Comment by zbrozek

I feel like OpenSCAD is extremely good for generative art (where its programming language is useful), but sorely lacking for designing functional hardware. It doesn't even have a measure tool! It's vastly too slow at previewing and rendering, and building everything out of various intersections of basic solids is cool at first and rapidly becomes infuriating. While not FOSS - but still suitable for tinkerers - Fusion 360 and SolidWorks both have maker-friendly licensing and are dramatically superior tools.