With the increase in popularity, Computer Aided Design tools, commonly referred to as CAD, are being utilized more frequently than manual drafting. Why is that? The main reason for the rise in popularity of CAD tools is simple to understand, the need to create complex designs. Let’s have a look at the top ten reasons why you should use CAD rather than manual drafting.

Ten Reasons Why You Should Use CAD rather Than Manual Drafting

There are too many reasons why you should use CAD tools to create complex designs rather than using manual methods of drafting, however, we will only discuss the top ten reasons listed below:

1. Easy to Use – Not only is CAD easy to learn and use, but the biggest benefit is the ability to easily modify your work. Editing options such as “paste”, “cut”, “copy”, “move” and “delete” are incredibly useful editing options that are not available while manual drafting.
2. Effortless Reproduction – It goes without saying, the time it used to take a draftsman to reproduce a drawing from scratch could take days. CAD saves time and money. Copy and print editing options are effortless ways to reproduce your work in seconds, instead of days.
3. Three Dimensional Modeling – Creating 3D models today, using manual means is unheard of, especially now CAD three dimensional modeling software is available.
4. Saves Resources – Gone are the days when drawings required paper to create them, using CAD tools save trees and saves you money on paper.
5. Database Creation and Sharing – The ability to share CAD files on a wide area network has so many benefits, especially when working on group projects.
6. Team Friendly – Team development becomes much easier, in fact, it is possible that a single drawing can be referenced and changed by any number of team members, regardless of their location.
7. Test Simulation – Simulating your 3D mechanisms is now possible using CAD tools. Creating a prototype can be very costly, however, now you can simply run a test simulation to check the functionality of the mechanism, or machine you’re creating.
8. Preservation – Unlike paper, which degrades and fades over time, CAD data can be easily preserved and reproduced, technically, forever. Of the top ten reasons why you should use CAD rather than manual drafting, this is a popular one.
9. It’s Fun – Let’s face it, manual drafting takes great effort and consumes much time. CAD drafting, on-the-other-hand, frees up time, which allows draftsmen today to let their creativity flow.
10. Security – Important paper created designs are not as safe as CAD files can be. Access control options can secure important drawings so that only certain individuals can view or alter them.

Other than these top ten reasons why you should use CAD rather than manual drafting, there are countless other useful, and fun, reasons that will motivate you to switch to CAD.