Good QCad tutorial?

[epicbattle]

I am looking for a comprehensive in depth CAD tutorial. I am a theater performance major in Detroit, and I have no clue how to do this. I have a few robots drawn out on paper. But I don't know how to talk the blueprint speak. I am not retarded (well...maybe a tiny, tiny bit. Ok, a lot. I am retarded.). I am decent at physics and math. I have built piezoelectrical equipment before... I use Linux so GNU software would be nice. I can spend a little money... but I can't dish out a thousand bucks or whatever these programs seem to cost. Any ideas on where an arts student can learn how to do something technical and wonderful for free? Going back to school is currently not an option (I'm poor.)

Not to make this thread sappy or anything, but building the photovore robot changed my life.
A few questions I am going to throw into this thread because I am thinking about them...

How do you determine the physical size of motors and equipment without having them in your possession? Either I don't know where to look on a website for specs or it doesn't display.

Is there a way to test for structural weaknesses?

Bless your hearts.

- Adam

[clone]

just download cad for free...

[colorclocks]

I don't know about QCad.  I use a free/shareware program called CadStd.  It's very easy to learn, and reasonably capable for 2D.  (It doesn't do 3D.)

[paulstreats]

A lot of people here have started using the google sketchup 3d cad system. Its free to download from google and there is help available on using it. (I believe a member here was in the process of making a tutorial on it).

For physical sizes of components you need to find and download the technical datasheet. These always have a footprint drawing with measurements. Even components like LED's and capacitor generally have a footprint diagram so you can effectively design a circuit board. Motors and stuff usually have eneough measurements to create a 3d representation but servo's can be a bit more difficult to get physical specs on.

You can test for structural weaknesses but this falls short of most cad programs and will cost a couple of thousand dollars for this feature. Just try to best guess it.

[Admin]

All professional CAD software packages come with extensive tutorials. No need to ask for any.

Now if you want gnu CAD software, expect it to be very difficult to use and come with zero tutorials or help information. Don't expect it to be intuitive.

Also, I don't know of any 3D CAD software for Linux that's worth using . . . you are pretty much stuck with Windows.

That being said, QCAD is only 2D:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QCad

[gem_cat]

The short animations http://www.qcad.org/qcad_doc_animations.html will definitely get you started. The 'official book' is probably a good choice for tutorial material. More important is that you get the idea of CAD - cad is drafting, that is using tools to make drawings, like using a t-square and triangle it is tedious but straight forward. I think, with the addition of CAM, QCad is a good choice and in a direct path to the future. OS is really necessary for a long term success.   

[georgeecollins]

I love CadStd-- It's very basic, but for designing 2D patterns it works great.  Google Sketch Up is much more featured, but I use CadStd to make things like this:

[Cristi_Neagu]

Just as a reminder, Autodesk is still offering free Inventor licenses for students.