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DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 12:23 pm
by Jimustanguitar
http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/el ... mechanical

After trying several flavors of free 3D design software, I've been loving DSM. Tried Scatsup, FreeCAD, 123Design, Open SCAD, TinkerCAD, etc before this and DesignSpark is by far the awesomerest of the bunch. At least for the way that my brain works :) With the other programs, I'd always end up breaking geometry, having sketches that wouldn't close, was never sure of how to undo, etc. With DSM I've gone from 0 to awesome in 1 month. I've designed the TrickTrucks belt clamp, a new blower fan duct, a 2-part mold for silicone vibration isolators, and have been making my own quadcopter one part at a time ( http://makerhive.proboards.com/thread/4 ... quadcopter ).

This software really works for me, and I'd advise you to check it out!

Quick Reference Guides:
http://help.spaceclaim.com/dsm/pdf/2.0/QRC.pdf
http://help.spaceclaim.com/dsm/pdf/2.0/Gesture_card.pdf

Re: DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:08 pm
by BenTheRighteous
Nice!! I just decided to start tinkering around with DSM this week. Good timing!

Re: DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 6:39 pm
by bvandiepenbos
DS is well worth the time to learn and a very capable 3D modeling tool.
I have been teaching myself it for the last month or so, I am nothing but impressed. I can finally draw stuff in 3D !!
like this http://repables.com/r/435/

Re: DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:00 am
by Renha
Looks good, but looks like it needs Wine, or, even worse, windows to use

Re: DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:14 am
by BenTheRighteous
That is unfortunately true. I tried wine first but couldn't even get the installer to finish.

Luckily, it runs well in a virtual machine, so while that may not be the ideal solution, it is a passable one.

Re: DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:26 pm
by BenTheRighteous
Spoke too soon, DSM 2 doesn't want to run in my VM! Nuts. Looks like I'll be sticking with the old version. Oh well, still a pretty dang sweet offering for a freebie! :)

Re: DesignSpark Mechanical 2 Released

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 11:04 pm
by 0110-m-p
I'm lucky enough to have access to several full professional pieces of CAD software (mechanical design is what I do for a living ) and this does one thing that none of the others do....open and modify Sketchup files. Since that is what most people who release printer designs use means it will remain installed on my computer.