3D cad for piping and systems recommendation

[edssupp]

Hi everyone, as the title says, I am looking for a 3D cad to help visualise designs in piping systems and cut down errors.

As a short background, I work in a small company which occasionally designs industrial gas pipings for pneumatic systems, gas delivery systems (to a lab, workshop, etc), and basically assemblies of gas systems. As we only do small scale projects so far, I have only ever used 2D cad, and have absolutely 0 experience with 3D cad (aside from sketchup, but it's more of a sketching and layout tool anyway).

I've done some googling, and I'm impressed with Solidworks' demo for oil and gas LINK. However, SWX is expensive, and being in a developing country doesn't help much with my budget. I'm also looking at AVICAD with the Mech-Q plugin, but I haven't been able to find any reviews or anything.

So does anyone have any experience with the AVICAD? I'm looking for more info before I sink my time to learning it. Or do you guys have other recommendations for it?

 

[Danger]

I don't know about the others. I bought TurboCad because it costs about $35. Apparently it will do just about anything that any other program will, but I'm having a hell of a time learning the 3D aspects of it. That's because of my own limitations, though, not those of the software.

 

[edssupp]

Thanks for the reply. How did you get Turbocad for $35? The cheapest option they have right now is the 2D only, and it's at $150?

 

[Danger]

I might be confused about the price. It originally got my attention because it was $35, but that might have been the 2D version. The 3D might have been $65; I can't really remember. Anyhow, it was on eBay from a certified vendor. (ie: it's under warrantee and I get free tech support.)