Mechanical Design Software choice

[lilmantis]

                     Hello everyone, I want to design some mechanical parts for some projects and I was thinking about learning Fusion 360 which seems to be free of charge for hobbyists. Do you think this is a good choice and if not what else should I look into?

[KuroZ]

Give it a go. If you like it, use it.

I have tried lots of CAD software, both commercial and free, and I stick to OpenSCAD for everything mechanical. Never got really used to other modeling software, though I use FreeCAD sometimes.

I'm yet to try SolidWorks, which seems to be good from what I've heard.

[alexanderbrevig]

I'm a mechanical newbie, informal training from Lego. Even still, if I can think it, I can make it with Fusion 360.
It's by far the best I've tried.

[NivagSwerdna]

I was thinking about learning Fusion 360 which seems to be free of charge for hobbyists. Do you think this is a good choice and if not what else should I look into?

Fusion 360 is awesome.  Make sure you checkout the various YouTube tutorials.

[janoc]

Some other options:

• https://www.freecadweb.org/ (completely free/open, desktop app, but not as full featured as Fusion360 or Onshape, but getting better)
• https://www.onshape.com/ (totally web based, so can work even on the go, commercial but free for personal use. Comparable to Fusion360 with more logical UI and less slugishness, IMHO)
• http://www.openscad.org/ (scripting, good for procedural generation of objects but requires a certain mindset and very good orientation in space so that you can write sensible code ...)
• https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/mechanical-software (Free, but haven't tried it. Integration with DesignSpark PCB tools is an advantage. Regular offline tool, no Internet connection needed)