Hi, first time posting in this community, so sorry if this doesn’t belong.

I’ve been (slowly) designing some customizable input devices via a hobbyist license of Fusion360 the past few years. Unfortunately, Autodesk decided to remove the hobbyist tier and made all my files read-only, so now I need to migrate everything to a new software. For some background, I’m a mechanical engineer with experience in NX, Solid Edge, Solid Works, and Inventor, though I mainly code for my specific job.

My question is: what would be the best software for my use case?

OnShape

  • Has version control
  • Collaboration tools so other people can precisely fork and adjust dimensions to fit their needs
  • Professional-grade software, so less friction or need to find work arounds for some functions
  • Free tier automatically makes my designs open source. While I don’t want to release until it’s at v1.0, it’s not a deal breaker
  • The software isn’t open source, and I’m worried about them doing the same thing as Fusion360 in a year or so

FreeCAD

  • No built-in version control, and updates to files can’t be tracked by Git
  • It’s a bit jank to use, honestly. I’m trying to port my stuff over to it for now, but I’m having to force myself to do the work
  • Open source, so no worries about rug pulls
  • Can upload the original CAD files to a Git repository, and users can install the software and make adjustments themselves

OpenSCAD

  • Coding-based design means Git should be able to track updates
  • Significantly different to use from other CAD software, which is a downside for me. Part of the benefit to me for this project is to keep my CAD skills polished for work as a mechanical engineer, since my specific job doesn’t do much with CAD
  • Open source
  • Users can easily make adjustments

Blender

  • Focus on meshes means it works very different from other CAD packages, and I explained why that’s a downside previously
  • From what I understand, Git can’t track changes between versions
  • Open source
  • Users can make adjustments, but being focused on meshes instead of precision means adjustments are more difficult

Is there any other software that I’m not aware of that fits my use case? Are some of my points about OpenSCAD and/or Blender wrong? Is there something else that’s off? Helpful feedback is appreciated

  • GorGor@startrek.website
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    15 hours ago

    I think FreeCAD has potential. It’s not there yet. I’m trying to learn it but I’m getting a lot of grey in my beard and have been using Solidworks at work so long any new friction is frustrating.

    For PDM/PLM. I’ve been looking at this recently. It also is not ready.

    https://github.com/grd/FreePDM

    Its more work to setup but I am of the opinion parts should have drawings to show critical dimensions. Drawings should have rev blocks describing differences.

    There are issues to this approach, but it solves a lot of problems.