ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area CAD Revisited

I know that we've discussed this in the past but the boss lost the notes that I gave him and we're looking for a CAD program again. The search engine only returned hits about Cadet heaters.

Our primary use for CAD will be documenting motor control circuits. Availability of the appropriate symbols would be a plus.

If I remember correctly there are a couple of good choices for around $100.

I'm interested in what low end CAD packages you're using and how you like them. We can't afford and don't need anything in the mid to high end CAD market.

TIA,
GJ

Autodesk (makers of AtoCAD) make quick CAD. It's less than $100.00 and very powerful. Others had good suggestions in the post you refered to. www.autodesk.com

Here is a better link. It retails for $69.00 and is able to open and save in AutoCAD formats.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/index/0,,179713-123112,00.html

Haven't check myself, but you might try your local technical school or university bookstore for student versions. There is a student version of the Microsoft Office products which is much less than the version for the public, and I am told it does much the same.

I've suggested IMSI's TurboCad, which is a very user friendly program. About $80.
Will open & save in AutoCad formats (I have had some problems with x-refs, though).
It comes with an entire disc of symbols.
It only lacks a couple of features of the full blast AutoCad (like "fence").

Here are two simple CAD programs that are probably not up to what you need, but at least the price is right.

oCADis
Alliance VLSI

[This message has been edited by rbiro (edited 02-19-2002).]

Thanks for all the ideas!

Electure,

Have you had any problems with TurboCAD ?

It was one of the programs on my short list until I read some posts on one of the CAD newgroups where people were complaining about compatibility and poor customer support.

GJ

GJ,
I've never used their customer support system.
The only compatability problems I've encountered were once with the x-refs on someone else's plans, sent to me via e-mail, and as a compressed file.
If you are going to be generating all the drawings yourself, this shouldn't be an issue.
Maybe others have had problems that I haven't with compatability.