Shopsmith Forums

For quick drawings I use Visio but for drawings that require precision I use AutoCad. It has a very robust learning curve but the end results are amazing. I have never used it on a Mac though.
I know Lowes and maybe Menards have deck building aps on their websites that allow you to save the drawings.

A while back I went through the same issue , spent 3 hrs looking for some thing and trying stuff I didnt like, I could have just grabbed a pencil and ruler and drew it .
Actually I could have made a prototype from pop cycle sticks in that time lol.
did you try the demo version on openscad and polyboard ?

For spacing if you are referring to the gap between the decking boards a 16 penny nail is what they use here .
Check with your regulations if you are referring to the gap between the spindles and the minimum height of the top rail there are codes in some places if I recall .

https://www.decks.com/how-to/373/deck-railing-codes

Fusion 360, or Sketchup?

DeltaCAD is straight forward, easy to learn and use drafting program. It can be used for all projects. Plus you can try it for free for 45 days.
https://www.deltacad.com/demo.html
Just like the old days. If you want top, side and frontal views, just draft them. The learning curve is flat. I love it!

I'm very much a fan of sketchup, well the real one not that online nonsense. I thought I might have to learn fusion 360 to be able to use the Shaper Origin but now a couple of solutions have showed up that lets me use sketchup and then output the files required for shaper.

I just finished this drawing last night:
This is about take 5 of the design. Changed what I wanted to do as well as other factors but having it as a drawing was a lot better then making 5 of them only to have what I wanted on the fifth try.

I have hopes of cutting it out today, we will see......

Ed

I have and use a drafting machine and table. I have been drafting since the 60's and really never felt the need to use computers, although computers and IT was my career for 40 years.

Most of the time I just do a rough sketch of what I want.

Just my .02

I can type a lot faster than I can draw. Also, shortcut and function keys, copy/paste are your friends. But I program/cut parts daily for a living.

If anyone is interested there is a YouTube step by step demo of SketchUp to build a sofa table.
I never used SketchUp but the video seemed to give complete detail on how the author created each component using SketchUp.
Here is a link
https://youtu.be/LAVZZlw4_Uo

Thank you for posting. I use SU frequently BUT every time I watch a training video I learn new tricks. This one taught several.

Each element of SU, by itself, can be called simple. But when you put them all together to prepare a drawing it can become quite complex. I would call the learning curve steep and time consuming.

Newbie here; let me know if I stray from approved protocol, please.

Has anyone here had experience with the open software Libra and its Draw application?
I've long experience with Visio on a PC, but having been burned out last October I'm now on a MAC, and miss my ability to make scale drawings easily.
Ray