New guy

[Dieseldood]

Hey everyone...

I'm in the middle of building my version of a JDs CNC Plaz with a welding table added on.

Just about ready to start cutting, I built a water tray by hand and the slats over the weekend. I just need to wire up the trigger for the plaz and... the hard part... Fusion 360.

Ive tried to play with it a little and follow a couple videos, but functions have changed and moved, so... im still struggling.

I'll get it... I think. Lol
Any super simple 2D programs out there? I'm just planning to do small brackets and things like that.

I'll try to attach a Pic of my table.

[kicktillmonday]

Welcome, cool looking setup you have built, I love seeing the DIY stuff.

I think you will feel the same about and design software your starting with, it's not just Fusion, they all take some time to catch onto.

With that being said I would not want to waste any time learning software that may not be ideal for what you are doing.

If your doing mechanical stuff like the brackets you mentioned I would stick with Fusion, for artistic stuff it's not very easy to use in my opinion. Will you be doing artistic stuff also or all mechanical parts?

I may even be able to help you out with Fusion and once you get a little bit of knowledge you will catch on quick and be excited about moving ahead with it. Another member here named adbuch has great knowledge on Fusion also and is very helpful.

[Dieseldood]

I may do a little artistic stuff for family. I'd like to build a couple little signs, but those will probably be, finding something I like and change the name. Nothing terribly crazy.

Last year I built a Front end loader for my John Deere. The brackets look like a kindergartener cut them out. Now I plan to build a Backhoe for the tractor, and there is a ton more brackets that I need to make, so I figured it would be fun to build the CNC since I already had the Plaz.
It's kinda fun building other stuff for the tractor 3 point too, but again they are just basic brackets usually.

Now my boy is getting a little older, I'll be making brackets for his go kart and things like that.

So... short version, I THINK I'll be doing mechanical stuff mostly, but from time to time I may do a sign or something. But my goal isn't to make signs like some folks.

[adbuch]

Hey everyone...

I'm in the middle of building my version of a JDs CNC Plaz with a welding table added on.

Just about ready to start cutting, I built a water tray by hand and the slats over the weekend. I just need to wire up the trigger for the plaz and... the hard part... Fusion 360.

Ive tried to play with it a little and follow a couple videos, but functions have changed and moved, so... im still struggling.

I'll get it... I think. Lol
Any super simple 2D programs out there? I'm just planning to do small brackets and things like that.

I'll try to attach a Pic of my table.

Snapchat-99407935.jpg

Your cnc plasma rig looks pretty cool! I have not seen the JD CNC Plaz - I will have to look that one up on the internet. As kicktilmonday mentioned, any of these cad programs will take some time to learn effectively. I don't know of any of them that are "super simple", but I think QCad is pretty good for drawing brackets. There is free version which I have not used, but I did recently purchase the QCad pro edition from their website for a total cost of around $46. I have been trying it out and I would say it is pretty easy to use. My only complaint is that the Trim tool takes some time to get used to and does not always do what I would normally expect it to do.

By comparison, Fusion 360 does have a proper trim tool (easy to use and does exactly what you want). For doing simple 2D drawings, I think Fusion 360 is also pretty simple to use. And it is free.

David

You can download the free trial version here:

https://qcad.org/en/download

[adbuch]

Dieseldood - For comparison - I drew up a sample bracket using QCad, SolidEdge 2D, Inkscape, and Fusion 360. I believe that all of them have free versions.

[adbuch]

I went ahead and added the fillets to the QCad drawing. As far as a simple easy to use free (or inexpensive) 2D cad program, I would rate QCad the easiest to use for mechanical parts of the 4 programs I used for this sample bracket drawing. It works very much like AutoCad - just a simple 2D drawing program.

Dieseldood - I have attached the dxf file from QCad if you would care to take a look.

David

bracket qcad.dxf

(100.11 KiB) Downloaded 3 times

bracket qcad.dxf

(100.11 KiB) Downloaded 3 times

[adbuch]

I may do a little artistic stuff for family. I'd like to build a couple little signs, but those will probably be, finding something I like and change the name. Nothing terribly crazy.

You can probably do some simple signs with QCad. But for more "artistic" signs, I would take a look at Inkscape. If your main immediate goal is to do mechanical parts, then I would recommend learning something like QCad or one of the other mechanical drawing type cad programs. Then after you feel comfortable with the mechanical parts, take a look at Inkscape as the need arises. There is an Inkscape section of this forum with lots of information on various topics. Take a look when you get a chance.

David

[Dieseldood]

This is great info guys!

Thanks a ton! I'll have to sit down and dig into these and see what I can figure out. I haven't spent much time with Fusion yet, I played a little, and followed a video that I believe was Lars Christenson doing a tutorial of an electrical box. That was pretty cool, but really didn't do much for my 2d stuff.

I just need to sit down and take a couple hours to work with it and find the functions I don't know. I'm sure it's like Excel, just google it and there is an answer. It will do almost anything and everything, it's just knowing what to call it! LOL

The JD's garage Plaz is a pretty close clone to the Langmier (sp?) unit. It's a 28x30 working area unit. They have plans now for a bigger one, but with half a brain, you could pretty easily figure out how to expand the one I built.
I figure if I end up needing something bigger, I'll have to wait till I have a bigger garage. This one is set up now, and probably will stay set up till the cold hits here in MN, then the Wife will want her car in the garage, and I'll have to fold it up and put it away till spring. Really that's one of the main reasons I went with the JD's plans. It's designed to fold up or come apart so it can be put away. The other ones I looked at were a solidly welded table, which would have been a problem for me.

