Creating a Manufacturing Drawing

Created: November 03, 2023 | Updated: March 19, 2024 | Applies to version: 24

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 Drawing Document

To create a manufacturing drawing for the harness design, a new Draftsman document (*.HarDwf) should be added to the harness project. To do this, right-click the project entry in the Projects panel and then select Add New to Project » Draftsman Document from the context menu (or use the File » New » Draftsman Document command from the main menus). In the New Document dialog that opens, select an available manufacturing drawing template as required and ensure that a correct Project and harness layout drawing Document is selected.

The New Document dialog

To learn more about creating manufacturing drawing templates, refer to the Creating Harness Template Documents page.

Options of a manufacturing drawing document can be configured in the Properties panel in its Document Options mode, which is active when no object is selected in the document's design space. Refer to the Setting Up a Draftsman Document page to learn more.

Once the manufacturing drawing document has been created, any changes made in the wiring diagram or layout drawing can be imported into the manufacturing drawing using the Tools » Import Changes From <LayoutDrawing.LdrDoc> command from the main menus or the right-click menu of the design space. Note that despite the description in the menu command, this will import changes from both the wiring diagram and the layout drawing.
Default properties of Manufacturing Drawing objects can be configured on the Draftsman – Defaults page of the Preferences dialog. These properties will be applied when placing subsequent objects.
The Bookmarks panel offers a convenient way to navigate and manage a multi-sheet manufacturing drawing. The panel presents an expandable tree view of the complete document structure and includes all document sheets and the primary view objects within those sheets.

Working with Views

In a manufacturing drawing document, you can place read-only views of the harness wiring diagram and harness layout drawing included in this project.

Wiring Diagram View

A Wiring Diagram View is an automated graphic composite of the active harness design project's wiring diagram.

A Wiring Diagram View

A Wiring Diagram View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by clicking the button in the Active Bar or selecting the Place » Wiring Diagram View command from the main menus.

The properties of a placed Wiring Diagram View can be configured in the Properties panel when the view is selected in the design space.

The Properties panel in Wiring Diagram View mode

When Auto Size is enabled, the Wiring Diagram View automatically adjusts its size to remove empty space at the borders. Select the Justification by clicking on an arrow that corresponds with the desired justification or the circle to center. The chosen option for Justification defines the point relative to which the position of the view is changed if its size is updated.

Using Multiple Wiring Diagrams for Wiring Diagram View Generation

You can have multiple Wiring Diagram documents (*.WirDoc) in the same project, so you can choose the wiring diagram document from which a placed wiring diagram view should be generated and updated. Use the Document drop-down in the Properties region of the Properties panel when the wiring diagram view is selected to choose the wiring diagram document for this view.

Layout Drawing View

A Layout Drawing View is an automated graphic composite of the active harness design project's layout drawing.

A Layout Drawing View

A Layout Drawing View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by clicking the button in the Active Bar or selecting the Place » Layout Drawing View command from the main menus.

The properties of a placed Layout Drawing View can be configured in the Properties panel when the view is selected in the design space.

The Properties panel in Layout Drawing View mode

When Auto Size is enabled, the Layout Drawing View automatically adjusts its size to remove empty space at the borders. Select the Justification by clicking on an arrow that corresponds with the desired justification or the circle to center. The chosen option for Justification defines the point relative to which the position of the view is changed if its size is updated.

Additional Views

Additional views can be used to complete your manufacturing drawing: Harness Detail View and Component View.

The Harness Detail View allows a defined area of an existing drawing that is a floating, magnified view of its detail. The Harness Detail View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by selecting an option from the button menu on the Active Bar or via the Place » Additional Views » Harness Detail View menu options. Two options are available for the Detail View area: Circle area detail view and Rectangle area detail view.

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An example circle area Harness Detail View applied to a Wiring Diagram View

An example rectangle area Harness Detail View applied to a Wiring Diagram View

The Component View is a drawing view of a single component from the current harness design. The Component View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by selecting the Place » Additional Views » Component View command from the main menus.

An example Component View

Drawing Annotation and Dimensioning

A range of additional annotation, dimensioning and drawing tools are provided to add important information to a manufacturing drawing. These include automated note and highlighting systems, as well as tools to indicate the lengths, sizes, and angles of the object outlines, or the distance between nominated objects.

An example of an annotated Layout Drawing View

A callout associated with a connector or a connection point displays BOM item position numbers for the connector/connection point itself and its associated parts. An example is shown below.

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When a callout set to display the BOM Item is added to the physical view of a component on a layout drawing view, it will include BOM line numbers for all assigned cavities – show image.

