LibreOffice Draw for "CAD"

[kquiggle]

There's an obvious interest in CAD for some machinists, but others just don't want to take the time, effort, and (possible) expense of dealing with CAD. On the other hand, there is real benefit in being able to make a reasonably accurate design on "paper" before using up expensive metal.

For people who would like a really good drawing program at a good (free!) price I'd like to recommend LibreOffice Draw. It's not CAD (which may be an advantage for some), but it is still a very powerful technical drawing tool. To make it even more useful, I've built up a "library" of shapes commonly used (at least by me) for machine drawing. You can get a copy of my template (or just a more detailed look) here:

https://sites.google.com/site/lagadoacademy/libreoffice-tips/libreoffice-for-cad

As a bonus, LibreOffice also include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software which works with Microsoft Office formats. Get LibreOffice for Linux, Macintosh, and Windows for free here:

www.libreoffice.org/

 

[WCPenney]

I know this post is a little old, however, LibreOffice now includes LibreCAD (formerly QCad.)

 

[kquiggle]

Just to clarify, LibreCAD (http://librecad.org/cms/home.html) is not part of LibreOffice - these are separate projects.

This is not to criticize LibreCAD, just to note that if you install LibreOffice that CAD will not be included (LibreOffice does include Draw which is very good drawing software with some "CAD-like' features, although it is not CAD).