Lancashire & Yorkshire Locomotives - QCAD and Fusion 360

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
As I've still not done any modelling because of my misbehaving disc between L4 and L5, I've carried out some more CAD work.

The Hughes large boiler 0-8-0 is now looking like this:
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I have had a discussion with an advisor about the possibility of doing the firebox as a cast item.

Also, an update on the Hughes Compound 0-8-0

upload_2020-12-3_22-44-55.png

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Ian
 

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King Crab

Western Thunderer
Can I ask how you rate QCAD?
I use Autocad professionally, but I would need something cheaper (or Free!) for personal use.
I thought I might bring my CAD skills to help out on my modelling,

Peter
 

BrushType4

Western Thunderer
Can I ask how you rate QCAD?
I use Autocad professionally, but I would need something cheaper (or Free!) for personal use.
I thought I might bring my CAD skills to help out on my modelling,

Peter
Peter, I use Qcad for all my 2d work and I rate it very highly. I find it much simpler to use than AutoCad and I've yet to find something that I can't do in Qcad.
 

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
Peter,

As Phil has said, I really like QCAD, having never used any other CAD package. I found it intuitive, although admit there is a steep learning curve in respect of having to take material thickness into account for the final design.

Ian
 

J_F_S

Western Thunderer
Can I ask how you rate QCAD?
I use Autocad professionally, but I would need something cheaper (or Free!) for personal use.
I thought I might bring my CAD skills to help out on my modelling,

Peter

Hello Peter there are quite a few AutoCAD "lookalike" programmes based on the Intellicad Engine. If you are familiar with AutoCAD I would not go anywhere else as they all speak foreign-like over there! They are about one tenth to one twentieth of the price of AutoCad yet have very similar functionality in both 2 and 3 D. If you are an AutoCAD user, they feel very familiar - the interfaces are pretty well identical for the simple reason that they are designed to be! Also, AutoCAD files are used natively including reading Embedded Blocks and all the rest. The one thing which is missing is Parametrics but Parametrics is hardly AutoCad's strong point anyway.

The particular one I use is ProgeCad. - progeCAD Professional, the best Low Cost AutoCAD alternative. Professional quality for a fraction of the AutoCAD price. No annual fees It cost me alomost a couple of hundred quid though out of date free versions are available. It is not perfect but it is extremely good value. Alternatively, search for Intellicad and a number will pop up - including "free" versions with the usual limitations. If you are used to things like Blocks (which to me are essential for etch tools) you can't manage with enything that does not properly support them. Moreover, the dwg format is accepted directly by all of the etching companies.

Cheers,
 

King Crab

Western Thunderer
Hi J_F_S
Thanks for the update and recommendation. I'll give progeCAD a look.
Following the advocates on WT for QCad I downloaded a free version and had a play.
I got to grips with it fairly easily with some simple straightforward tasks, helped by Adrian's Youtube tutorials.

Not sure how I would get on with anything more complex.
The free version of QCad seems to keep cutting out and then asking whether you would like to upgrade, which is annoying.
You really need more than a ten minute play around before you make a decision!

Regards

Peter
 

GrahamMc

Western Thunderer
The free version of QCad seems to keep cutting out and then asking whether you would like to upgrade, which is annoying.
You really need more than a ten minute play around before you make a decision!

Regards

Peter

Hi Peter, you need to get to your programs and then in Qcad find the plug ins folder. In there you need to delete the following files.
qcaddwg.dll
qcadpolygon.dll
qcadproj.dll
qcadproscripts.dll
qcadtriangualtion.dll
The free version then runs without the prompts and the time limits.
 

BrushType4

Western Thunderer
Hi Peter, you need to get to your programs and then in Qcad find the plug ins folder. In there you need to delete the following files.
qcaddwg.dll
qcadpolygon.dll
qcadproj.dll
qcadproscripts.dll
qcadtriangualtion.dll
The free version then runs without the prompts and the time limits.

Is that ethical or am I missing something?
 

GrahamMc

Western Thunderer
Is that ethical or am I missing something?
As I understand it, yes it is ethical. It's been this way for many years, and I believe at one time you could delete these folders on the home screen. Rather than go into the folders all you had to do was click on a cross next to them to delete them. I believe doing this reduces the functionality to some extent, fair enough if the rest of it is free. IIRC it originally started as an open software project so I think elements of it have to remain as freeware. I also believe the dwg. file type is proprietory and this could be why it's included in the paid for version but you have to delete it in the free version. I'd be very happy to be corrected if I've misunderstood anything.

Edit, have a look at Qcad in Wikipedia, it tells you more about the licensing and appears to confirm some of the above.
 

King Crab

Western Thunderer
After further recommendations here, I researched progeCAD.
Unfortunately it is a Windows only product, whereas QCAD is Mac and Windows.
I'm a Mac user, so I'll have to stick with QCAD for the time being....

Peter
 
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