Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
(OP)
I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with low cost or open source engineering tools. I've been kicking around some design ideas that I'd like to get a little bit more serious about developing in my spare time. I use Linux at home, but I'd be willing to install Windows if it were necessary to get work done.
There are a few types of software that I'm looking for, especially CAD and FEA software.
Obviously Pro/E, UG, CATIA, and even Solidworks are pretty major investments. Nonetheless, I'd like to find some inexpensive software that can create parametric solid bodies, technical drawings, and mechanical assemblies. I've been using QCad thus far, which is fine for 2D, but a 3D CAD tool would make my life much easier. I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with FreeCAD, VeriCAD, OpenCASCADE, or Alibre. Of course, I'm open to other solutions as well. If it could generate IGES files and ParaSolids for analyses, that would be a bonus. Any experience or suggestions?
Additionally, I'd like to have some FEA ability. I don't even know if "cheap" FEA exists, but I'm aware of some free codes. The most promising that I've seen is CAELinux, which can run the Calculix solver, but I'm not sure how well it actually works. It seems as though they can handle assemblies and contact. If there were some low-cost FEA out there, I'd be interested in that as well. Most companies don't post prices unless you contact them... usually if you have to ask, it's too expensive in my experience. Anyhow, any war stories or suggestions are welcome.
A free 1D flow network solver would be great (pipe flow, etc.); any ideas?
Other than that, I've had great luck running Octave with the QtOctave front end for general problem solving. It crunches through numbers almost as well as MATLAB. The only thing missing are a few of the fancy functions and tools that MATLAB has, but I don't intend to do any heavy-duty controls work.
Thanks in advance for your help. There's quite a bit available out there, especially in the realm of CAD, but I don't want to waste time trying out something only to find that it's insufficient or just plain doesn't work. I'd definitely be interested in hearing about both good and bad experiences with inexpensive software (the bad ones let me know what to look out for).
There are a few types of software that I'm looking for, especially CAD and FEA software.
Obviously Pro/E, UG, CATIA, and even Solidworks are pretty major investments. Nonetheless, I'd like to find some inexpensive software that can create parametric solid bodies, technical drawings, and mechanical assemblies. I've been using QCad thus far, which is fine for 2D, but a 3D CAD tool would make my life much easier. I'm wondering if anyone has had any experience with FreeCAD, VeriCAD, OpenCASCADE, or Alibre. Of course, I'm open to other solutions as well. If it could generate IGES files and ParaSolids for analyses, that would be a bonus. Any experience or suggestions?
Additionally, I'd like to have some FEA ability. I don't even know if "cheap" FEA exists, but I'm aware of some free codes. The most promising that I've seen is CAELinux, which can run the Calculix solver, but I'm not sure how well it actually works. It seems as though they can handle assemblies and contact. If there were some low-cost FEA out there, I'd be interested in that as well. Most companies don't post prices unless you contact them... usually if you have to ask, it's too expensive in my experience. Anyhow, any war stories or suggestions are welcome.
A free 1D flow network solver would be great (pipe flow, etc.); any ideas?
Other than that, I've had great luck running Octave with the QtOctave front end for general problem solving. It crunches through numbers almost as well as MATLAB. The only thing missing are a few of the fancy functions and tools that MATLAB has, but I don't intend to do any heavy-duty controls work.
Thanks in advance for your help. There's quite a bit available out there, especially in the realm of CAD, but I don't want to waste time trying out something only to find that it's insufficient or just plain doesn't work. I'd definitely be interested in hearing about both good and bad experiences with inexpensive software (the bad ones let me know what to look out for).





RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
But, I'd wager that most of it is not practical to use. Thanks again for any suggestions.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
OpenFOAM is a full feature CFD package that went open source a while back. At least one Automotive OEM uses it.
Calculix is a bit better than you imply.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services
http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
I use Alibre, You can download it free, but it turns into a gutted out program Called "Alibre express" in 30 days if you do not purchase it. That program is still useful you just have to work around items, things that you can do in one keystroke in other programs take 3 or 4 in express. The professional version that I use, will generate sheet metal parts, and read IGES files from other programs like Solid Works, or pro/E.
B.E.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
In 6 months, I've had it lock up twice and it gracefully recovered the files... Had more problem with my LT2002...
I don't regret having purchased it, it's a very good.
Dik
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
OpenFOAM sounds like it's better than I expected it to be, as well. CAELinux looks promising; I think that I may try it.
