AutoCAD Lab Assignment
AutoCAD Electrical
Due to the complicated nature of their job, electrical systems designers are always on the lookout for
better and more sophisticated software. Luckily, Autodesk, a company famous for its design software, took
note and created AutoCAD Electrical. Nowadays, this program is a must-have for electrical designers.
But like other software of its kind, AutoCAD Electrical isn’t easy to master. It has hundreds of functions and
options and dozens of buttons, sliders, and menus. Of course, all that is there to help you work more
efficiently, but it can look quite intimidating when you’re just starting out.
Now, we could let you figure everything out on your own. Instead, we want to give you a few tips to help you
use AutoCAD Electrical to its full potential. So let us get into it, shall we?
1. Displaying Wire Color and Gauge Labels
When making electrical designs, you want everything to be labelled and clear at first glance. After all, your
drafts will mainly contain wires, and those can get quite confusing without proper labels and colouring.
Unfortunately, though, AutoCAD Electrical won’t automatically display these two features on the drawing.
You’ll have to go ahead and turn them on manually.
And although many users may not know how to do that, it’s quite simple. Just open the Schematic tab and go
to the Insert Wires/Wire Numbers panel. There you’ll find the Wire Number Leader drop-down list. Click on it
and choose the Wire Colour/Gauge Labels option.
After that, you’ll get a dialog box with a few options. Click on Setup, and you’ll be taken to another dialog box
— that’s where you’ll change and add labels. The first thing you’ll see is a list of wires you have. Select the one
you want to label, and you’ll be able to modify its name and choose its colour.
Once that’s done, take a look at the Leader section under this list of wires. There you can change the text size,
arrow size, and any other display properties. When you choose the settings that suit you, press the OK button,
and you’ll go back to the first dialog box.
This box has a few more options to consider. For instance, you can choose to automatically align the text with
the wire or place everything manually. Once you finish customizing, close the dialog box. Your electrical draft
will update, containing all the changes you implemented!
2. Customizing the Tool Palette
If you use a specific set of tools over and over, it’s better to have them all in one place where you can easily
reach them. Regular AutoCAD has the option to quickly customize the tool palette, but many people don’t
know that AutoCAD Electrical offers it too. And it’s quite simple to do!
First, you’ll need to turn on the tool palette. There are several ways to do that, but the easiest one is just
typing “TP” into the command line and pressing Enter. When the palette shows up, right-click on it and press
the Customize Commands option. You’ll get a new dialog box that allows you to browse the command list.
Search for the one you want to use, then simply drag it and drop it into the tool palette.
Now, let’s say you always need to use two types of wires when working in AutoCAD Electrical. To place those
wires, you’ll use the command Insert Wire. However, that alone won’t give you the type of wire you want —
you’ll just get the default one. What you have to do is take it a step further and customize the command too.
Luckily, that’s not difficult either. Simply right-click on one of the Insert Wire commands and go to Properties.
You’ll be able to change the wire type there and rename the command to avoid confusion.
By: Musab Eltayeb Gobara
194100