LocostUSA.com

I always wanted to use Solidworks to design my chassis but knew it's too expensive. I wasn't exactly sure of the price, but I knew it was >$3000 or so, plus some crazy annual support fee.

Anyhow, I'm on their mailing list and just got a special offer. You can get up a $2000 discount on Solidworks if you order now and pay by the month. What completely shocked me was the bottomline price:
"$199/month x 36 months = $7,164."

HOLY COW! I had no idea it was so expensive, and that's with the discount. Well thanks guys, for confirming I can't ever use your product.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/

I think maybe most people who use this for personal stuff either have access to it at their work or their work bought a bunch of lisences and they "borrowed" one. Or are even using bootleg copies.

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+442 - Miata

It sounds like it might be cheaper to enrol somewhere as a student (even part time) and buy the student-priced version. But there may be restrictions on using the results for commercial purposes.

Ya your right but IIRC the student version only lasts like a semester or 2 years or something. I would love to take a class on it but my current school doesnt do that. Even though it dont last very long I'm SURE it would still be cheaper.

OK I just looked at one of the sites that I buy my stuff from and they have the "student edition" for 2 years for $140, but IDK what you dont get in the student edition that you would get in the real one...

http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=53005643

(btw you dont even have to take a class on CAD to get the student version, you could take "belly dancing 101" if you wanted to.)

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+442 - Miata

Geez, for that much money, she'd better stay the whole night AND make me breakfast in the morning....

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A man must keep a little back shop where he can be himself without reserve. In solitude alone can he know true freedom.
-Michel de Montaigne

Scratch built book frame with an 83 Celica donor 22RE. SHE'S A ROLLER!!!

The student edition of SW doesn't have anything locked out that I was able to find. The only difference is all of the drawing print outs and whatnot say "student edition" at the bottom and you can't get rid of it.

Community college classes sure are cheap....

The only downside is you get the current year's version and SW 2008 is a total piece of garbage.

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

Then wait for 2009. Anyways the 2 year thing is pretty good plus by that time you would be due for an update.

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+442 - Miata

We should be an internet correspondence course in locost sports car design, get the student licenses and publish all of our stuff with "student edition" all over it.

But maybe the Google stuff is getting good enough over the next year or so?

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Marcus Barrow - Car9 an open design community supported sports car for home builders!
SketchUp collection for LocostUSA: "Dream it, Build it, Drive it!"
Car9 Roadster information - models, drawings, resources etc.

I have limited experience with SolidWorks, but I have used SolidEdge extensively and it seems to be 99% as useful as SolidWorks. The only advantage to SolidWorks that I can see if the availability of FEA or CFD plug-ins - although those are probably as prohibitively expensive as SolidWorks is to begin with.

SolidEdge at one time would let students enrolled in schools that teach SolidEdge have student licenses for free. They didn't expire and had no features locked out. The only catch was that files saved in the student licensed edition wouldn't load directly into the "professional" license.

Might be something to look into if you are a student at a school that might teach a class on it. I had to pick my copies up from an Engineering professor, but he didn't seem to concerned about my enrollment status - if you know what I mean.

I think SolidEdge made it free to student hoping that it would encourage more schools to offer he class and more students to take the class in the hopes that a flood of proficient graduates would encourage companies to switch to SolidEdge for their 3D CAD work.

It's also pretty easy to learn to use just by working through the brief tutorials.

That price isn't bad if you are a business. Normally SW or SE will run you about ~$5000 for the initial cost plus ~$1200 per year maintainence. So 8600 vs. 7600 plus being able to write off the payment costs as a business expense each year.

that being said, yea it's a lot of money for personal use.

Go with Alibre or Rhino for home use. Alibre 11 can be had for $999. When you are on the mailing list they usually have monthly specials which can take the price down to $499.

Rhino runs ~$900 I think and is fantastic surface modeler.

Honestly for what we do you don't need an updated version of CAD software.

I use SE14 which came out in 2003 I believe. I use this on a 2003 Dell insperion 8100 laptop. I also have Rhino

That's a sweet deal for a small business with a legitimate need for a full-time SW user... $1.15/hr... a small fraction of what you pay the employee using it. Great to pay as you go, since capital is so often in short supply.

Definately not so sweet for hobby use, or for an emploee to use a few times a year.
.

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http://www.SportsCarDesigner.com .... You want to design your own car... so go ahead. Sports Car Designer is the answer.

Yeah I know there are hacked copies floating around but I can't in good conscience use it if I'm hoping to make any money on what it produces. That's just me.

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Midlana book: Build this mid-engine Locost!, http://midlana.com/stuff/book/
Kimini book: Designing mid-engine cars using FWD drivetrains
Both available from https://www.lulu.com/