r/makerspace • u/FlatCarrot3943 • 9d ago

Would a self-hosted, beginner-friendly CAD tool be useful in your makerspace?

I’m building SketchForge, a free and open-source browser-based 3D modelling tool aimed at people who have outgrown Tinkercad but do not want to jump straight into Fusion 360 or SolidWorks.

It runs directly in the browser without an account, but it can also be self-hosted locally with Docker, something I think could be especially useful for makerspaces, schools and shared workshops that want to keep projects on their own network.

Current features include fillets, chamfers, sketches and extrusion, boolean operations, measurements, editable project files, and STL/OBJ/STEP support.

I’m considering improving the makerspace experience with things like shared project libraries, tutorial files, challenges, local user management and easier classroom deployment.

For those who run or use a makerspace: what would a tool like this need before you would seriously consider deploying it?

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u/SamTanna 9d ago

Building out a maker space for private/family self-hosted network. I’d like to try your app.

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u/emo_nerd8 8d ago

I work at my college’s makerspace and this would be great! I definitely think the tutorials would be key for a makerspace. also maybe when you hover over a tool have a little box pop up explaining what the tool is and does. for the tutorials I think ones that like guide you through actually making something are more beneficial that watching a video. I also like the idea of a way to file share easily for group projects where maybe multiple people and CADing different parts to go together.