Free circuit drawing software

[wade88]

As title says. Any body point me in the right direction to some decent software for circuit design etc?

Cheers

Ben

 

[tazz]

Autocad 2013LT is £1400 which is good enough for most commercial drawings, lot of money, but worth it for costing and finishing O&Ms on jobs

 

[Clive P]

Hi,

Draftsight is available free on the net, and claims to be fully compatible with Auto-Cad. I've got a copy myself but haven't used it yet.

Regards.

 

[rmc86uk]

Why is it there are no freebies for Mac's?
It's pony...

There horrible that's why :thumbdown:

 

[tazz]

Hi,

Draftsight is available free on the net, and claims to be fully compatible with Auto-Cad. I've got a copy myself but haven't used it yet.

If it compatible then result....but most major contractors used Autocad as standard, so without it your really stuck.
Most companies send us the spec and cad drawings and request quote, makes life and quoting for major work easier, if successful we have a working plan/design to go from. It is worth the investment

 

[Rockingit]

There is a web based version of ACad which is free but has (I think) full functionality for creating, viewing, editing etc - I think the only downside is that you can't save a file locally, it has to be on the 'cloud'. Find it on the autodesk site.

I use ACad for everything from 2D electrical schematics to 3D rendered stage show designs with lights and camera angles!

 

[grantr37]

This Edraw is a 30 day trial, but if its any good, i shall propose for the company to invest.

How dear is auto cad then? My computer is utter pants too so not sure the graphics would hold up for a good CAD program.

A single user licence (single seat)for Autocad is about £2,000 (there's Structural, Architectural,marine,Automotive and Electrical versions of Autocad available)

what kind of circuits are you looking to design? there's circuit CAD software out there for about £130.00 on the high street...and some PCB CAD software free online as well...


if you think Autocad is expensive, what about Pro-Engineer then? (that's about £10,000 for a licence and a disk)

 

[wade88]

Nothing in specific, but over a coffee i would just like to sit and ponder over a few. Circuits you come up with in your head and what have you. I'd just like to put some things on paper rather than allow my brain to think its got free rein on good ideas.

£10 large could be a little awkward to push through accounts for now.... haha

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Nothing in specific, but over a coffee i would just like to sit and ponder over a few. Circuits you come up with in your head and what have you. I'd just like to put some things on paper rather than allow my brain to think its got free rein on good ideas.

£10 large could be a little awkward to push through accounts for now.... haha

have you had a chance to have a go with that edraw yet Ben?

 

[wade88]

Yes mate before i shot off home last night i had a quick play around and it was good. Takes a bit of getting use to and im a bit naff with fiddly computer things but it was the right sort of thing i was after Glenn for sure. I ideally want a programme like Edison, that you can actually add power sources to your circuit and energise them, so actually build artificial circuits and test they are going to work prior to building them. Something i can bring relays and contactors into, control circuits i guess is what i am looking to do.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Yes mate before i shot off home last night i had a quick play around and it was good. Takes a bit of getting use to and im a bit naff with fiddly computer things but it was the right sort of thing i was after Glenn for sure. I ideally want a programme like Edison, that you can actually add power sources to your circuit and energise them, so actually build artificial circuits and test they are going to work prior to building them. Something i can bring relays and contactors into, control circuits i guess is what i am looking to do.

well...i tend to be a bit fiddly with naff things...so there!!
anyway...

 

[wade88]

Ha. Thanks though buddy

 

[tazz]

For Electronics and PCB design Protell 99SE is another standard for manufactures, dont use it as much these days, but useful when we need to make up multi switch relays or interlinks for shop fire alarms

 

[grantr37]

There's circuitworks software in Maplin for £40.00 that would do for you at the level you want to work at, back in 1999/2000 when I was starting college there was one called "crocodile clips" (old history now) that was a very basic version of what you can get now......was wheeled out for the young ones that had never done any Electronics before, never used it myself but it was dished out to electronics students back then......there might be a modern version going now, I don't know......but they are selling circuitworks software in Maplins, I see it next to the PCB circuit board etching materials and soldering things up the back of the maplins shop every time I am in.....all the maplin shops are arranged in pretty much the same floor layout so look up the back....

 

[rmc86uk]

Last time I saw Crocodile Clips was about six years ago.

 

[Marvo]

We use AutoCAD MEP MDT and inventor aswell as Catia for serious drawing they're not free though although students can get an extended trial version. I have a copy of Circuitmaker which was free (I think it's abandonware but might be wrong) you can download it here. It's good for basic electronics circuits and it has basic SPICE built in. It's more design oriented but it will save and print circuits.

It would help if you can say exactly what types of drawings you need it for.