I use AutoDesk's "Fusion360". It's free for most of us. Of course it will open AutoDesk's DXF file format.
AutoDesk has gone a 180 degree turn on pricing making a premiere CAD/CAM program free. Fusion360 should be popular with anyone doing CNC work. It allows one to make 3D models and then can generate G code. It can produce g code for both lathes and mills up to four axis. So you can import your file then generate code to machine it. Fusion can also drive 3D printers. Lots of features. It knows about "assemblies" and can simulate motion. For example I made a model of a simple steam engine and could see Fusion360 rotate the crank and I can see the piston move then output files for printers, lathes and mills It allows for collaborative work, remote users can make edits and keep their own versions of drawings and it version controlled. Runs on both Mac and Windows. It is parametric so you can change a dimension and other dimension recalculate. They say it is "cloud based" and this scares some people but really it runs on you local computer and your data is stored locally too. It's the features for collaboration with others that is using the network http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview On Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 12:46 AM, Lester Caine <les...@lsces.co.uk> wrote: > On 23/02/17 21:38, Ralph Stirling wrote: > > FreeCAD is nice for 3d work, but Draftsight is my go-to for 2d. > > The FreeCad drafting desktop has been improving ... and the other > specialist workbenches are unique ... anybody for a boat hull ... but I > still use Turbocad for a quick drawing. One has to use what one is used > to sometimes. > > -- > Lester Caine - G8HFL > ----------------------------- > Contact - http://lsces.co.uk/wiki/?page=contact > L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://lsces.co.uk > EnquirySolve - http://enquirysolve.com/ > Model Engineers Digital Workshop - http://medw.co.uk > Rainbow Digital Media - http://rainbowdigitalmedia.co.uk > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------ > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
