My go-to for getting work done has been (and for the foreseeable future will still be) Fusion 360. I can't find a free alternative that is simultaneously batteries included, but also gets out of your way.
It makes me feel like a shill saying something so positive about expensive, proprietary software, but it works _really_ well for my usecases (3D printing, 2.5D and 3D woodcraft carving). Having CAD and CAM in the same package is absolutely killer for me.
In open-source land, though CadQuery is, like you say, the least worst of all the options. I just wish it had a CAM package integrated in there.
