Hello all,

 

I'm trying to get my '13-almost-18-year-old' interested in CAD, as a skill to learn while he's young, and develop as he gets older. I feel it will 1) give him a skill that will be very useful and 2) occupy his spare time with something better than computer games  He has said he is interested, and we have had a quick Google for where to start, he is a bright kid and pretty tech savvy so I'm hoping he'll pick it up fairly easily. I am totally new to this too, so not at all familiar with it.

 

So:

• Any suggestions where to start?
• Any pitfalls to look out for?
• Are there free downloads for beginners? I don't mind paying for a basic version, but not prepared to invest hundreds, until he shows real commitment 
• Will he need any particular hardware (currently using a Lenovo T530)

 

I'd really appreciate any input/advice - thanks. 

I use onshape.com for most of my CAD.

 

It's a free online CAD so runs in the browser so should be in fine on most laptops. I've found it very intuitive for designing items I've then either 3D printed or laser cut. The only obvious catch being that anything you design using it is publicly accessible unless you pay

 

The biggest part to make this interesting is to actually have a problem to solve. If he has a problem to solve, then it makes the entire process worthwhile...

18 minutes ago, langers2k said:

I use onshape.com for most of my CAD.

 

It's a free online CAD so runs in the browser so should be in fine on most laptops. I've found it very intuitive for designing items I've then either 3D printed or laser cut. The only obvious catch being that anything you design using it is publicly accessible unless you pay

 

The biggest part to make this interesting is to actually have a problem to solve. If he has a problem to solve, then it makes the entire process worthwhile...

 

Thanks mate - really helpful, I'll take a look tonight. I was thinking he could progress into 3D printing too 

 

I have many problems to solve, I'm not sure that CAD will help though  That is an excellent point though, and I'll give it some thought.

 

Cheers!

I'm teaching myself Autocad. The software is the industry standard with lots of tutorials etc available both as part of the package and online as apps, you tube videos etc. The cost is around £1500 for the full version and it's also available on a yearly subscription basis.

 

The good news is it's available free for educational purposes, I downloaded it when I was doing my (unrelated) masters using my student details. I'm sure you can do the same for students at school. I personally wouldn't waste time learning anything else if you can access Autocad. Here's a brake disc I did after about 20/30 hours experience.

 

Solidworks do a student license for their stuff.

i know its  used as part of Leaving Certificate Design and Communications too (formerly called Technical Graphics in my day) it might seem a bit ott, but its where most practices are going with design as you can model stress and strain reactions /deflections and failure modes etc with a library of different material properties in the software.

if hes showing an interest, id say its worth it as an investment in his future ability. Packages like that are far easier learn when youre young - fear of f'king it up doesnt exist so theyll try stuff more freely and learn the steps faster than when older even from 13-18 yr old.

Draftsight is free if you only need 2D.

Thank you all. He has registered with Onshape, I'll let him give that a go and take it from there. 

 

9 hours ago, B33fy said:

I'm teaching myself Autocad. The software is the industry standard with lots of tutorials etc available both as part of the package and online as apps, you tube videos etc. The cost is around £1500 for the full version and it's also available on a yearly subscription basis.

 

The good news is it's available free for educational purposes, I downloaded it when I was doing my (unrelated) masters using my student details. I'm sure you can do the same for students at school. I personally wouldn't waste time learning anything else if you can access Autocad. 

 

Think this will be the next stage. I want to make sure he's committed/interested enough. I actually started to register him for the free software, but his DOB prevented him from accessing it - seems he may be too young? Perhaps he'll have to grow up suddenly...

 

9 hours ago, mac11irl said:

Solidworks do a student license for their stuff.

i know its  used as part of Leaving Certificate Design and Communications too (formerly called Technical Graphics in my day) it might seem a bit ott, but its where most practices are going with design as you can model stress and strain reactions /deflections and failure modes etc with a library of different material properties in the software.

if hes showing an interest, id say its worth it as an investment in his future ability. Packages like that are far easier learn when youre young - fear of f'king it up doesnt exist so theyll try stuff more freely and learn the steps faster than when older even from 13-18 yr old.

 

Thanks mate, no harm in him trying different options I suppose, although I'd rather he kept focused on one to start with until he gets the bug

 

9 hours ago, trundlenut said:

Draftsight is free if you only need 2D.

 

As above - we'll certainly have a look at that.

 

Cheers all. 

@pist0nbr0ke

Worth checking out his school too... as to what they are using..

Could be using either or both CAD packages

AutoCAD is free to students and schools.

 

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured

 

But you might need a bit of a beast of a PC to run it.

6 hours ago, Aspman said:

AutoCAD is free to students and schools.

 

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured

 

But you might need a bit of a beast of a PC to run it.

 

I use Autocad Inventor with an i7 laptop with 8gb ram and intergrated graphics card and a couple of extra monitors. It generally copes well, though ray tracing can take some time on the highest setting. Though I guess if/ when I do more complex stuff it may slow down a bit more.

I can recommend nanoCAD and have used it for a few years now. It is very similar to AutoCAD (not quite as refined) and free for both personal and commercial use. You need to give your email address to receive the registration code but it does not trigger any spam.

I am a custom install CAD engineer, self taught in Rhino 3D and AutoCAD. Out of the two Rhino is far easier to learn and quite honestly is also far superior to AutoCAD. Might be worth downloading a trial and having a look. 

LibreCAD is also good for opensource access

Timely topic to come up on my feed! 

 

Do Solidworks or Autocad store your designs or have access to them if you use their products?

 

Reason I ask is I'm looking to possibly register/patent a few ideas that I came up with whilst in the Forces. With a few minor tweaks they may have civilian applications. Problem I had was the person I was to liaise with on the technical front initially put the ideas through as his own, so I'm now a bit wary off the same happening again.