The plans are cheap and other than having to drill about 6 million holes by hand (because I don't have a drill press) it's not hard to build. It was actually a pretty enjoyable build. I took my time since I didn't have anything that HAD to be done, and it's taken me about 6 months of working on it here and there after the kids went to bed.

[acourtjester]

The thing with CAD programs is what they call the different functions, they all have similar functions it just what they call them. Start small like drawing a square then circles, noting how to dimension them. Then add drill holes in the square and how to locate the holes, then move on to rounding the corners of the square. learning their tools and functions then how to modify shapes, these thing will help you formulate how to do things in the software. Start small and grow with different projects, you can also look into YouTube by naming the software you are learning and directing your questions to the function you are wanting to learn. "How to position holes in QCAD" have fun

[adbuch]

Thanks a ton! I'll have to sit down and dig into these and see what I can figure out. I haven't spent much time with Fusion yet, I played a little, and followed a video that I believe was Lars Christenson doing a tutorial of an electrical box. That was pretty cool, but really didn't do much for my 2d stuff.

I just need to sit down and take a couple hours to work with it and find the functions I don't know. I'm sure it's like Excel, just google it and there is an answer. It will do almost anything and everything, it's just knowing what to call it! LOL

Langmuir has some excellent Fusion 360 tutorials geared towards 2D mechanical parts.

https://www.langmuirsystems.com/software/fusion

Also Arnold Rowntree has a great set of Fusion 360 Tutorial Lessons which I highly recommend.

https://www.youtube.com/@ArnoldRowntreeTeachesFusion360

David

[adbuch]

Dieseldood - EMachine Shop is a very simple free online 2d drawing program for creating simple brackets and such. If you wish to forgo the effort to learn Fusion 360 or any of the other suggested 2D cad programs, then perhaps this one would be a good fit for you. This one is very basic and I expect a very short learning curve.

David

https://cad.emachineshop.com/#/

[adbuch]

[Dieseldood]

I don't mind learning, but I'm kinda excited to make something... even if it's just nothing! LOL
I played with 360 for a bit last night before my brain started to shut down after the kids went to bed.

That Emachine shop one looks like it would be a quick one, I may start there, but ultimately I'd like to learn 360. I think that would be a good thing to have under my belt.

[kicktillmonday]

This is the first video that got me hooked



Once I could sketch and then extrude it to see the part on the screen I was addicted.

Once done you can save your sketch as a dxf and cut it on your table.

Plenty of other great tutorials without the "fluff" on the youtube channel.

Good luck and have fun.

[4130metalworks]

I would advise leaving emachine shop alone, a few years ago they stopped the export dxf function unless you subscribe. Also on larger more complex drawings the software struggles and often freezes. It is a very basic and easy to use software but start with one of the other suggestions. Eventually you will find the limits of emachineshop like i have and making the transition over to something else will be more difficult than starting on the better software to begin with

[adbuch]

4130metalworks makes some good points about eMachineShop that it is basic and very easy to use. I personally would rather see someone start out with something basic and easy to use if they are brand new to cad drawing, rather than getting discouraged by trying to learn one of the more complicated programs and ending up just giving up.

Once they have some experience and build up their confidence, then perhaps take a look at one of the more sophisticated programs. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the steepest learning curve - I would rate eMachineShop a 1 or 2 and something like Fusion 360 or CorelDraw more like a 9 or 10. Just my opinion.

eMachineShop is still free to use with their online version and will still export as dxf. I'm not sure what particular dxf format is exports, but some of the other cad programs may have problems opening these files - in paricular QCad, CorelDraw, and Bricscad. Others such as Inkscape, Design Edge, and LightBurn will open them just fine.

There is an older eMachineShop version available for free download that will export dxf files compatible with every Cad program that I have tried - including the ones I have mentioned above.

[adbuch]

The problem with these exported DXF R12 file from eMachineShop is that they will need to be linked/joined to connect any disconnected path segments before importing to SheetCam. This is easily accomplished with Inkscape using the Join Selected Nodes tool.

Another option would be to import dxf R12 file to QCad and then save as dxf R13. This will automatically link/join all open path segments for import to SheetCam with no error messages.

There is a free version of QCad available for download.

https://www.qcad.org/en/download

One of the best features of eMachineShop is the erase (trim) tool. It does exactly what you would expect it to do - much like the Fusion 360, VCarve Pro, and Design Edge trim tools. Inkscape really has no trim tool, and the trim tools in CorelDraw and QCad are a pain to use (my opinion).

[adbuch]

I personally feel that starting out with a combination of Inkscape and eMachineShop would be a great way to go. Both are free and easy to use. I personally use a combination of Inkscape and Design Edge - but unless you happen to own a PlasmaCam table which happened to come with the Design Edge software including the Advanced Design uprade - the cost for a single seat perpetual Design Edge license including Advanced Design of just under $4k is more than most folks would want to spend.

David