I know there a lot of engineers, fabricators, and welders on here. My dad has been a welder for a long time. It's a side job for him. He does a lot of repair work, pipe fences, cattle guards, and a few entryways. He made a bed for my brother and sister-in-law and then made one that I designed. Now my cousin and his wife want one and mom too. He is looking at his like it could be a bigger side job or even a retirement job. He has found a supplier/distributor of architectural metals and they have their products on file so they can be put in CAD. What do you guys use? What do you suggest? (this would get me one step closer to a front bumper and rear bumper and tire carrier). Thanks for your input!!

 

Autocad.

My son starts using it next year as a freshman in highschool. It's one of his elective classes - engineering design!

 

I use autocad also.

 

Me too

 

Dare I ask how much $$?

 

SolidWorks and AutoCad

 

I use Cadkey 97. I know it is old and not as user friendly as AutoCad, but I know how to use it and it was free.

I use it to design what I want to make at work and then take in my drawings to our engineer and he plugs it into AutoCad so that he can program my flat parts to our burn table.

 

I do work for alot of public agencies (DOT's, Airports, Cities), and many of them require Bentley MicroStation. Seems like Bentley spent the late 80's & 90's selling large license pools to agencies while they were somewhat of a mystery to much smaller firms.

 

Mine is free through work. My son's is $50 in a three year student-use license.

Think autocad is bad, try buying SPSS and paying for their license (like I do). SPSS is data mining and statistical analysis software.

 

if you or your direct family members are students (or teachers), check out h tt p://www.journeyed.com for discounted prices on name brand software including CAD. I've bought quite a bit here over the years.