Good Free 2D Cad Programs?

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:13 pm

Hi,

Are there any simple, free 2D CAD programs for Windows?

A naive search on sourceforge wasn't very helpful. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,

Mike

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 10:21 pm

Here's a list:

http://www.freebyte.com/cad/cad.htm#2D3DCADSystems

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:18 pm

Thanks Joseph,

Has anyone used any of those programs?

Mike

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:46 pm

Alibre & Cocreate are free, but the programs are internet tethered to a degree. I didn't like either one all that much, but they worked. Of the two, Alibre is probably the best (easiest to use, least annoying)

Stay away from BRL-CAD; it's basically a DOS program with a primitive GUI-Shell.

If you are a student or a staff member/educator at a school or university, you can get Rhino3D for a pretty good price. It can be used as a 2D CAD program (just limit your drawings to one plane).

Are you looking for a CAD program because you need to do accurate dimensioning or just a vector based program that lets you scale your drawings? If you only need a vector program, Inkscape is free and adequate.

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:05 pm

Thanks macfrank,

I have Inkscape but it isn't accurate enough and frequently locks-up.

I need a program with real dimensioning that supports circular arrays. Something equivalent to an old DOS version of Autosketch would be fine.

I'm not sure if if I have enough computer to run large programs.

Thanks,

Mike

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 12:23 am

Wug wrote:T
I need a program with real dimensioning that supports circular arrays. Something equivalent to an old DOS version of Autosketch would be fine.

I'd almost forgotten about CadStd. It is pretty easy to use and doesn't have huge computer requirements. The "Pro" version has more features and seems like a good deal for $40.

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:18 pm

Thanks again macfrank,

I just downloaded CADStd. Hopefully it will work.

Mike

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:56 am

Thanks macfrank,

CadStd did everything I needed it to do.

Mike

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 9:45 am

Wug wrote:Thanks macfrank,

CadStd did everything I needed it to do.

Mike

I'm glad it worked. It's a pretty nice, basic CAD program, even in the free version.