【转帖】newbie to drafting

yang686526

newbie to drafting
i was wondering if there is a inexpensive software tool that i can use for drafting. autocad is too expensive. others even more. we manufacture and sell automotive parts and need drafting off and on.
the organization just purchased autodesk quickcad 8 and i tried using it but it does not seem "user friendly" maybe it is my ignorance. is there another tool or maybe a resource which will make me more productive using this tool.
eng-tips forums is member supported.
i suggest doing some research and see what your suppliers, customers and vendors are using. try to use what the majority of them use or find one you like that can import/export files all can use.
imo, for most cad, you get what you pay for. for automotive design, if mechanical, i suggest solidworks, catia or proe. the basic solidworks will cost you a little more than acad.
for your business to grow and stay competitive, don't go "cheap".
chris
systems analyst, i.s.
solidworks 06 4.1/pdmworks 06
autocad 06
chris:
while i appreciate your comments and agree with them i would like to say the following. our use of drafting is more for documentation purposes. we have approx 3000 products but only approx 10 classes for example we have bushings that have a id, od and length and material and hardness. there are 1000+ types of bushings with the same requirements but different dimensions. anothe class is pins. length and diameter are the only requirements a few pins might have keyway slots and/or grease fitings.
as you can see our needs are quite simple. most of the time we can draw the product and label the dimensions and it is sufficient. sufficient but not professional. that is why i need a simple drafting program.
but if you still feel that i should be going the solidworks route then i will respect your decision as you obviously have more experience than me. i just want to make sure you know where i am coming from.
i know where you are coming from, been there.
i don't know your process, that's why i suggest researching as mentioned above. there are cheaper cad software. here are just a few.
i suggest picking some and have them show you demo's.
i agree with chris to try not to "go cheap". find out what your customers use and or what formats they can accept or give you.
however if you really need to go cheap, some of the better ones are alibre, rhino & ironcad.
if you want really cheap, "alibre express" is free and google is now offering a free version of "sketchup".
  with the limited types of parts you make, you probably don't need a high $ package at this time, but only something to document the variations (an electronic drawing board and spreadsheets).  however, if you want to expand the scope of your business in the future, i would recommend that you find a package that deals well with part families.
  one decided benefit to using cad is taking advantage of the documentation of your product, such as part history, new releases and revisions.
i think the consistent answer has been to not go cheap.
now that i am thinking along these lines i am concerned that "later" when i do need a professional cad package the time spent now would have been wasted so it not really that cheap.
ok, cheap is out.
so is quickcad 8 from autodesk one of the "cheap" ones?
one mid range 3d cad not listed above is solid edge.
it's not as common in most parts of the us as solid works, which may be a consideration, but from what i understand is just as capable.
it's tempting to say full blown 3d cad may be a bit over the top for what you are doing but like ewh says it may open new doors, if not so much for your company then for you.  
3d cad may also better support some of your documentation needs (if you need anything more than conventional 2d drawings) as you can produce iso views easily and even rendered images with little effort.  also if it's an issue you could supply models to your customers etc.
the very brief 2d drafting course i did at university was on autosketch:
sketchup?? colblimeylimey, i am sure u r joking, oh i see the smiley, u r joking.
if you want to go that cheap and basic, sketchup may be for you.
chris
systems analyst, i.s.
solidworks 06 4.1/pdmworks 06
autocad 06
not meaning to be boring but:
what ever you choose think about things like your configuration control, file naming convention, how you're going to store you files, drawing/modelling standards etc up front before you've got a bag of jumbled data.  
this is even more important if you go 3d due to the links between the 3d model and the drawings.
of course not being familiar with cad you won't probably know most of the questions to ask but i suspect a few of the posters here may have suggestions.
my first suggestion would be to be consistent.  consistently wrong in the same way is easier to fix than wrong in all sorts of different ways.
trust me, i'm wishing my current place had been consistently wrong right now!