Official Luthiers Forum!

hey I was wonder what program ppl are using to draw out there guitars. I guess cad for pc but I have a mac. any suggestions?

Never could get into it. A pencil and a big piece of paper does it for me. But I'm interested in this topic as well.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I use sketch up, it's free, easy to learn and to the best if my knowledge runs on pc and mac.


~Nil carborundum illegitemi~

Turbocad for me

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Dave
Milton, ON

AutoCAD for 2-D. If I was going to do a lot of 3-D modeling or making files for the cnc's it would be SolidWorks. Those are the two packages that my engineering office uses - we own a number of seats of both and I have been using AutoCAD for 20+ years so I am very familiar with it.

The idea of using parametric modeling software makes a lot of sense if you do different designs - change the appropriate parameters and the whole model changes.

I use Visio. It is available and I use it at work which allows me to update drawings in my lunch hour too.

Outputs dwg/dxf and svg if necessary.

MS word. I even drew my house extensions with it.

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I've got a mind like a steel......whatsername!!?

Autodesk Inventor is what I use. This is a pretty common CAD program like Autocad and Solidworks.

Pencil and paper for me for the brainstorming, then Draftsight for the digital part, available for Mac and PC.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Must be some rich mofos on this forum. Autocad, Inventor, and Solidworks are so far outside my budget, I may as well be homeless and unemployed.

I use eMachineShop for fast, rough drawing, and DraftSight for final precision work. Both are free.

I have a question. I hope I'm not hijacking this thread but I think it's related..
I am looking to get a template laser cut for marking out braces etc as my plywood half template is ever so slightly off. I've made a couple now but I want something more accurate.
There is a shop in my city that does laser cutting and I took him a drawing done by hand but he said he could only work from a computerized file. I downloaded a free 30 day trial of Adobe Illustrator but have absolutely no idea how to use it yet.
What do you guys use for getting templates made? Will Illustrator work for this? Or is there any other (free) software that is relatively easy to use for computer illiterates like myself? ( I have a mac laptop)

You should ask him what kind of file he wants, 'computerized' is not specific enough. Some lasers need CAD files, usually a DXF or a DWG, and a lot of the non-industrial machines work with things like Illustrator, but you need to be sure. There's a guy in town whose machine only works with Corel Draw files.

Go here, read up, and you will know all. I also recommend working with them, they're a good operation.
http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/design-it-yourself

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I'm an architect, so I use some pretty sophisticated CAD software in my work (ArchiCad 16 now), but I still enjoy using the old tracer and pencils for simple designs, and conceptual sketches of course. For guitars, its really all you need. If you must use a computer, Draftsight is the best free 2D program I know.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I use an old version of AutoCAD for 2-D drawings.
I print out multiple pages at 1/1 scale and tape them together (pretty crummy).
It is good for creating small templates for fairly precise cutouts and such.
I'm leaning towards drawing full size by hand for simplicity. I just need a big drawing surface.
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Thanks for posting that link, it's really helpful. Much appreciated. I checked their website and it says they can work with adobe illustrator files.

Go to Staples or a reasonable facsimile thereof, and buy what they call Banner Paper. It's the white paper you see used in places like grocery stores when they string banners from the ceiling. $5 or $6 will get you a roll big enough to draw out several guitars with. That's what I use.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

FWIW, I use Rhino3D.

+1

The beauty of some of the cad packages, Rhino specifically for me, is the ability to use control points to precisely shape your curves! Save a copy, and then make changes. Unlike paper.......you don't have eraser trash to have to deal with!

Mike

There's a feature called Incremental Save that makes this even easier. I hotkeyed it to CTRL-S so anytime I was about to start doing something possibly stupid I'd have a copy.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I use AutoCAD for 2D and Rhinocad for 3D.

I rarely use pencil and paper now though I progressed through advanced drafting in college. In the early days I used a cheap 2D package called Drafix Pro. Today I have SolidWorks 2012.

If you only need to design and save 2D drafts for reference...the cheaper the better. I expect there would freeware programs that could do that much. Just make sure it can dimension your drawings on a printed output.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

I've started using Google Sketchup on my Mac, and I like it a lot. I find it a lot more intuitive than the other, more traditional CAD software I've tested.. Plus, it's a free download! Fine Woodworking magazine even sells an e-book called "Sketchup for Woodworkers." I used that to learn the program in just a few hours. It gets my vote. Check it out.

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Dan Greene
Greene Guitars & Custom Strings
(currently just a pipe dream)

Thats the answer I have been looking for. compatible with a mac and that one magic word FREE lol. thanks