I need to create or obtain (for free) a stylized drawing of a manufacturing proces for making a drug. I need to have things like barrels and flasks, big mixing tanks, something that I can call a centrifuge, cubes and cylinders and pipes connecting it all. I can probably cobble something together on powerpoint, but is there something available on line and free that I can download and piece together?
IANA diagram expert, but if you have Visio there are template sets for just about every diagramming need. I’m not sure which flavors(s) of Office include Visio.
You might have a look at Sketchup and Google’s 3D warehouse.
Dia Its free and very easy to use and expandable too
http://live.gnome.org/Dia/Download
I was going to say sketchup as well. Back around 1998 I wanted to make chemical layouts of the photolithography tools that I was training people to use. I also wanted to have animation to rotate between views and to build layers of dispense lines. I couldn’t find anything affordable at the time. Today, Sketchup is free and can more or less do what I want.