Fordson tugger hoist

[Hauk]

I have used Sketchup quite a lot, both at work and as a hobbyist.

But for creating .stl masters for 3D-printing, I have switched to Autodesk Fusion360.

This is a program with features comparable to SolidWorks. But it is free for hobbyists and small businesses. You can earn up to $ 100.000 a year without paying for the software.

The learning curve is a bit steeper than SketchUp, but there are tons of tutorials and videos available online.

I really urge people to look into Fusion360 if they are serious about making masters for 3D printing.

[finescalerr]

I can't find a free version, only a free 30 day trial version with "conditions". I never trust conditional offers, and we can't read the conditions beforehand, so I didn't download the software. Maybe you could help us with that. My experience with AutoDesk products has been positive; Fusion 360 may well be excellent. -- Russ

[Greg Hile]

I have both SketchUp (I sprung for the Pro version this year) and Fusion 360. There are two free versions of SU, a web version called SketchUp Free, and the old SketchUp Make 2017, a downloadable program that isn't being upgraded but is still quite usable and, to many users, preferable over the web version. To get the Make version, go to https://www.sketchup.com/products/sketchup-make. There are some features of the pro version that do not come with Make but overall they are very powerful programs.

Fusion 360 works the same way SU used to. You download a trial version and after the 30-day trial is over you can convert to the free account that Hauk referred to. I have had the account for a year or two and have never had any problems. Like SU, the free version lacks a feature or two but the customer support is the same.

I use both products, although I use SU a lot more than Fusion. I do architectural type design in SU and product or object design in Fusion.

[Hauk]

Here are a couple links to some more info on the subject:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-activate-start-up-or-educational-licensing-for-Fusion-360.html

https://www.autodesk.com/campaigns/fusion-360-for-hobbyists

I am very happy with Fusion360, but I must admit that I am a little worried that Autodesk might change their licensing policy in the future. I would hate to invest a lot of time learning Fusion360, and then be forced to pay for using it.

Building a user base by giving the product away or selling it cheap and then jacking up the prices to cash in is an all to familiar business strategy. Photobucket is just one example that comes to mind.

[finescalerr]

Thank you both for those posts. After looking over the first link, Havard's point about AutoDesk's possibly giving away its program for a while and then maybe hitting us with an annual fee after we're "hooked", is exactly what worried me in the first place. When Adobe went to a subscription-only policy, I refused to do business with them. I kept the Adobe programs I own and, if I need a new feature, other companies' products are available.

As for SketchUp, I spoke to a subscriber a couple of years ago who uses 3-D CAD daily for work he does for Hollywood movies. I think he uses SolidWorks now but it's worth reporting what he told me because it reinforces what Greg and Havard say:

He thinks SketchUp is an excellent program and even devoted a lot of time to learning it in classes and working with it professionally. From a professional standpoint, it may become a little clumsy if you need some plug-ins to make it do what SolidWorks or Fusion360 do natively. SolidWorks also handles certain kinds of shapes more conveniently. An example might be Chuck's Fordson manifold.

SketchUp's inconveniences may be more important to professionals working against the clock than to hobbyists.

The bigger issue for most of us might be the threat of corporate blackmail: Do you want to use a subscription-only program, even if currently free, or one you actually possess and may reinstall on a new computer or hard drive?

Russ

[Chuck Doan]

All of this is interesting since I will likely lose my access to Solidworks in the future. There is one called On Shape that looks interesting, but still has the risk of commitment since I think it is only cloud based.

On another note, It took a while but I finally finished the mods to the Danbury tractor body. It was hard to do another one, but I think the new 3D printed parts will be more interesting to work with. Hopefully it will start to progress faster.





This is the nut and bolt detail that had to go. I used McLeod Western nuts to replace these.

[Bill Gill]

Hi Chuck, been wondering how this was going. Looking good.
Hope you find a suitable replacement for Solidworks if you do lose access to it.

[Eric Green]

How do you put up these big photos?  Mine are the size of postage stamps and it still tells me
they are too large.

[finescalerr]

For some reason our annoying forum software reads photo resolution and size rather obtusely. If you have a photo editing program that allows it, try to set a somewhat lower resolution (e.g., 72 dpi) with a larger corresponding image size and make sure the total file size remains below 230kb. Photoshop doesn't seem to do that well but I bought a $50 competitor called Affinity Photo that does permit such manipulation. Much less frustrating that repeated attempts with my senile version of Photoshop. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

Looking good, Chuck. Nice to see you making progress on this again.

[TRAINS1941]

Like you said its all in the details.

Beautiful work.  Glad to see your moving along again.

Jerry

[TRAINS1941]

The Danbury Mint was to do a re-issue of the tractor.  But they want to use Chuck's version because there's is not up to par!!!

Jerry

[Chuck Doan]

Eric, I am posting links from a photo site (Fotki).

Some progress on the tractor body:

I sponged on JB weld to simulate cast texture and to cover the metal for better paint adhesion. Then light sanding and Mr Mahogany surfacer base coat. Then hairspray airbrushed on straight from the bottle, Then a chip thickener coat of Tamiya TS spray paint (for larger scale subjects). Then Tamiya XF- Royal Light Grey. Chipping has commenced, softening with water and picking at the paint with a plastic toothpick. The Tamiya paint chips very well.

[TRAINS1941]

Well that certainly looks nice.

I can't believe you have a miniature stand to hold the part!

Jerry

[1-32]

hi Chuck.
great to follow your post and see how you work,i am looking forward to the next installment.
cheers Kim