, too.

The fact is, after using Tinkercad for 4 years and with 4 different printers, it’s time that I learned Onshape (or any other similar program) so I can move forward. I’m 85, so I haven’t a lot of time ( ha ha )!!! Good luck. richg99

20

59, and I have Parkinson’s so my “best before” date is considerably before my “use by” date …if you catch my drift…

Parkinson’s doesn’t kill you, just eventually makes you wish it would.

Too dark? I gotta stop printing in black… :grinning::smirk: