Draftsight

[leggman]

I am looking at Draftsight as a possible way to both draw a part and convert it to a dxf file.
I am trying to learn how to draw a part and get it cleaned up and converted to a dxf file without it costing me a arm and a legg. (pun intended)
Thanks, Dave

[djreiswig]

I use draftsight. It works good for what I've needed, and the best part is the price. There are some YouTube videos that will help you learn the commands.

[leggman]

do you have to get the pro version to generate a g code

[scn64]

Depending on your needs you may want to use different software for your nesting and code posting, but as a tool for geometry creation and editing you can't go wrong with Draftsight. I am a CNC programmer by trade and use this tool daily for creating laser and plasma geometry. My company wanted to reduce licensing costs so we switched from AutoCAD to Draftsight about 5 years ago and never looked back.

The free version is great for personal use and 2d geometry creation and for $99 you can get the professional license which includes useful tools like power trimming and the ability to discard duplicate geometry.

[djreiswig]

I just use it for drawing. I run the drawings through SheetCam to make the gcode. I use the free version of DraftSight.