I'll look into IntelliCAD. It's good to know that someone is using it for actual engineering work. It seems like there are some reasonable CAD alternatives to the big names brands. I'm wondering if anyone out there has done any sort of comparison of features?
I've read similar things about BRL-CAD being unusable. Another one that seems pretty out there is VARKON, and perhaps PythonCAD.
Haha, FreeCAD isn't a CAD program, eh? That's funny. Looking at their demos, they didn't seem to mention any drawings. Maybe it's more of a solid-modelling tool.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
It's not that I refuse to use Windoze if the tools that I'm looking for are available there, I just prefer Linux (I find that it uses fewer system resources). Nonetheless, if quality tools aren't available for Linux, Windoze it is.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
It's only claimed to be 2D, but it seems to have some 3D functionality too.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Here's what I'm thinking for a full complement of (inexpensive) design software:
- CAD Software: VariCAD seems good for Linux. Allibre, IntelliCAD and Bricscad seem to be good options for Windows.
- FEA/CFD Software: CAELinux w/Calculix and OpenFOAM might just get me by for complex analyses
- Spreadsheet Software: MS Excel is great, but the commercial license for Office is surprisingly pricey (MSRP $499). OpenOffice is a great alternative.
- Engineering Analysis: Octave/QtOctave is really really good alternative to MATLAB. I've also read that Scilab and Freemat are good.
- Electrical Circuit Simulation: SPICE seems good - and free.
- Flow Network Analysis: I'm sure there's something out there. FlowMaster is pricey. I suppose that I could write my own, but who wants that hassle? I'm thinking that I should go into business selling pipe flow software for what they charge for a seemingly simple program. Suggestions?
Let me know if you have any suggestions that I could add to my list.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Only 2D, though.
h
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Installing to a hard drive turned into a disaster, twice, as PCLinuxOS slowly updated itself into nonfunctionality, and Ubuntu did the same thing, drive itself into update hell, only much faster.
I kept beating on CAELinux in hope of coming to understand it well enough to use it on real parts, because the demos worked pretty nicely and produced some impressive graphics. Note that the docs that come with 2009 mostly reflect 2007, and there are substantial differences. I found better docs for 2007, but they're mostly in French, which eludes me.
Maybe CAELinux 2010 will do better, but it absolutely requires a 64 bit computer to even start, and I don't have one.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
The CalculiX solver is also great, but you have to be aware of its limitations. The pre/post processor is fairly crude though so for basic models I have been using Excel to manually generate meshes and build decks. I am going to look into Roshaz though since it will work with Calculix. Salome is another pre/post but I have not looked into that yet.
Brian
www.espcomposites.com
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Perhaps it would be easier to install each program separately, based on the issues that Mike mentioned.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
There is a reasonable argument that excel is abused rather than used for engineering, but that is a different matter.
Cheers
Greg Locock
New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering
www.bluetechnik.com
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
The earlier versions of CAELinux pulled together a lot of disparate applications that were evolving separately from each other, and I think there were, if not adaptations, at least selection of specific sets of non-necessarily-latest versions of the applications for minimum incompatibility.
If you have a 64 bit computer, please do try CAELinux 2010 from the live DVD before you try installing the components.
... and please report back to us about it.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Dik
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
- Steve
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
NX7.5 - h
SE - http://w
WF5 - http://www.journeyed.com/item/PTC/291455/1480863
SW - http
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
If you can find an old version of 11 - you will love it!!
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
It sounds like there are some good options for low-cost 3D CAD. I wonder how they compare to one-another.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
1) Excellent Autocad compatability - if you know how to run Autocad, you can run Intellicad.
2) VBA support - so you can integrate with Excel. The object model is a bit different from Autocad, so there is a bit of translation required if you want to run an Autocad VBA routine on Intellicad, but it's not too hard.
Doug Jenkins
Interactive Design Services
http://newtonexcelbach.wordpress.com/
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
What changed?
Software For Metalworking
http://closetolerancesoftware.com
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
"yum groupinstall 'Electronic Lab'"
Link: http://spins.fedoraproject.org/fel/#home
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Given that, you also need a large hard drive:
Transaction Summary
======================
Install 394 Package(s)
Total download size: 578 M
Installed size: 1.7 G
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
It's definitely a big package of programs, though. I'm still playing around with it, but there are a ton of goodies in here.
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Low Cost/Free Engineering Tools
I like Linux.
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA