Looking for free CAD to design workshop- with tool footprints

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Hello all:

Grizzly used to have a free tool where you could design a shop space and drag and drop tools. I don't see it anymore on their site. I am looking for a simple program where I can add walls, windows, doors, etc., and would really prefer something with tools (even if somewhat generic) that I can use to layout tools in the shop. Any suggestions? I do have some experience with Sketchup, but I also kind of don't like Sketchup. Hoping for something more focused on building design.

Thanks!
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[Lisa Starr]

You can probably find renderings of most of your equipment on GrabCad. Then you can use any cad program you like and pull the tools in. Personally, I use the free version of Fusion360 because of the plugins available for joints such as dovetails, dowels etc

[Malcolm Schweizer]

You can probably find renderings of most of your equipment on GrabCad. Then you can use any cad program you like and pull the tools in. Personally, I use the free version of Fusion360 because of the plugins available for joints such as dovetails, dowels etc

Thank you. I will look into those.

[Wes Grass]

I've been playing around with this in SW. Tedious ...

For rough concepts, paper cutouts are much faster. Take pictures of the ones you think look promising. Take those to CAD.

Never used Sketchup more than a few minutes. Might be massively easier for this.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I've been playing around with this in SW. Tedious ...

For rough concepts, paper cutouts are much faster. Take pictures of the ones you think look promising. Take those to CAD.

Never used Sketchup more than a few minutes. Might be massively easier for this.

I am currently doing just that, but with actual paper on paper plans! I may just stick with this old school method. I’m getting annoyed with computer models where you “pull” a wall and it doesn’t go where you want it, and then you can’t fix it, or a door won’t go where it’s supposed to. Nothing like old school pencil and eraser.

BDAC4589-0512-451B-8AB8-862306771DF7.jpg

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Malcom,

I understand you don't like Sketchup but it does a good job for shop layout. When I was designing the ducting for my new dust collector I modeled my entire shop in Sketchup, walls, rafters, tools, everything, so I could try out different designs. The 3d warehouse has models of a number of woodworking power tools for download. For what it's worth, Sketchup is used for architectural drawings by a lot of firms. But if you really don't like it, you really don't like it.

Cliff

[Kevin Jenness]

For shop layout pencil and paper with scaled cutout machines and benches works just fine. Cad is faster and more accurate once you get used to it but there is no such thing as a "free" program. Even if you don't pay for a license you will sink many hours into training, so if you want to get into cad make sure you pick the right program for your mindset.

I find using separate cutouts for material paths very useful, keeping in mind that sometimes variations in machine/bench heights or level surfaces can make a difference in a tight situation. In cad you can use separate layers and colors and 3d views can be useful, but old school will get you there.

[Bill Dufour]

https://www.grizzly.com/user/shop-planner

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Thank you, Bill. I thought that would be the case, but I couldn’t even find a landing page for it. This is helpful.

[John Nordyke]

The posting from Grizzly about a pending new shop planner is the best part of two years old. I think it unlikely it will ever appear.

[Christopher Charles]

Hi Malcolm,

Glad to hear you're planning a new shop! Haven't seen you here much lately.

I used sketchup for a couple of shops and was useful but definitely a steep learning curve. For my last shop, I pulled all the models from the grizzly site, printed a couple copies and made paper cut outs of the models and did it old school. Too bad about the Grizzly site; I thought I heard something similar at Rockler but didn't find with a quick google.

Best,
Chris