Drawing templates greatly increase the speed at which drawings can be created. Plus, a good template ensures your drawings will contain the necessary information every time.
Poor templates require you to enter text directly, update multiple sheets for changes and type in notes—ultimately costing you time and money.
A drawing template with a border and title block should be set up for part, weldment, and assembly drawings. A good template will contain some of the following:
- NOTES FOR THE RELEVANT DRAWING: This way you know the correct information will be captured for each case. For example, the weldment drawing should mention the likes of specific welding tolerances and standards, whilst the part drawing may have surface finish notes. Drawings should mention material type, grade, and supplier. If it’s a plastic part, include the allowable visual imperfections and flash, etc.
- LIBRARY NOTES: Create templates for commonly used notes and symbols and store them in your CAD library. Then they can easily be dragged into drawings, saving time and ensuring repeatability.
- AUTOMATIC PROPERTIES: These will save you time without having to update the title block for every sheet if there is a change! A good template will automatically update information such as dates and names. Furthermore the details for the drawing should be entered in the custom properties area, so any update will automatically be extrapolated to all relevant sheets.
- LINK YOUR PROPERTIES: If, for example, your drawing template has an entry for cut length, make sure that the actual value is linked to the model. The last thing you want is someone updating the model but the drawing still shows the old cut length!
A good template will never have you entering data directly into the title block or BOM!