New CAD Program - Completely Local

[granz]

Hack-A-Day had an article this morning about running a simple 3D CAD program in your browser. It looked pretty cool, but it referred to an earlier HaD article about a completely local CAD program, very much like TinkerCAD.

https://hackaday.com/2025/10/25/what-if-tinkercad-was-self-hosted/

The program is called CaDoodleCAD, and I downloaded the stand-alone (don't need to install it) version from their web site (https://cadoodlecad.com/.) You need to select your operating system, and the site then takes you to a grid of donation options. You do not need to donate, although after playing with this, I probably will. After you select your payment option, it appears that the page has not changed - just scroll up to find the download options. For Linux, I just downloaded the X86 AppImage straight to my desktop - this is the stand-alone version, that does not need to be installed. You need to mark the file on your desktop as executable, and then just double-click to launch the program. Supposedly there is also a stand-alone Windows version, but I have not explored that.

I played with the program for about fifteen minutes, trying to make a case for my  original (3.5") smart watch. I realized that I was probably starting too high, and decided to switch to a lower-hanging fruit. There is no file-save option, you just have a bunch of projects in your "Project Manager" - click on "Home" in the upper-left corner of the program window.

So, I started a new project for a simple keychain:


This is the print after about another fifteen minutes (I did not use any tutorial, or manual) of playing around.

I had just purchased a set of keychain rings and put one on the print. Marilyn really likes it, so that is a win right there.

There are a couple things that I want to work on (maybe finding a tutorial would be good ):

• Position the hole closer to the edge of the print
• Make the text a little less thick (it stands out a bit too much)
• Make the text a different color
• Round off the corners a bit

Overall, I think that this is pretty good for playing with a new CAD program, with no manual and no tutorial - it only took me about fifteen minutes of playing around. This is going to be my new CAD for quick-and-dirty 3D designs; at least until I get a need for more complex stuff.