Fusion360 too expensive

[Dana 2]

Hello All, I have been using Fusio360 for years, last year I paid for a years subscription and only used it a few times, they renewal is up and they want £380+ for another year (£500 for a new subscription) 

I am just not going to pay that for what little I use it

what alternatives do people use? a bit of googling found DesignSpark Mechanical, Solid Edge Community Edition and FreeCAD

I am really not looking forward to a new learning curve, fusion was hard enough to transition from the other Autodesk software I used (cant remember what it was or why I had to move to Fusion)

 

Thanks

 

Dan

 

[Enigma_M4 123]

Hi Dan,

that a bit reminds me to myself. I was a strong user of DesignSpark Mechanical 5 as long as it worked, and the learning curve was pretty flat, for designing projects of your own or for modifying existing STLs; a really nice program for free. But the RS-Guys changed their politics and made three subscription lines: one for free, one for little money and one for much money. In the free subscription, importing STLs or STEP-files no longer is possible.

So, heavy-hearted, I decided to switch over to FreeCad. It's open source and community-developed, compareable to linux.

No cost, no restrictions, and a very powerful program, parametric like Fusion.

BUT: the learning curve is as steep as Mt. Everest (at least coming from the non-parametric Designspark), with a wiki-dokumenation and a lot of youtube tutorials.

I've gone this path anyway; I guess, FreeCad will never charge it's users any money, and if they will some day, old versions never expire. So this change might be worth the effort.

Regards

[Dana 2]

@Enigma_M4 thanks for your reply I will look into FreeCAD

 

Its a shame really I was just getting proficient in Fusion360, I would have paid the £380+ if it was a one time payment but not every year

[Dana 2]

oh boy FreeCAD seems like a much steeper learning curve, going through the tutorials but keep having to go back, even joining objects seems more difficult

[mathis58 0]

Tinkercad is free. I use shapr3d ($300 annually).

[Dana 2]

thanks for your reply, Tinkercad seems a bit basic or at least it was when I used it years ago, felt like a kids tool

[jaysenodell 18]

I've been using freecad exclusively. I'm not what I would call an expert, but I have managed to get the output to be what I need witout too much trouble. It may be my "this it my first tool" experience, but I don't find the basics too tough. If there ia any thing specific that is problematic, let me know. Maybe I can offer some assistance. 

[Dana 2]

I tried to use Freecad, I watched some tutorials on youtube but I really struggled with it, its quite different workflow to Fusion

[jaysenodell 18]

Having no used nothing other than freecad, I can’t compare it to any other tools. But my mental process is a combination of tool/sold profile building, subtractive manufacturing, and solid unions. What I man is…

 

I start with a basic profile. That could be a primitive solid or a 2d wire frame that I pad to a 3D solid. I then “tool” features into it via sketches (profiles that are rotated, slotted, lofted, etc). Sometimes I need to use additive functions to extend my solid. At times I’ll create multiple parts. Using the same methods. Once I have a base object I “fuse” it to make it easier to work with. 
 

I’ve recently started using spreadsheets to drive object parameters instead of “hard coded” constraints. This has made sharing dimensions much easier across mating surfaces or aligning parts. 
 

I think my furniture and boat building background makes it easier for me to see a practical (to me) workflow for freecad. How does fusion work?

[Torgeir 280]

Hi @Dana,

 

I've been using the "free personal version" for some years (need to renewed every year).

 

Fusion 360 can be obtained free for personal use and you can export stl files directly to Cura..

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"Autodesk Fusion 360 for personal use is free online CAD for qualifying non-commercial users as a 3-year subscription. Download Autodesk Fusion 360 for personal use."

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is the place to go.

 

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal

 

Thanks

Torgeir

 

[Dana 2]

I will look at that thanks, I did explore all the options but thought you could not save as STL for the free version??

[Dana 2]

hmm Something went wrong when creating your hobbyist license

[Dana 2]

ah looks like its all good now, thanks for that