[jttoner]

I've recently gotten my feet wet in Fusion 360 and generally like it. There are a few annoyances like the sketch jumping around and the grid lines disappearing. They are usually, though not always, visible in sketch mode, otherwise not at all. As a student, I have an opportunity to buy a one year license for Solid Works for $90.00. I'm tempted to pull the trigger.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

I've used Solidworks for years, and, the last year or so, went to Fusion360. There are some things that Solidworks does better than Fusion, but Fusion is catching up fairly quickly. Overall, I'd never go back. Far and away the biggest headache with Solidworks has been stability. Fusion has been really good, with VERY few problems. Solidworks was, from day one, a struggle to keep to working well, and it is a MASSIVE resource hog - with constant warnings about being low on resources. That has never once happened with Fusion. Over time, the performance of Solidworks gets worse and worse. Oddly, by the end of any given subscription period, it always became nearly unusable, until a new subscription was purchased and installed. Coincidence? I think not. In terms of CAM, Fusion is in a whole different league than Solidworks.

Bottom line, stick with Fusion.

Regards,
Ray L.

[ger21]

There are a few annoyances like the sketch jumping around and the grid lines disappearing.

Are you sure this isn't due to an issue with your PC graphics? I haven't noticed any of these issues, but I don't really pay attention to the gridlines.

[jttoner]

Could be the graphics card.

[jttoner]

Sounds good. I'll stay. F360's parametric feature is especially useful for me but guess all CAD software have the same thing.

[ger21]

All parametric CAD. There are plenty of CAD programs that are not parametric.

[SCzEngrgGroup]

Sounds good. I'll stay. F360's parametric feature is especially useful for me but guess all CAD software have the same thing.

Many, perhaps most, do, but there are major differences in how they're implemented, and the restrictions on use. In Fusion, perhaps even more than in Solidworks, you need to pick a work-style up-front, or you will end up painting yourself into a corner. Fusion provides a lot more flexibility than Solidworks in how you create parts and assemblies, and it is really critical that you fully understand the trade-offs involved in each approach before starting a major design. Two of the current, major, shortcomings of Fusion are the lack of "configurations", and the inability to share components across designs. Working around those requires a good understanding of how Fusion views components and assemblies, and how you organize your projects.

My two cents worth:

1) ALWAYS create components, NOT just bodies. ALWAYS turn on the timeline.
2) Keep components in separate files, DO NOT build complex assemblies in a single file - that is a recipe for pain down the road.
3) Avoid "projecting" features between components or bodies - that is a recipe for pain down the road.
4) Parametric design is very handy, if a bit tedious to maintain. I tend to drive the design more off one, or a very few, sketches, using parameters to define the critical dimensions in those sketches, and projecting from those sketches to the dependent components.
5) Accept that there is no "perfect" solution - every option has its shortcomings.

Regards,
Ray L.

[C*H*U*D]

As a student, I have an opportunity to buy a one year license for Solid Works for $90.00. I'm tempted to pull the trigger.

Veterans can also purchase the student edition of Solidworks. I purchased it last year for $25 though, so I guess it went up considerably in price. HSMXpress is free, and also works within the student edition if anyone didn't already know that.

That being said, I prefer Fusion.

[joshetect]

As a student, it may be good to know both programs. You can know both, but prefer one. Fusion is new so there wont be as many shops out there using it vs SW. I think Fusion has legs though and Autodesk seems to be putting a TON of effort into it.

I am an architectural draftsman by day. I cant tell you how many different programs i've had to learn over the years....

[tmarks11]

Veterans can also purchase the student edition of Solidworks. I purchased it last year for $25 though, so I guess it went up considerably in price. HSMXpress is free, and also works within the student edition if anyone didn't already know that.

The Veteran price is still $25... they discount the student price.

I like Solidworks far more than Fusion. It was quicker to pickup, and just seems to mesh with the way my brain works.

That being said, having the HSMWorks CAM built right into Fusion360 is a huge advantage, and (surprise, surprise) updates to the HSMWorks (SW Plug-in) seems to lag updates to Inventor (and Fusion) by 1-2 years. It is in Autodesk's best interest to attract people away from one of their biggest competitors.

[MetalShavings]

I'm self-taught with SolidWorks.. For some reason I didn't find it hard to figure out and it didn't take to long before I was using it to make all of my CAD models. I bought a used laptop from a gentleman who was a retired engineer.. The Laptop had a full copy of SolidWorks 10 on it when I bought it. I just started playing around with it and found that some of the features on it weren't any harder than learning Photoshop; which I had gone to school to learn.

It's turned out to be my go-to CAD software. I have a couple of other CAD software packages (TurboCAD and One other budget CAD program) but I just keep coming back to SolidWorks.

MetalShavings

[mountaindew]

The Veteran price is still $25... they discount the student price.

.

That is amazing price.
I now have over 2k$++ in cad, cam and still need 1 more 500$ module and best price I was ever quoted for Solid works alone was like $6K

[mountaindew]

I am an architectural draftsman by day. I cant tell you how many different programs i've had to learn over the years....

