Best program for designing a PC case?

[Kitsan]

I was wondering if there where any programs out there which where good for designing PC cases?

 

I've gotten as far as I can with tinkercad but now im at the stage where i've got to align the case to ATX power supply fittings and motherboard standoff/rear IO panel/PCI slots... and it's tough. I was wondering if there was anything out there which had templates or something which makes the process easier?

 

Also if there's a quick way to enter drill/bolt holes & fittings, that'd be useful?

 

I'm thinking just buying a motherboard tray might be a better idea but I i'd like to learn how to do it properly in whatever CAD software is most suitable?

[ARikozuM]

Most of the time, I just draw. AutoCAD is mostly if I need to pass the schematics to someone else. 

 

I would look at Sketch or FreeCAD if you're looking for a one-off program. 

[Kitsan]

I've already done the conceptual sketches, i'm just trying to get the details right such as motherboard alignment for standoffs vs I/O vs PCI reinforcement bracket and fittings/bolts on the program as i'm 3d printing the parts rather than fabricating them out of metal/plastic/wood.

 

Basically it's a project to learn how to 3D print large items in segments and learn CAD

[iLostMyXbox21]

I use blender

[ARikozuM]

@Skanky Sylveon We need your programs. 

[Kitsan]

If not can someone point me in the direction of a place which might have a ATX motherboard tray template which I could buy/download please?

[PixelPol]

I'd surely be perfectly able to do this in Wings3D. You need alignment tools, surely. And probably would benefit from "snapping to" objects, faces or vertices.

 

Blender is perfectly capable, but I like a ton more wings for raw modeling, is just preferences (I do everything else in Blender, though, from texturing, to rendering, to animating, exporting, etc).

 

Problem is: To learn Wings3D or Blender to a point you can do that safely and easily , might take you quite a long while, imo. Probably months, to say the least.

 

Another one was SketchUp from Google, but I believe it's gone full commercial or sth, recently...

 

None of these are CAD apps. There are quite some FREE CAD apps, but good ones, I'm told only a few (I'm an expert in 3D, but as a generalist, not CAD...Yet tho, what you are probably wanting to do is very much doable with Wings/Blender)

 

Part of what I work on is doing gigs for 3D printing, and a very key thing is work with the exact real world scale and measures. In this, Blender is extremely complete. Specially now that its 3D print addon improved a lot, and now you can even use it as a checker to validate the scene for 3D print, and so be pretty sure any commercial checker will see it as valid for most online services like shapeways, i.materialse, etc.

 

[Kitsan]

Speak newb to me, what are alignment tools and "snapping to"?

[Franck]

You need CAD software to do the job well. Simply use AutoDesk Fusion 360. Free for hobbyist and also include tools to export to 3d printer or laser cutters.

[Kitsan]

Is autodesk fusion 360 user friendly?

[Franck]

41 minutes ago, remus243 said:

Is autodesk fusion 360 user friendly?

100 times more than blender if that's what you are asking. Draw a shape and extrude in a direction. Making holes is a click, draw the shape or choose a preset hole / screw and it does everything for you. You can mirror things, repeat pattern of something you have done.

 

Usually 2-3 clicks for anything. Everything is instinctive. You want to add filet to your hole then click "Fillet" then it ask to click all the hole or edges you want to fillet and you specify the angle/size or whatever you feel like and click ok and boom it's done. Want to Mirror something then click the "Mirror" button, choose what you want to mirror and then the mirror plane and click ok.

 

For modeling it's probably not the best so if you are looking into making a D&D miniature you should absolutely check other softwares.

 

If you know Sketch, Solidworks, Edge, NX, AutoCad, 3D Max, Inventor or any of the same kind you shouldn't have anything to learn other than where the buttons are. There are TONS of free tutorials.

[PixelPol]

Franck is right.

 

Yep, it is friendly, surely easier to get on fast than Blender, by far (but Blender is GREAT for other advantages you may never need), and, while Blender 2.8 is a total different beast (as in amazing+revolutionary, in that sense) to previous versions, much easier, probably for your task is much better to use Autodesk Fusion 360, or other CAD tool.  (btw, another freebie I have used from Autodesk, I think was meshmixer, and if I remember well, I liked it...But is for a different type of project)

 

I've done very complex printed pieces, miniatures with Wings3D and Blender. But I've been handling Blender since 2002, seriously, and more as a hobby in previous years. So, yep, better these specialized 3D printing tools and CAD tools.
 

It depends on what you do want to 3D print, but something as technical as your project is, I can see why Franck is recommending CAD tools. Blender has been requested often to have more CAD features, and indeed, now it has line measuring and some things, besides the 3D print module, but is eons away from a CAD tool. I just don't handle that kind of stuff, so rarely will be my first recommendation to 3D print anything, but yeah, for such a technical design, a CAD tool is a no-brainer.

 

While I think you'd better forget fully my advice about using for this Wings3D and Blender, I'll answer your question : Is sth common to all 3D. Alignment, I was referring specifically to the ability to align objects, elements and part to same distance and point in space of another objects. Snapping, so that when moving an object near the other, or a vertex/line/face, it snaps to it matching mathematically perfect, not a micron after or sooner. Anyways, then its... whatever the material you are printing with, each plastic or metal has its tolerances, minimum wall and wire width, etc. This can be checked in the material specs and its design guidelines, usually provided by the same printing service (shapeways, i.materialise, etc), in its materials or help zone,  if you use one of those. And everywhere (pops up fast with google) if you look for a material specs and printing with certain printer or printing system.

 

But I'm a 3D generalist, have done some printing gigs but I come from 3D for video games and movies. For this type of project trust always better a CAD expert / mentor. Which I ain't by any stretch of imagination.

 

[PixelPol]

9 minutes ago, Franck said:

100 times more than blender if that's what you are asking. Draw a shape and extrude in a direction. Making holes is a click, draw the shape or choose a preset hole / screw and it does everything for you. You can mirror things, repeat pattern of something you have done.

As you are actually thinking and know, these can be also done in Blender (not so much in wings, tho, can be overcome, and that one has important advantages) but for this to be minimally operative, one needs a ton of experience, and booleans, and other operations needed for the above, are way easier, flexible and faster (making holes, unions, intersections) with a CAD tool. Besides counting on many helpers and ways of work with full accuracy from minute 1. I just would naturally use what I am familiar with, but what he says is the right type of tool for the project.