Gauge3

Quote from: LaurenticSolid Edge seems only available for Windows, not Mac.  And even then, it seems it needs Windows 10 or 11, Enterprise or Professional with active MicrosSoft support.  So unless you are an up-to-date Windows operative........

Yes, Solid Edge CE only runs on Windows but I am running SE2026 on both Windows 10 & Windows 11 i5 Laptops Home Edition quite happily.
Both laptops came with Windows pre-installed on purchase and everything worked well out if the box.  Life is too short (and rapidly getting shorter in my case) for me to start re-inventing wheels that already turn perfectly... 

Regards,

IanT

Quote from: Dave OttoDoes LiebreCAD have the ability to open and save DXF files?  Sometimes a basic 2D CAD program is pretty handy. I used to use AutoCAD 2000  years ago but it won't install on the newer operating systems anymore. Dassault Systems the Solid Works people, came out with a 2D program called DraftSight that was pretty much a carbon copy of the AutoCAD interface, and it was free. Then after they got a pretty large installed base they started charging for it, and it was more than I wanted to spend for occasional use.

Dave

Dave, as I mentioned in my earlier post, Solid Edge CE has an exellent 2D CAD system built into it - with the advantage that the UI for 2D sketching is pretty much the same as that for it's 3D sketching, so Solid Edge offers a very gentle path from 2D to 3D if you require it. I've moved much of my TurboCAD 2D across to SE-CE '2D' now (via DXF files) and they open perfectly. If I wish to create a 'new' 2D drawing, then i simply open a new Solid Edge CE 'draft' document. I then have all the 2D features I had in TurboCAD (and a lot more).

I'm currently running SE-CE on both Win 11 & Win 10 (Home Editions). It's free to download.

Regards.

Quote from: uuu

Quote from: petertha

Quote from: uuuI use Siemens SolidEdge, which is free for hobbyists.  It's not got CAM built in.

Wilf

This came up on our local forum. My comment was I wonder why SE is not more popular among hobbyists desiring a free & powerful app along the lines of Solidworks, Inventor, F360 (but where CAM wasnt on the prerequisite list). I'm speaking more from a SolidWorks background. I would love to recommend SW Maker at $50/year which is essentially the full licence seat app, no cloud handcuffs (yay), limited file format exports (expected for non-commercial). But seems like getting at SW-Maker through the Swamp known as 3D-Experience is a royal cluster that just never seems to get rectified going on years now. At least what i glean from forums. Like every day someone says I opened Maker & it blew its brains out, not sure why, maybe an update & no longer recognizes my logon and....

Anyway, just curious if you have prior/other 3D-CAD experience to compare SE? How do you find learning resources, help forums, that kind of thing?

I had been using the 2D SolidEdge before transitioning to the 3D version.  Although building a 3D model is conceptually very different from 2D, the familiarity with the program's approach to things really helped.  I briefly tried Fusion 360 when I needed the 3D, but I preferred the familiar feel of SE.  And it works stand-alone - no internet required.    I'm also surprised that it works perfectly well on my middle-range laptop - I can have animated six cylinder four-stroke engines and it doesn't complain.

I do watch the occasional video and look up the online instructions.  But you have to ask the right question to get the right answer - and if you can frame the question in the right jargon, then you're already close to the solution.  So it can get frustrating, knowing the program must do a thing, but not not knowing which incomprehensible little symbol must be clicked, or what its proper name is.

Wilf

Another vote for Solid Edge Community. I've been using it now for over six years and it suits my needs very well. I was a TurboCAD 2D user for 20 years but needed 3D modelling and found the TC 3D unusable. After a brief flirt with Open SCAD and Fusion, I discovered Solid Edge CE and it just seemed to work well for me (I have no deep technical explanation to offer). After using both TC2D and SE 3D for a while, I almost stumbled on the fact that SE had a very good 2D CAd buried inside it (using 'Draft' documents) and I was able to move any needed TC2D into Solid Edge as DXFs and everything (layers, dimensions etc) were all there. So I don't need to use TC2D anymore. Solid Edge is very fully featured - but in simple terms

Solid Edge 'Pros' - No cloud, it's all local (CAD & files). It's a full free license - only restriction is that CE files will not open in commercial versions of SE. 2D CAD can be used as pathway to 3D (I didn't but might do so in hindsight). Offers Synchronous & Ordered working (I really like synchronous). Can open/export many different file types. It has excellent documentation. Siemens issue new versions every year (I'm on SE2026 currently. It runs on Win 10 & 11 Home Editions. SE has excellent Microsoft integration (Excel etc) should you need it

Solid Edge Cons - No Mac or Linux versions. No CAM component, I think that's about it.

Solid Edge - CE can be downloaded here. You only need to register once.  https://resources.sw.siemens.com/en-US/download-solid-edge-community-edition/

Regards,

IanT

Well, at least that's three of us who appreciate SE Wilf, although we are probably in the minority with regards to Hobby CAD Users. This is a pity as Solid Edge really is very good (and free to hobbyists) provided you are a Windows user.

You've got a lot further than I have with animations but I'm sure I'll figure it out when I need to.

Nice work again btw.

Regards,


IanT

There may be some clues in this video.

I'm afraid it's the kind YouTube I'm not very keen on.  Although described as a "Tutorial" it's just a film of the process without any explanation and also done at pace, so it's quite hard to follow. However it may yield some pointers with a lot of frame freezing and replay.



Working through the Siemens documentation would probably also be useful.

https://docs.sw.siemens.com/en-US/doc/246738425/PL20220830878154140.validate/motor1c

Solid Edge is a very capable CAD, you just need to know how to use it 


Regards,


IanT