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ENGINEER’S DESIGN WORK EASY PEASY

Back in the day, whenever engineers would want to put their ideas on paper, they would look for a drawing board, sets squares, T squares and ruler, not forgetting the number of pencils to give different shades of black. The saying “going back to the drawing board” must have been inspired by the engineer’s method of using drawing boards to sketch their designs.

Figure 1: Engineers making their designs using drawing boards (PHOTO: Pinterest)

Fast forward to today, the engineer has a myriad of choice software custom made to make quick designs that can be edited ‘on the fly’ according to the changing customer demands and requirements. Such design software are computer based and are generally referred to as Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.

CAD software replaces hand drawn designs

Computer Software has evolved over the years, making it more interactive with the human user through the use of input devices like the mouse, touch screens, stylus and keyboards. These input devices like the keyboard have quickly replaced the chunky T square and sets squares, the mouse replacing the pencils and the stylus allowing direct input from the designer. The involvement of touch screens have brought back the drawing board, only that the drawing paper is replaced by a touch screen, where the designer holds a stylus which directly draws over the software.

Figure 2: An engineer uses a stylus to directly input their design on the drawing 

Such advancements in the design technology has opened tremendous possibilities for the modern design engineer. Coupled to this, the output sketches and designs can be sent over the internet from one end of the earth to another destination across the planet at the touch of a button. CAD softwares can be customized to fit the users requirements. Take the example of the various disciplines in engineering: electrical, civil and mechanical, CAD software is designed specifically address the different demands according to each discipline. Civil engineering CAD software has slabs, beams, columns and foundations (pad, street, raft and piles) as its basic commands. For mechanical engineering CAD software has shafts, bearings, pulleys, sprockets and gear trains as its basic commands on software start-up. Additionally, for electrical engineering CAD software has wires, consumer units, socket outlets, ceiling roses and conduits as its basic commands.

Such customizable CAD software according to discipline means that an engineer can quickly set up their design right from the start and proceed to complex objects in their design without scouting for modules tucked within the CAD software. The compatibility of CAD software with other software in built in a computer further enhances the capability of the engineer to share their designs across other software platforms. Engineers can send their designs to their clients using the internet and their clients can print the design remotely. Moreover, the clients can give feedback on the design and changes can be effected by the engineer at the customers request.

CAD softwares make engineers design work easy and efficient, offering possibilities of interacting with clients requests and more so, effecting changes in the design as the requirements change. There is also the benefit of longevity in the storage of the output design, where an engineer can preserve the design in soft copy for as long as they desire. The questions are, have you interacted with CAD software? What has been your experience in interacting with the CAD software?

Author Profile

Luke Toroitich Rottok               

Graduate Engineer (EBK)

Graduate Member (IEK)