It will be pretty quick to redraw the parts. you can show your friend who has Solidworks. Once you have the parts designed and you have dimmensions. If you get your ideas together with sketchup you have done most of the time consuming stuff. It's the design and brain stoming that takes the time. most parts will be relativly 2d, e.g plate aluminium which you assemble together. It is more than capably for creating and visualizing your design. I'd say go for the free sketchup version If you want to get your ideas together quickly. Have quick look on wikidpedia for some more details and links.

Unfortunatly the free version is more limited with what it can export. Also they can be imported to Solidworks or similar CAD programs. The pro version (which is $500) can export DXF which is good for sending 2d drawings that laser cutters/ waterjet cutters use. i just had a look at the file types that the free and pro version can export. SteveI don't have experience with Sketchup but i think it is probably the way to go. For me simplicity and ease of use is the key.Īs I mentioned I do have access to SolidWorks, do you think it is much better than SketchUp, obviously I know it is a much more comprehensive app, but more from a program for what I am trying to achieve.Īlso thanks for the link to the other thread, really appreciated, I did a search but guess i used the wrong search terms The ability to export these mounts to a common format for CNC or similar would also be quite useful, but not a necessity as I have friends who can use SolidWorks for the more complex stuff. The work I really need is to draw the actual beam configuration and maybe soem custom mounts. I fully accept I will have to create a large amount of these objects and will be happy to share these once I have begun a library, maybe we could all share these via some PL style FTP site? again happy to help anyone who wants to contribute and help me.Īlso more than happy to get advice from other members as to better alternatives to SketchUP. I have come across SketchUp for Mac and wonder if anyone else is using this? Also does anyone have any pre made objects for this program, such as diode mounts, flex mounts, mirror, dichros etc. I could use one of the laser control PCs, but this would be more inconvenient. so I have been looking around for free or nearly free 3 CAD programs, preferably for Mac, as this is what I have in my study. think of it as a beamtable on acid But I am looking at drawing this up first, its a bit too complicated for a prototype of BluTak and SuperGlue. The twist is to include some more recent XY scanning and solid state lasers.

I am about to embark on my largest build for around 20 years, my combo old school analogue and lumia projector, with a twist.

Sketchup for mac