turbo cad

[Cruiser-TNT]

The wife got me a turbo cad 2d/3d program to play with on the computor. Woohoo! now just to learn to use it, loaded it but just have made some line drawings.
Later,
Steve

 

[San Diegan]

http://www.freecad.com/

Have a look here. There is a free download of the 2D Turbo Cad LT edition, and a tutorial (pdf) that may be helpful. The free 2D edition is probably much less functional than what you have already, but the tutorial may help. You will have to register at the freecad site, but there is minimal personal data.

Sounds like you have a nice wife. Have fun and show us some of your work.

Tom

PS: Most of Andrew's Designs in the Hall of Fame have a .dxf version that can be downloaded and viewed in your Turbo Cad program.

 

[angib]

Woohoo! now just to learn to use it, loaded it but just have made some line drawings.

As a CAD (indeed, TurboCAD) user, I'll throw in my suggestions:

1) It is important to understand that a CAD entity (a line, a circle, etc) is not a final product, like a line drawn on paper - there is often a good reason to draw something and then modify it - I often draw a line overlength and then correct its length afterwards. Equally you can draw construction lines that you might delete later. The difference between CAD and drawing on paper is rather like the difference between word processing and using a typewriter.

2) Learn to use the 'snap' functions of your program, instead of trying to move your mouse to 1/64 inch! You will want to use both a grid (to place the end of lines on a 1" grid, for example) and individual 'snap points' (for example to make a new line start exactly on one end of an existing line). In TurboCAD, if you hold down the 'shift' button while drawing, lines will go only vertically or horizontally. Also learn how to input dimensions when creating new entities - if you've drawn one side of a floor, you want the line for the other side of the floor to be exactly 48" (or whatever) away, not 47.637"!

3) Learn to use the parallel line function, rather than drawing each line individually. A large number of lines in a trailer are either vertical or horizontal and it's much easier to place them accurately if you create them as a new line parallel to an existing line.

4) Learn to zoom in and out while drawing (I now think a wheel mouse is essential for CAD!) so that you can position entities correctly - a pencil line on paper can never be in exactly the right place, but a CAD line can be - if you learn to put lines in the right place to start with, you will find that many functions of a CAD program work better or more easily.

Just my twopennyworth!

PS: Most of Andrew's Designs in the Hall of Fame have a .dxf version that can be downloaded and viewed in your Turbo Cad program.

And if you contact Andrew (OK, that's me) I can email you actual TurboCAD v9 or v10 (tcw) files of any designs you might be interested in.

Andrew

 

[Arne-TNT]

I loaded the cad from the site... it appears to be all set to go, but no shortcut appears.

Did iI do it wrong, or do I have to go internal and use one of the .exe files to start it?

If I need an exe file, can you give me the name so I can search to find it?

It is in documents and settings, but nothing obvious I can find to get it going.... maybe I should just re download....

 

[San Diegan]

Arne,

I assume you are talking about TurboCad LE from the free CAD site. After the initial installation on Windows XP, I did not get shortcut on the desktop nor did I get any linkage in the "All Programs" selection.

A second installation (after removing the first with Add/Remove on the Control panel) did the right thing. Oddly, it is not installed in the usual c:\Program Files\subdirectory but in c:\IMSI. The "All Programs" fly out exhibits a group called IMSI TurboCad and the program start up is within that group as TurboCAD Learning Edition.

BTW, the initial download is a zip file. Clicking it extracts everything into a folder. You then go into the folder and launch the setup program.

Once that was established, it is a fully functional 2D CAD program that is quite usable.

Chapter three of the tutorial drives home Andrew's points. Never draw the same thing twice and graphical objects useful in CAD have "properties" that you can exploit. Parallel replication, mirroring, and projection are extremely useful. Entering the exact coordinates and dimension for the initial instance of an object is useful as well as opposed to moving the cursor with the hand/eye coordination of a fighter pilot. If you are new to CAD, some time spent with the tutorial is a quicker ride to "power user" status and confidence in your design work.

BTW, Andrew, thanks so much for the designs. Although I have a Hunter on the way to get started camping this season, the notion of building a Cub/Modernaire with wood structures rather than all metal has grabbed me. I love that profile. I appreciate your publishing these for us.

Tom

 

[Arne-TNT]

Tom, you are right on... I'll remove and reinstall.... and pay attention.... I install a lof of software and was expecting it to be trouble free and intuitive..... didn't work that way the first time.....

 

[samstoybox]

I saw the link to freecad on Andrew's site a month or more ago and went there to download the free LE version of TurboCAD. I'm not sure where you guys are going but there is no free version available any more, only a free 15-day trial. I was able to find a painfully old copy of TurboCAD, version 4.1 dated 1997 out on the web but it did not come with a tutorial so I really have no idea how to use it. Where are you folks getting the free, current copy of TurboCAD LE with the tutorial?

 

[San Diegan]

Sam,

The Learning Edition can be found at

http://www.freecad.com/cgi-bin/dcd/html/CAD_Programs___General_Purpose/index-4.htm

Page down and look for TurboCAD LE. As far as I can tell, this is a legitimate free version. If it were not, I would not touch it.

It is a vintage 1997 version of Turbo Cad. In my case, I wanted to do 2D renderings for some custom cabinet additions to my Hunter; it is very suitable for that purpose.

For 3D, I use Designworkshop Lite. It is also available for free and quite legitimate. See http://www.artifice.com/free/dw_lite.html Once you get used to rendering in 3D, it is very good for visualization, but a little too much mechanism for drawing 3 views of cabinet facings as is my purpose.

Or, you can have a nice wife like that of Steve (Cruiser) who buys software for you.

Take care,

Tom

 

[samstoybox]

Thanks Tom. The version available on the page you cite is the same as the one I found elsewhere. The description of TurboCAD on that page say it includes the 271 page "Complete Guide to Learning CAD", the 144 page "TurboCAD for Users", and a full multimedia quick tour. None of these are included as a separate file (at least one is supposed to be PDF) and when I click on "Tutorial" under "Help" in the TurboCAD menu itself, I am prompted to insert the TurboCAD CD. Anyone have a clue where I can get the tutorials/guides. Does someone have them posted on a site. Can someone send to me directly. Thanks.

 

[San Diegan]

Sam,

Try here http://www.al-ki.com/tcad/download.php and page down to TurboCAD Books. You will find a link that downloads Complete Guide to Learning CAD.

Apparently, IMSI is undergoing a shift in distribution policy for free versions versus timebombed trial versions. I don't blame them for making money through sales of current editions, but I did think that the previous policy was rather enlightened in that it probably induced folks to go out and buy an official release once they had some experience.

The text is slightly at odds with the Learning Edition release. Look for some mechanisms described in the book as under the Tools menu under the Options menu.

Good luck,

Tom

 

[angib]

Or, you can have a nice wife like that of Steve (Cruiser) who buys software for you.

You left out the URL of the site where I can download one of these....

Andrew

 

[Cruiser-TNT]

I think she bought that hoping it would take me forever to start the build! I think I should have a handle on this buy the weekend.
Thanks everybody,
Steve