3DPrinting

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3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

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I liked Fusion 360, I like Onshape - but I'd rather like something that I won't lose over the whims of one company. So, what? (feddit.org)

submitted 9 months ago by the_fourth@feddit.org to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world

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I am not a design draftsman, I'm not an engineer. My workflow is usually: I put something on the scanner, load the calibrated scan, trace the outline, throw a few sketches on various planes in there, round a few edges, print it and I'm done.

Fusion 360 scratches that itch very well but requires me to keep a Windows VM and also their free model felt more and more unusable. OnShape is a nice substitute that works fine for me, but I don't like the "free or 1500€/year" approach. Without a middle ground subscription for makers it feels that I could lose anything the second their energy prices for servers go up or something.

The list of CAD software is exhaustive, so I am looking for recommendations that fit my "eh, click, click, click, good enough" workflow. FreeCAD is way too unintiuitive for that. I have tried getting into it, but 3D printing is a tool for me and the learning curve quickly made using it another hobby.

So. Suggestions welcome. Scalding criticism about my lack of enthusiasm and consumer mentality not so much, but I guess that comes bundled with useful advice, so, eh, I'll take it.

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[–] n3cr0@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is not the answer to your work flow, but I found a lightweight solution that works for my simple designs: OpenSCAD

The work flow here is to implement geometrical shapes within a few lines of code.

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

OpenSCAD is pretty good, but I've run into issues with the rotate/extrude. Also only saves as a mesh, which may or may not matter for your application