I remember the very first complete set of architectural cad drawings I ever seen. It was a Walmart store and in the title box it said walcad

[MichaelHenry]

That is amazing price.
I now have over 2k$++ in cad, cam and still need 1 more 500$ module and best price I was ever quoted for Solid works alone was like $6K

And don't forget the $1.5k or so in annual maintenance that SolidWorks gets..

[biqut2]

Solidworks is well worth it. I use it every day and I've tried others including NX and Fusion. Bottom line is Solidworks gets the job done faster. I also rely on Solidcam, its the most intuitive CAM package I've tried, while still allowing me powerful control over my toolpaths.

[Routerfiend]

Most definately worth learning. It is pricey but well worth the money. It`s another string to your bow too.I`ve been using it for a year and started from scratch ( With a brilliant tutor in house I might add , I was up and flying in a month ) You can`t have too much knowledge.It is resource heavy and sometimes with huge drawings it can and will fall over but that is more to do with processors rather than the programme itself.

[upnorth]

I used to work a bit with Solid Works at a friends shop. I switched to fusion 360 a while back because I just could not afford the price of Solid Works. At first I found fusion 360 to be sort of clunky. Some of my habits from Solid Works did not work in Fusion. I was using both programs at the same time switching back and forth depending on which shop I was working at. One day I decided to only use Fusion 360. Now I never use Solid Works and do not miss it at all. I'm sure there is some advantage to using it if you are an advanced user. For the sort of things I do there is no reason at all to waste my time and money on Solid Works. Fusion 360 is fully capable of doing anything I need.

[jttoner]

My greatest annoyance with Fusion is the tendency for the sketches to jump around and the grid lines that come and go. I killed the "adaptive" feature and the sketches don't jump around as much now but the grid problem remains, and yes, I checked the options for the grid. Also I find their help screen to be about as useful as a sun suit for an Eskimo. I did find one tutorial that tutors rather than simply displaying the presenter's abilities. It's called "Learn Fusion 360 or Die Trying" and is actually very good though the presenter is more than somewhat verbose. Not a big deal but it kept me searching for the "Fast Fwd" button. Also John at NYCCNC does a swell job.

[mountaindew]

And don't forget the $1.5k or so in annual maintenance that SolidWorks gets..

Yes there is that also, currently its about $500 for cad and cam.

Most definately worth learning. It is pricey but well worth the money. It`s another string to your bow too.I`ve been using it for a year and started from scratch ( With a brilliant tutor in house I might add , I was up and flying in a month ) You can`t have too much knowledge.It is resource heavy and sometimes with huge drawings it can and will fall over but that is more to do with processors rather than the programme itself.

I 100% agree! if you can budget for high end tools like this by all means buy and use. They charge big bucks for things like solid works because it works and it works well. And if you want to get the most out of them,. You need a workstation class computer with opengl cards/drivers. "They don't slow down as mentioned above" My main point would be to setup a system that you can afford and that works for you. Learn it well. That way you get the most out the tool with less desk pounding, frustration and steep learning curves. Another long term benefit is you build a huge file system of models,parts,cam ops...... and over time everything becomes repetitive and repeatable with little effort.

Example: Recently I did a clean software install stack "no upgrades". Getting everything set back up in these complex programs can take days. I spent 4 hours chasing one field that needed to be set for model export precision that I forgot I set before. The problem showed up as a tool gouging the model. lol Having new cad software made me think it was the problem. When in fact it was one setting in cam and all problems went away in seconds. I expected this and so far I'm surprised I haven't had more problems, but this is not over I bet. I did have good backups of tool tables, but still the cam software lost 3 years of settings and custom ops that I could not figure out how to backup.

All that said the new combo is a factor of 10x better. I can now draw models in minutes that took hours, days, even weeks to draw before. Then move model to cam with a couple clicks and the model is in position and ready to setup ops on. The cad software is far more powerful then I have skills for. Easy to design a simple part "like I do" along with all the other parts for a complete car "then watch it run". Then design all the factories to make all the different parts in and also factory the car is assembled in.

Programs like fusion are perfect for this market. They provide an integrated cad/ cam system that is more manageable and scaled down for smaller shops or users. That way you have access to good tools and you don't pay for what you don't need like the ability to design the whole car and the factory its built in "then watch it all run in a simulation".

[Don Clement]

And don't forget the $1.5k or so in annual maintenance that SolidWorks gets..

Don't have to pay the $1.5K maintenance fee for SW to just keep using SW. I have a seat of SW 2010 premium and don't have to pay any maintenance fee which is more like $5K for SW premium. BTW at the same time I bought SW I also bought Solidprofessor which was downloaded on-line. for years this was no problem. Recently my workstation caught a ransom virus and needed to reload everything from a fresh boot and clean wiped discs. Solidworks was OK with the rebuild since I paid for the licence and SW 2010 premium is back up and running, however SolidProfessor is a different story. Since I didn't have a DVD of Solidprofessor which was downloaded online, I called Solidprofessor in San Diego. They said they have changed to a yearly lease on Solidprofessor software and refused to download what I had already paid for. So Beware of Solidprofessor.

Namaste
Don