Draftsman

Drafstman creates precise technical drawings, schematics, and wiring diagrams used to manufacture, install, and repair electrical equipment and systems. They bridge the gap between engineering concepts and practical application by converting rough sketches and specifications from engineers into detailed, accurate blueprints.

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Technical Documentation Board Fabrication View This article introduces the Draftsman board fabrication view in Altium Designer, explaining how it creates an automated drawing of a bare PCB from the top or bottom side and how that view can be configured through the Properties panel. You will see what controls are available for scale, title, line style, source layer, view side, rotation, drawing and polygon display modes, color overrides,…

Technical Documentation Creating Harness Template Documents Creating a Wiring Diagram or Layout Drawing Template When applied to a wiring diagram or layout drawing, a harness template document defines the size, the graphics (such as title block) and the list of document-level parameters of this document. You can create your own set of templates to facilitate providing consistent-looking harness design documents created by you or the entire team. To create…

Technical Documentation Creating a Manufacturing Drawing Once the wiring diagram and layout drawing are complete, read-only copies of their contents can be placed into the manufacturing drawing and annotated as required. A manufacturing drawing for a harness design is being created in the Draftsman editor. For overview information about Draftsman, refer to the Streamlining Board Design Documentation with Draftsman page. Setting Up a Manufacturing…

Technical Documentation QuickNav - Draftsman Design Objects This page provides quick reference information about the drawing objects that can be used in the Draftsman editor when creating manufacturing documentation for your design, giving you a means to quickly navigate to more detailed information about each. A Draftsman-based manufacturing drawing document can be added to a PCB design project (*.PCBDwf) or a harness design project (*.HarDwf). For more…

Technical Documentation Draftsman Editor Shortcuts The following sections present shortcut keys that are specific to the Draftsman Editor. For general information regarding shortcut keys - including access and editing, general Altium environment shortcuts, and accelerator keys - see Altium Designer Shortcut Keys. When looking at the shortcut key listings, keep in mind the following: When referring to shortcuts, use of the plus (+) symbol denotes…

Technical Documentation Creating a Draftsman Template Parent page: Streamlining Board Design Documentation with Draftsman A Draftsman document can use templates to define its page properties (Sheet template, *.DwsDot), and for new documents, a range of predetermined content (Document template, *.DwfDot). Both types of templates can be created from the PCB drawing file (file extension PCBDwf) that is currently open in the editor by saving the…

Technical Documentation Working with Graphical Tools Parent page: Streamlining Board Design Documentation with Draftsman Draftsman provides a range of graphical element tools that can be used to place basic, free-form drawing elements in a document. The tools are accessed from the main Place menu, from the Graphical Tools drop-down menu () on the Drawing Annotations toolbar or the graphic tools drop down on the Active Bar. Place a graphic element…

Technical Documentation Working with Tables A Draftsman document allows Bill Of Materials (BOM), Drill and range other data tables to be placed on the drawing and subsequently configured in the Properties panel. The tabular data is directly derived from the project PCB files and provides a simple, visual way to convey crucial information for the PCB fabrication and assembly processes. The BOM/Drill/Table placement options are available…

Technical Documentation Working with Dimensions Parent page: Streamlining Board Design Documentation with Draftsman Dimensions Object dimension graphics may be placed on Board Views (Assembly, Fabrication, Section, Details, etc.) to indicate the lengths, sizes, and angles of the object outlines, or the distance between nominated objects. To place a dimension graphic, select the desired type from the Place menu or from the Dimension drop-down…

Technical Documentation Working with Annotations Parent page: Streamlining Board Design Documentation with Draftsman Draftsman provides a range of additional drawing and annotation tools designed to add important information to a Draftsman drawing document. These include both automated note and highlighting systems. The Active Bar (positioned at the top of the design space) offers a range of drop-down menus that include placement commands for…