Recommend a decent low cost or free tool for solid modelling?

scottr99scottr99
Hi all, very nice to be here. I just signed up and purchased Mecway for non-commercial use, so just getting started (though I'm not new to FEA) .

I'm curious to know what you all are using for your solid modelling. I know FreeCad is available but I was wondering if there's anything else that I'm missing out on, for use on Windows 7 64-bit.

Thank you and I look forward to future discussions with you all.

Best regards,
Scott

Comments

  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited June 2016
    I've been using Rhino. It's pretty good, but hard to get operations to complete a lot of times. It doesn't do filleting good at all. So I wouldn't call it a solid modeller. It's really a nurbs surface modeller. Keyshot is looking very interesting as both a surface and solid modeller. They are making their own kernal now and will soon have an update using that kernal. They partnered with AMPS for an interesting FEA application. However, it's not cheap.
  • SergioSergio
    edited June 2016
    Hi, I came from automotive industrie were we use tools like NX or Catia. For working as freelancear I hace choosed Onshape that is online CAD modeling very well suited fof FEA model preparation and keep the same layout than traditional packages. Is free for small bussines.

    Some of the things that you can do are:
    Model simplification
    De featuring
    Face and body splitting
    Boolean operations on solids
  • avicoavico
    You can test Salome

    http://www.salome-platform.org/downloads/current-version

  • scottr99scottr99
    Hi, thank you for the responses. I took your advice Sergio and opened an account with Onshape! It seems very capable, thanks very much for this!
  • SergioSergio
    edited June 2016
    I was able to model real parts on Onshape without need to read tutorials or help, something that I cannot said of Freecad. The way of work is very like professional tools like Solidworks or Solidedge.
  • scottr99scottr99
    Hi Sergio, I agree about FreeCad! I also have experience with NX and Catia. I'm very surprised how Onshape, existing in a cloud, can be so powerful! Great recommendation!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    The people that started solidworks started onshape, after they sold solidworks to dassault. I am not into online software though, so never tried it. There is an fea add-on called simsolid for onshape that is pretty interesting though. It works with step files too without the need for onshape. But it's features are limited since it is a new program.
  • tcarsontcarson
    I am a big fan of Fusion 360. It is free for anyone making under $100,000. in addition to being good CAD the CAM capabilities are great. It is web based which I was not a big fan of but is ok. you can work offline but I usually don't

    Main Features
    CAD
    Sculpt
    FEA(limited)
    Rendering
    CAM

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