[cybrhick]

The company I work for has decided to close our manufacturing facility in June, So at the same time the oil industry has basically collapsed here in Houston. My wife and I have decided to take the side business we built 10 years ago, and turn it into a career. This is somewhat rushed and we will be cashing out my 401k to be able to make it happen, so we are trying to save a penny wherever we can getting started.

We need a cad program to start off that will not only let us solid model, but will also allow is to make blueprints that we can use for farming out work. i'm not a drafter. i've had very little experience with cad. I am a machinist for over 20 years. And I have designed quite a few parts. In other words, I can come up with the ideas but I need a way to put them into a print, and a solid model for production purposes.

What are my cheapest options that can get me where I need to go in the beginning. I imagine I will end up using solidworks eventually, but I need something far less expensive for now.

[gfacer2]

I wound look on sites like odesk and Elance for someone who can do it from your shop drawing. They might be in the US or India or Poland, who knows but there will be someone that can do it. I'd even pick an easy part and try 2 people and go with the best communicator that you think is up to it.