I'm not affiliated with DS, or SW in particular. I was trained on it in college in 2005 and have been a loyal user of it when needing CAD since then, since I guess my brain was wired to think like SW. So that's my disclaimer.

Do you think it would be helpful (and that there would be enough demand) to do a SolidWorks 101 session for folks? Are there enough users that would be willing to learn (and willing to pay $99/yr for the software) to take their CAD/3D printing to the next level?

I'd be happy to teach a few classes via some kind of free screen sharing app or something (I'd have to figure out specifics at a later date) but thought I'd gauge interest.  I'm not really well versed enough to consider myself able to teach a class on F360, as it frustrates me to no end.  But SW on the other hand, I use enough (while I'm NOT a professional) I think I could get people up to the level where they are making useful designs, etc. This would NOT be geared toward people that are comfortable in SW, or professionals that want to show up and make me look like an idiot. I'm not really interested in those folks.

So, what do you guys think? Is this something that would be appreciated? I'd be offering the training(s) free of charge, of course.

RP, if this isn't allowed...feel free to put me in time out.

I love Solidworks and find it so much easier to use than F360.

But simply the difficulty of getting Solidworks, and the cost to use it professionally makes F360 the better choice for the hobbyist who might transition to making a profit.

If teaching is a hobby or something you want to put on your resume go for it. But if someone wants to learn the software there's already hundreds of youtube videos and Google searches to learn from. Odds are you're wasting time.

Why not a freeware CAD program like FreeCAD.

Because FreeCAD is worth what you pay for it.

Fair...and I agree with you. But I see a few people EVERY DAY on Arfcom that say "I wish I knew CAD" and yet nobody seems to do anything about it.

So gauging interest, however, you're probably right. Probably a waste of time.

I'm a CFO in real life; I couldn't give a shit less about my resume. I'm already where I want to be.

Join the EAA for $40.00 and get SW student for free.

I would be interested.

They stopped that benefit. I used to do that but too many people were only signing up for that.

Might be worth considering recording them as well, and uploading to youtube. Then people could reference them later.

I'm a self taught Freecad user, but I might check out Solidworks eventually.

https://www.onshape.com/en/products/free

Try this.

Every thing made in free OnShape is public domain and is literally saved in the cloud in which ALL OnShape users have access to.

No thanks.

People may not know about this but veterans can get a student version of Solidworks for $20 a year and students can get the same thing for I think $30 a year. Both have CAM, FEA, weldments, and sheet metal.

Not sure if just a .edu email is needed or not? Find a local community College, enroll in one class then drop out. Just like that you have cheap Solidworks. Maybe could even sign your kid up for a student account to "borrow". Both options seem like a bunch of hoops to jump threw when other easier programs to get are available though.

Freecad sucks so bad. Lol.

Heh, you and one other person, apparently.

It's still a functional tool. I use it, and I've released gun designs that have been printed and remixed by others. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it gets the job done.

I think it's important that open source CAD software is available, especially for a community that can be "inconvenient" to large companies.

I'd be interested. Very interested even if no one else does it.

@-Obsessed-

Might just be the three of us.

Let me find a screen sharing/audio sharing platform that is free. I'll leave this thread open for now in case anyone else is interested.

I NEED 3D modeling training.
Have an old copy of SW on a 32 bit laptop.
Work a 10 hour 2nd shift, no free time.
Would appreciate a recorded video for offline viewing.
Thanks.

For those interested, would you prefer Cisco WebEx, Apache OpenMeetings, or Google Hangouts? They all seem free for use.

Hangouts is probably the easiest.

I'd be in for tinkercad or the like.  But not interested in paying for cad programs.  I'm just a home gamer and tend to modify thingiverse files.

@mancow
@BURN

Want to PM me a few dates in the next month that might work for you?

Make sure you have SW downloaded installed and all that fun crap. It takes a LONG freakin' time.

PM me if you have any questions on getting it setup or if you're not sure if you want SW or not. I find it to be well worth the $100/yr.

Awesome. I'll get a copy and set it up and reply directly with some dates. Thanks.

same

I sent in the paperwork for that like 8 months ago and... crickets.  

What might work well too is a Q&A with video answers similar to how some of the Lars videos are with F360.

Maybe a tacked thread or similar, someone posts a how to question and you can post a video of how to accomplish it.

Unfortunately for me personally, F360 is my goto and Solidworks is the option not worth the cost for me.

But I know when I was learning how to model in F360 (coming from a 2d drawing background), most of my questions were not how to use the software, they were how do I model this feature that I want.

Might want to try again. I just reupped my subscription and it took a day and a half for them to verify me.