Once your object is drawn, use the wblock command to save it in your tabset subfolders and you can reuse it from that point forward with a few clicks. I typically use to invert/adjust colors of the bitmap then CTRL+A+C (click on the acad model) +V, then stretch it to my grid, and draw a with a contrasting color right over the top of it. I do this all the time to ensure accuracy when creating new blocks from user manuals. I used AutoCad Lite 98 for years and it was more than plenty capable, but the symbol library I built up is not IEC so would be of little use to you.Įven if you can't export/import your Visio elements, you can certainly drop them in as jpegs and trace over them. I have used the RSLogix import/export tools once, and I have used the Electrical Components library quite a bit to add new things, but the time savings offered by those features is marginal and requires a bit of learning that you avoid altogether by using Autocad standard and "roll your own" symbols. For what I do, it is very much overkill, and our existing drawings are so "scatterred" in their standards that I can't really take much advantage of all the cross referencing and reporting tools. I started using Electrical here, because we own it, not for any other useful reason. It is really pretty easy to build up a good set of "blocks" that include parameters (data items which can change like component names and specs) even without all the fancy tools in Electrical. I would suggest that you get your drawing standards down as much as possible early on into your Autocad usage, and then build your symbol library to fit. If your are using AB gear, there are symbols available on their website, but they may not easily fit into your drawings. Do you use similar parts regularly in your projects?
If you wish to use the AutoCAD LT that you have, then you may be best developing your own symbols & title block(s). You can read more about Promis-e Versus AutoCAD electrical here in a previous thread. How many hours a week are you doing drawings?ĭo you need to produce drawings with coil/contact cross referencing?ĭo you need terminal/termination diagramsĭo you need cable schedules (automatically generated from drawings)?ĭo you need automatic wire numbering? Then the ability to export your wire numbers to other packages (such as printers)? Now, I am not about to recommend/not recommend this product for you, as I don't (fully) know your needs. We found that AutoCAD Electrical to be too expensive, EPLAN to be too hard/complex to learn, and then we found Promis-e.
Sometime ago, my boss trialled/investigated different CAD packages for our schematics/panels.
No one uses normal AutoCAD for electrical schematics?