Sorry if this has been asked/answered, I couldn’t find it. I’m curious if there’s a middleground between the two? Tinkercad lacks things I’d like to have like the ability to round/fillet one intersection rather than rounding an entire shape and Fusion 360 seems loaded with many features I don’t being on my want list anytime soon.
I think the way we all find CAD (this is my experience anyway) is that you keep getting frustrated, decide it’s not you, it’s the software, but learn a little bit. Then move onto the next package, and repeat.
At some point, you will have learned enough that learning the next CAD package is easy enough for you to stick with it, and you will be convinced it is easier than any of the other CAD packages you’ve tried before. This will be confirmed when you try to relearn a package you’ve already tested, and it is much harder than the one you like (which you are now familiar with). That’s how I ended up with OnShape.
Actually, n/m SketchUp. That’s right in the middle of those two. You’ll need the stl plugin (and maybe a DXF plugin) to make files useful for your printer or CNC machine.
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I think what’s frustrating me is years ago I learned MasterCam VIII on my own, picked it up quickly, and became relatively proficient with it. When the local software distributor forced my friend to ‘upgrade’ to MC X I had no where as easy a time with it, VIII just seemed far more intuitive. I’m sure X really was an improvement for those using it everyday but I was just a hobbyist making some parts for my motorcycles. Unfortunately, I can’t get the demo version to run on my laptop just to see if I’d pick it up quickly again.
I’ll have to give SketchUp a look. This is after all supposed to be fun and not a reminder of a brutal night school Calculus course I once took with a crazy Russian who walked in the first night of class, said “I am Tarnowski”, and proceeded to fill the entire four sections of the front blackboard with one problem, took a while to get my jaw off the floor after that intro. 
I took a dive into the Fusion 360 rabbit hole during covid19-lockdown. It actually wasn’t as difficult as I first imagined, having only played with Tinkercad and Inkscape. I want to recommended warmly, since mastering F360 is SOOO rewarding when it comes to drawing and making the models you need - for mostly whatever. I made a little thread on learning 360, perhaps it can be helpful. The 30 days tutorial is quite good, as longs as you ignore the “please click the blue button” details.
Rigt now I’m using Sketchup to remodel an old house we recently bought. Sketchup is amazing for architectural stuff, but it quiickly gets really messy in terms of hidden objects, faces and lines that act’s in all weird different ways. Now I’m at a point where I just pray that nothing explodes all over the place when I make changes… I actually regret not drawing the house in FUSION360, since it would be easier to keep the drawings more tidy this way…
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Yeah, I looked at a few tutorials and got that impression. Maybe I’m just a dinosaur but I’m more used to specifying dimensions for what I want to draw, where I want a hole drilled. etc. than to the shape based method. I could be wrong but have the feeling Fusion is far more capable than what I’ll need to do the things I want to do but will check out the the thread and tutorials you mention.
One of the things I’d like to do is modify this drawing:
It’s an old Ford V8 logo and I’d like to complete the lines of the ‘8’ so I could cut the ‘V’ and the ‘8’ to different levels to make it appear as if one is superimposed on the other, I’d like to make a lamp base from it. Of course if there’s a way to do it I could split it into two shapes and cut them individually. Would that be something more easily dome in something like Inkscape or ???
Thanks for the input!
SketchUp was described to me some time back as a surface modeling program, so it’s all about defining faces and edges. The fundamental approach it adopts may or not make sense depending on the background you come from.
Mostly from the ‘good ol’ days’ when Engineering Graphics were required courses as well as my first CAD experience being with MasterCam.
I would absolutely give it a try in inkscape. Trace the lines, work with the vectors to get the circles and shapes you need, and use estlcam for defining cuts and depths. But working with vectors is also quite confusing if you are unfamiliar.
If you consider fusion, this could be a nice opportunity to practice. Import the graphic file and draw a sketch upon it. You can even use the mirror on axis function, since the logo is symmetrical.
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Well, I’m familiar with being confused. 
I’ll look into both methods you mention, I think they’d come in handy for some of the things I’d like to do.
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Good luck! Please chime in again if the confusion gets too severe 
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Good, bad, or indifferent, I’ve always had the feeling if I wasn’t confused now and then I wasn’t trying enough new things.
If you are going to design technical parts you definitely have to try study fusion 360. a lot of videos about it on youtube.
Yeah, I’ve been watching some on the Autodesk site. Right now I’m trying to learn how to trace things and make them a machinable file. I just think it’s a far more capable program than I’m likely to need.
I could take a look at one of the models you want to create? I’d enjoy the task, and we both might learn something from it?
This is a Ford V8 logo, I believe from 1932.
What I’d like to do is make separate files for the ‘V’ and the ‘8’ and carve them separately. A few years ago I was browsing in the local GoodWill and came across a lampshade someone had made from cloth printed with Hot Rod flames for $2.00. I’ve always thought the V8 logo was a fine piece of graphic design and would like to make a lamp base from it.
Nice logo! I’ll give it a try, hopefully tomorrow.
I know I read something somewhere about using splines? in Fusion that should allow me to duplicate the ‘V’ and I was able to select parts of the ‘8’ but couldn’t find what I needed to measure diameters that would let me duplicate it easily. There’s just so much in that program I can’t always find what I need. I think it’d be a good learning experience as well as going well with the lampshade I have.
I’d try the vector graphic thing in inkscape, then import it to fusion360.
I took a look at InkScape and it seemed far more complex than I expected. Or maybe I just didn’t find a tutorial that worked for me? That’s one thing I’ve been finding is the right tutorial can make a BIG difference in the learning curve even when covering the same material.
Paul, I may not be following what you are asking, but see attached done in like 20 seconds within Inkscape. It would need a tiny amount of tweaking, but then you can open in estlCam and start defining toolpaths for machining. (You have to unzip it).
ford.zip (4.9 KB)
I will give a more detailed response in a bit if this is what you are looking generally to do.
P.S. I was in the same boat as you a while ago.