Hey, what software do you use for design? Discussed it some on twitter (http://twitter.com/UncleCJ) and I used to love the coupled parameters and physical mechanics of SolidWorks, but that was many years ago…
I’d like to try my hand at some mechanical designs such as those in an RC…
So this is Spaceclaim, doesn’t seem to have the “physics simulator” features I’m looking for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMa1K3yKSQI
I am just getting started with alibre. Picked it up 1/2 price over the holidays. Still not sure if it was a good purchase or not. The pe edition is pretty restricted.
I teached my dad 123D Beta as his first CAD software to use with his new 3D Printer. He learned it pretty fast, in fact i´m impressed, i mean the guy is 65yrs old. And he´s really happy with it.
How about Rhino? I´ve also heard alot of peolpe praising it.
But it sounds like what your looking for is more of a mid-range CAD software right? Below are some random thoughts.
I´m not an all knowing guy and i always liked SolidWorks but it´s built on ancient legacy code and slow, except that there´s also been alot of negative talk about SW lately and also, what will happen after the release of SW V6?
Inventor… Never used it but the users i speak to says it can´t quite reach as far as it´s competitors in the mid-range market.
SpaceClaim, my experince with this product was short but sweet, i liked it alot. I focused on Sketching and Sheet Metal which in my opinion was more than adequate for the average user. Of course there´s alot more to it than that and it´s for others to comment.
IronCAD. Don´t know it really, i´ve heard a few comments which were mostly positive.
TopSolid 7. Well, me running the blog it´s pretty obvious what i stand on this. I like TS alot, it´s easy to work with, it´s fast and it´s smart! One thing to consider regarding TS7 is that it´s a completely new product! Rethought and rewritten. It´s made from scratch and it´s designed from the ground up to be able to take full advantage of todays technology. I could go on and on about TS but i think it´s probably out of range pricewise for most people. As probably the other above as well.
These are just my thoughts and i´m not looking for a discussion on these thoughts (just saying 
What i would like to hear are some more comments about the other free alternatives out here such as FreeCAD, TinkerCAD and it´s alikes… Anyone with experience of these softwares?
@Daniel_Noree has made this awesome RC, and I feel like trying my hand at mechanical designs… Like that or simpler 
Well, I like the almost “physics sandbox” features of SW, think Algodoo/Phun http://www.algodoo.com/
There was a crank you could build in SW, and it worked! Stuff like that. For now Spaceclaim or Topsolid seem the most promising…
I know it’s a somewhat silly requirement and maybe it’s not the direction to go… But it’s my thinking anyway
I friend of my want’s me to learn Rhino 3D so i will dig into that and post some stuff/videos later!