Cad Development - User Custom Drafting Extensions

Many companies use Computer-Aided Design & Drafting (CADD) systems to create design drawings. Using CADD design as a replacement of the manual drafting method is only a fraction of its potential. The work that is done repeatedly can be in most cases performed automatically through customization. Customization of standard CAD packages can significantly increase productivity. The custom functions and programs can extend the capabilities of CAD packages to perform a wide range of drafting tasks. The paper discusses a customization strategy intended to facilitate completion of some repetitive drafting tasks in mechanical drafting process. One way to extend the capabilities of AutoCAD is by creating and using blocks. Blocks are useful for creating repeated content, such as standard components. The Dynamic Blocks feature enables user to modify blocks by adding parameters, actions, constraints that increase the versatility and power of the blocks. The paper presents two examples in creating and using dynamic blocks in order to save time and get maximum benefits of AutoCAD features. The first example shows a way to manage bolted joints drawing process by defining parameters and actions to the joint standard components. The second one presents a way to define and use a dynamic block with parametric design for radial ball bearings. The customization approach presented, developed for basic AutoCAD package, is intended for automating quite common tasks in mechanical design drafting. The major advantage of customization is the significant increase of drafting productivity.