has anybody used this software to actually make parts or for prototyping stuff. i want to learn autocad and i downloaded this but i am completely new to this field. does anybody have experience with this or any other kind of autocad software, or know where i could find some good tutorials on it. youtube has a few but they kind of suck. also if anyone has done anywork with this do you mind posting up what you made how long the process took to draw it up and get it machined?

 

I recommend SolidWorks.... tons of information online, very good program. As an engineering student I use it on an almost daily basis for school projects and when designing parts for my school's Formula SAE car.

Actually, today I was using it to try to design a harness bar to mount a harness I got for free the other day... couple of minutes on the waterjet and a few tig welds later I should have a decent enough prototype for autocross only (trying to build it super quick so not trusting it on the street).

 

I'll second SolidWorks...my engineering friends swear by it.

 

So which solid works do you recomend specificly i seen like two or 3 versions? I saw a student version and i cant remember the other

 

I use Solidworks for everything

 

Solidworks is good for certain things, but I wouldn't swear by it. Although it is a very easy software to learn and pick up. If you're a student Dassault Systèmes sells a student premium version for around $100 for a year. (when I was a student, not sure what it is now)

Autodesk Inventor on the other hand is free for students and has no expiration date. It's a bit "clunky" compared to Solidworks but it does the same thing.

CATIA if you're super hardcore! This is what I use at work.

-Edit-

*If you're not a student*

If you're going to do FEA or check tolerances/ basically all the cool things, Premium is the way to go. If you're not, the Professional version is the cheapest and will do basic things (3d modeling, creating manufacturing prints).

 

I use AutoCad and Pro-E at work, but have worked in Solidworks, Inventor, CATIA, Rhino...all of which have its merrits...we use Pro-E for all mechanical parts and assemblies, and creat STP files with it to send to machine shop, and DXF for sending to Waterjet

 

i also use Solidworks

 

I use Unigraphics,
Try this site for training. It has a lot of the programs. I haven't used it personally though. Good thing to have incase you need to learn new programs.

https://myigetit.com/library