CAD software recommendations?

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

Any recommendations for a free or cheap/reasonable price CAD software. I only need it for about a month to produce a small 2D & 3D design for some spiral stairs.

 

TIA!

[DevilDamo]

You can download a free trial from Autodesk for 15 days. Alternatively, SketchUp should do what you need. 

[Nick Laslett]

8 hours ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

Any recommendations for a free or cheap/reasonable price CAD software. I only need it for about a month to produce a small 2D & 3D design for some spiral stairs.

 

TIA!

I came across this website when researching stairs. 
 

https://www.knostairs.com/kno-how/draw-stairs/

 

They seem to have lots stuff to support this process. 
 

https://www.knostairs.com/kno-how/draw-stairs/staircase-and-handrail-drawing-courses/

 

They use RhinoCAD, which has a 90 day free trial. 

[Super_Paulie]

im a 3D tech and i use Sketchup for room designs, Rhino for architectural stuff and Fusion for things with moving parts. No idea on cost but id imagine the order i wrote them will also be the order of cost from low to high.

[ETC]

On 02/04/2025 at 22:31, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

Any recommendations for a free or cheap/reasonable price CAD software. I only need it for about a month to produce a small 2D & 3D design for some spiral stairs.

 

TIA!

Might be cheaper to get someone who knows how to use CAD to draw it for you.

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

9 hours ago, ETC said:

Might be cheaper to get someone who knows how to use CAD to draw it for you.

This is the first choice, but I’d quite like to do this myself too. 

[IanR]

24 minutes ago, Great_scot_selfbuild said:

This is the first choice, but I’d quite like to do this myself too. 

What is it you want to do with the CAD software?

If you want visualise the staircase within it's environment, then a lighter-weight software such as Sketchup will be quicker to learn and it's polygon/tessellated database is sufficient for the task. If you wanted to create photo-realistic rendered images of the staircase then Blender is a good option, and completely free.

If however you want to create an Engineering 3D model of the staircase, with accurate models ,thicknesses, fillets, holes with the ability to build associated assemblies, with a catalogue of stock hardware (bolts, nuts, screws, rivets etc.) and sub-assemblies where global changes to the staircase automatically update through to all parts in the assembly and the ability to develop blanks of folded brackets, cutting lists, weld details and associated 2D Engineering drawings that update when the 3D model changed, then you need a NURB/Bezier based CAD system, which will tend to have a steeper learning curve.

If you are wanting to create something that was going to be manufactured from, at a fabricator, then I'd be looking at a mid-tier CAD system such as Solidworks, Creo, Solid Edge etc. most of which can now be leased monthly. Free for 6 months is OnShape, which gets close to these systems for the basics.

However, if you're going to just do this once, it may not be worth the trip up the learning curve, there's a lot of content in a design like a bespoke spiral staircase if you want to fully define it "in CAD" and have a workshop manufacture it for you. In this case I'd suggest a seasoned professional.

[SteamyTea]

I downloaded a cracked copy of Turbocad.

Easy to use.

[Crofter]

Just resurrecting this thread because I'm also looking for recommendations for a CAD package.

 

I used to be fairly fluent with SketchUp, which I will use for the 3D stuff, but I also need to produce dimensioned 2D drawings and AFAIK that isn't possible with SketchUp.

 

I've got very basic needs really- this is for BCO/Planning drawings. 

 

I'm going to be tinkering with this for several months/years so free trials aren't really going to work for me. I'll have time to get my head around a program but I'd like to keep things nice and simple. Don't mind paying a reasonable one off cost (sub £50, say).

[markc]

If it’s just for home stuff then free version of Fusion 360, full single user is around £370 a year I think

[andyscotland]

Qcad  is good for "classic" 2D CAD - open source so the main version is free forever.

 

The "Pro" addin adds some useful features and is €41, that includes updates for a year but you can continue to use the version you have indefinitely.

[Alan Ambrose]

I’ve done all my stuff in Fusion including for planning application and detailed drawing for construction. It’s pretty much a Solidworks / Inventor replacement and, I think, targeted to product designers rather than architects. The drawing facilities are a bit weak in not having hatching, colour fills etc and the rendering is basic. But, if you’re so inclined it has FEA stress and thermal analysis and you can easily generate dxfs to send out 2D profiles for laser and waterjet cutting. Also CAM for 3D printing and CNC. It’s a proper CAD package though so will have a bit of learning curve to get the most out of it.

[Pocster]

Tinkercad for simple things . Takes 10 seconds to learn 

[saveasteading]

I still draw by hand. 

Pencil on squared paper. Inked over later.

Photocopier and tippex come in handy.

I'm not being facetious, I just don't do enough sketches  to justify learning or buying a cad package. 

But for the big stuff, experts do that.

My drawings are for thinking, for passing over to others to use or integrate, but even to include in a proposal. I've never had a negative comment.

[Crofter]

2 hours ago, saveasteading said:

I still draw by hand. 

Pencil on squared paper. Inked over later.

Photocopier and tippex come in handy.

I'm not being facetious, I just don't do enough sketches  to justify learning or buying a cad package. 

But for the big stuff, experts do that.

My drawings are for thinking, for passing over to others to use or integrate, but even to include in a proposal. I've never had a negative comment.

On the last build, I ended up doing the elevations etc for planning by hand. It was quite enjoyable really. 

I think that if I'm going to stand a chance of doing my own building warrant designs, it will be worth doing them in CAD to add an air of professionalism...

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, Crofter said:

worth doing them in CAD to add an air of professionalism...

I agree, but the occasional hand sketch would be fine.

The most important thing is that the bco or checking Engineer ( and later any worker) can readily understand it.

[Crofter]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

I agree, but the occasional hand sketch would be fine.

The most important thing is that the bco or checking Engineer ( and later any worker) can readily understand it.

I'm planning on doing the build myself (same as last time) but there might be details that I'll need to pass on to the sparky or plumber.

 

I'm also hopefully not reinventing the wheel, and presenting detailing that BCO is unfamiliar with.

[Crofter]

6 hours ago, andyscotland said:

Qcad  is good for "classic" 2D CAD - open source so the main version is free forever.

 

The "Pro" addin adds some useful features and is €41, that includes updates for a year but you can continue to use the version you have indefinitely.

This sounds promising, I'll check it out, thanks.