Chris Elston

FREE Cad Program OK for Electrical Drawings?

4 posts in this topic

Has anyone found an "OK" drawing software that is FREE that works for electrical drawings and can generate DXF or DWGs? I am trying to recommend some software to some kids I know that want to start to learn how to draw. I know AutoDesk offers educational software versions, but we both are looking for something a little bit lighter weight out there.

Any recommendations you guys have stumbled upon?

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Free viewers yes, free editors I don't know of any.

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I suggest that you start here and assign the youths to evaluate a couple and if they do not have electrical symbol libraries verify that symbol libraries are easily imported or developed and make the first project in learning the software developing a few electrical symbols.

http://cad.about.com/od/Personal_CAD/tp/Five-Top-Free-Cad-Packages.htm

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-cad-computer-aided-design-programs.htm

This would be a good choice as most of what is learned here can be transitioned to AutoCAD later.
http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/free-download/

 

 

Edited by RussB
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Draftsight (RussB's 3rd link from 3ds) is pretty close to basic AutoCAD, but there are a few annoying differences with some keyboard shortcuts.  In general, we've had little trouble moving back and forth between them, though Draftsight doesn't always import shapes from *.shx files very well.  If you're not using shapes files, or if you're building your symbols from within Draftsight, you're probably ok.

 

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