free

I work in Onshape (free-hobbyist version) for many of my 3D printing CAD drawings. It’s my alternative to the Hobbyist version of Fusion 360

I like using both. They are commercial quality CAD and are free

Onshape warns that their free version exposes all your drawings as open to the public. That doesn’t bother me one bit. I don’t design anything that needs copy protection or is a trade secret. That’s the whole point. 

Drawings can be deleted from ones personal account, but since it is web storage, that’s no guarantee that Onshape hasn’t saved a copy somewhere. On the internet there always seems to be a copy somewhere.

Fusion 360 Drawings are also saved to the cloud so the same (non-secure) rules apply here as well. Fusion 360 hobbyist also limits the user to 10 files “open for edit” at one time. All files are easily accessible and can be opened and closed at will.

NSA probably has copies of them all in their storage.

I have several other high end CAD drawing systems but they are not FREE.  Not naming them here as my point is not about how many CAD systems I own. The point I want to make is that there are least two FREE high quality CAD systems available for the 3D printing folks and for the home shop machinist.

Onshape Hobbyist- https://www.onshape.com/en/products/free

Autodesk FUSION 360 Hobbyist - https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal-form-v2

Check them out. Both will do the job for free. You will see prompts to upgrade to “paid” versions, but that is not overdone or obtrusive to hobbyist use.

Much of my entertainment is the experience using the various CAD systems. The Items I make are part of the entire process. My goal is not just to have what I make. It is the entire process of making it. 

It’s nice to not need to personally justify the cost of the tools.