Refer to the following pages to learn more:

Working with Tables

A manufacturing drawing document allows a Bill Of Materials (BOM), Wiring List, Connection Table, and a generic Table to be placed on the drawing. The tabular data is directly derived from the project files and provides a simple, visual way to convey crucial information for the harness manufacturing processes.

When any table object is copied from the manufacturing drawing document, its content can be pasted into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
For harness wiring components, the Length column in a bill of materials table presents the total length for wires/cables of the same BOM item rather than their individual lengths – show image.

Refer to the Bill Of Materials and Table pages to learn more about working with these table types.

Wiring List

A Wiring List is an automatically generated table object that displays the start and end points and parameter values for each wire in the harness.

A Wiring List

To place a Wiring List, select the Place » Wiring List from the main menus or use the Wiring List command from the Active Bar.

Select the placed Wiring List to access its property settings in the Properties panel. This provides configuration options for most aspects of the Wiring List, including its visual attributes and data content.

The Properties panel in its WiringList mode (the General and Columns tabs)

Designators of shield with connector objects are displayed in the Wiring List when a wire is connected to the shield's connector.
Wire parameters (and their values) specified in the wiring diagram are reflected in the wiring list. An additional column is added to the wiring list for each wire parameter. These additional columns are hidden by default – use the visibility controls on the Columns tab of the Properties panel when the Wiring List is selected to show these columns in the design space (and hide the default columns if needed).
Multicolored wires are supported in wiring lists. Additional columns for secondary, tertiary and border colors can be made visible in a placed wiring list, and corresponding Color cells are split to show the secondary and tertiary colors assigned to the wire – show image.
For wires in a cable, the Length column in a wiring list displays the individual wire lengths for each wire in the cable.
Use the Move Left and Move Right buttons to move a visible column whose entry is selected in the Columns tab to the left or right by one count in the wiring list.
Click a cell in the Order column to cycle between table column data sort order options (off, ascending, and descending). Sorting can be applied to multiple columns on a priority basis by holding Ctrl and clicking cells in the Order column.

Splitting a Wiring List

The wiring list of an advanced harness design may have a large number of entries, which can be difficult to fit into a drawing document as a single table. Rather than resorting to font and table scaling, multiple custom table entries, or an external document, you can 'split' a wiring list table so that the wiring list will be presented over a number of 'pages.'

In the Properties panel for a placed wiring list, enable the Limit Page Height option in the Pages region to restrict the height of the table to the nominated height entry (Max Page Height) and, therefore, the number of lines shown in the table.

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The editor detects that the entire Wiring List is not shown, as indicated by the panel's Page entry (for example, 1 from 2), and the associated drop-down menu allows you to nominate which page is shown. To add further pages of the Wiring List, place another Wiring List (Place » Wiring List) and specify the next Page in the Pages region of the Properties panel.

Since each page of the wiring list is placed by adding another wiring list table and then configuring it accordingly, the individual wiring list pages can be placed on any sheet in the manufacturing drawing document.

Note that the Max Page Height property specifies the height of the first page in the wiring list table. When the second page is selected (Page 2), the Max Page Height property defines the height of the first excluded page (Page 1). Page 2 therefore shows the remaining wiring list entries. Start by making the Max Page Height property identical for each page.

Connection Table

A Connection Table is an automatically generated table object that shows the wires connected to every connection point (connector pin, splice, etc.) in the harness.

A Connection Table (for all components)

To place a Connection Table, select Place » Connection Table from the main menus or use the Connection Table command from the Active Bar.

Select the placed Connection Table to access its property settings in the Properties panel. This provides configuration options for most aspects of the Connection Table, including its visual attributes and data content. You can use the Component option to show the data of all project components in the table or the data of a specific component or splice.

The Properties panel in its ConnectionTable mode (the General and Columns tabs)

Wire parameters (and their values) specified in the wiring diagram are reflected in the connection table. An additional column is added to the connection table for each wire parameter. These additional columns are hidden by default - use the visibility controls on the Columns tab of the Properties panel when the Connection Table is selected to show these columns in the design space (and hide the default columns if needed).
Multicolored wires are supported in wiring lists. Additional columns for secondary, tertiary and border colors can be made visible in a placed wiring list, and corresponding Color cells are split to show the secondary and tertiary colors assigned to the wire – show image.
For wires in a cable, the Length column in a connection table displays the individual wire lengths for each wire in the cable.
Use the Move Left and Move Right buttons to move a visible column whose entry is selected in the Columns tab to the left or right by one count in the connection table.
Click a cell in the Order column to cycle between table column data sort order options (off, ascending, and descending). Sorting can be applied to multiple columns on a priority basis by holding Ctrl and clicking cells in the Order column.

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