Does anyone have any suggestions for free CAD software. It’s for opening and resaving exports from BoardCAD. The place I took my files from BoardCAD to (STL, STEP & DXF) can’t open the files but I can open the DXF in Google Sketch Up.
Hi,
the dxf format is a bit weird as it’s neither backward nor forward compatible, nor does it contain version information (depending on version of the file format). So it depends on the version of the AutoCAD (or other CAD/CAM package) being used. The BoardCAD implementation is limited, but it works with Mach3/LazyCam and deskCNC which was my goal. Try searching for ‘dxf “version converter”’ on the web, there are alot of program that convert between these dxf versions. Hopefully we’ll have a some better solution soon.
regards,
Håvard
Hallo deanbo,
check this list of free cad software on italian wikipedia.
The first chapter after the introduction is all about CAD links.
I found it in italian language but if you click on the links you’ll get redirected on english sites.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elenco_di_programmi_open_source
I have to say that you were pretty brave to try to use sketch up… it’s a fun and precise software, but surfboard curves are really tough for it.
Let me know if the list it’s ok for you.
Stefano