- DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL VS FREECAD SOFTWARE
- DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL VS FREECAD PC
- DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL VS FREECAD FREE
That's about it for now, I will post a more concise FreeCAD vs DesignSpark Mechanical comparison later.
There's a forum user who came up with a workaround but it's annoying to have to go through this. But all you can provide him is a file in polygon mesh format which is unsuited for precise machining or plastic injection. Okay, your machine shop says: "we're fully computerized, send me a STEP or IGES file of your model and I will feed it to my machine". There's your first hurdle right here: DesignSpark cannot produce technical drawings with projected 2D orthographic views. You'll feel physical pain trying to use it. But if you at any point have grown accustom to any commercial 'standard' cad suite. The next step may be to produce a drawing to send to a machine shop for a more precise/sturdy prototype or for a small pre-production run. If you just want to play around and do hobby level stuff, it will work GREAT for your needs. You will start with a prototype made by 3D printing. Let's say for example that you have an idea and want to design some product to be mass produced. But for anything else DesignSpark will be mostly useless. It is fine if all you'll ever do is design parts for 3D printing. Many more functions have been removed as well, like (as far as I know) the ability to produce technical drawings. You can mostly export to mesh formats, STL being one. When I say DesignSpark is crippled, it's because while it is a true solid modeler, the ability to export to real CAD formats (STEP, IGES) has been stripped from it. I believe you can import many components sold by RS in DesignSpark. DesignSpark is licensed to RS Components, an electronics component supplier. That being said, for years before adopting FreeCAD, CAD was an interest of mine, and I continue keeping track of what's out there, even if not as closely as before.ĭesignSpark Mechanical is a crippled version of SpaceClaim, a commercial CAD solid modeler. FreeCAD is open source, and it tends to attract a lot of people with this kind of mindset. Then some of us will not (or try very hard not to) use a commercial program, even if it's free, for philosophical reasons.
DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL VS FREECAD PC
I have Windows 7 on my home PC but do not use it, in fact I plan on removing it from my PC soon. Youll feel physical pain trying to use it.
DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL VS FREECAD SOFTWARE
Currently though DSM covers what I need so the ethics fit better.You will find that for many of us here, a Windows-only software is a show stopper, because we use one of the many available Linux distributions (some others use Macs). If you just want to play around and do hobby level stuff, it will work GREAT for your needs. I do appreciate why others use these licences though as the software is much more powerful.
DESIGNSPARK MECHANICAL VS FREECAD FREE
Such an example is onshape (Thomas Sanladerer did a YT about his experience) My concern would be investing my time and effort into models only to have the free licence pulled and have my effort locked in. Discover the best Fusion 360 alternatives with this list. I am very anti-cloud where their system lock you in from escaping having fallen foul of "couldn't give a toss" companies. After the lastest screwup from AD with the licensing, cost me a days work, I decided to switch over to Freecad (0. I don't 5hink it is counted a s open source though.Īdvantages Fully installed application that has no reliance on an internet connection to start up or save YOUR work on an ongoing basis No restrictions on type of email address used to register No insistence on saving in the cloud Ties into their PCB design softwareĭisadvantages No 3d mirroring (you cannot mirror flip a part, you can mirror in the 2d domain) Limited parametric features More complex elements have to be done manually (you can't just draw a shaft and say make it an M6 thread, you have to design the thread cutter and rotate it) Next to no motion features.