Engineers, architects, product designers and other industrial designers using the Thomas Register website have access to CAD drawings of products from a variety of manufacturers. These include CAD drawings for mechanical parts and components, products that are used in plant/process industry design, and CAD drawings of architectural, engineering and building construction products.
“Downloadable CAD drawings are a great benefit to designers, architects and engineers because it’s incredibly convenient and can save enormous amounts of time,” says Pat Daloisio, associate publisher of Thomas Register. “With a few clicks of the mouse, a designer can specify the parameters for a product, view the final component drawing, then drag and drop a part directly into the final design. Our website is heavily used by design engineers who can now source a product and insert the specified drawings to their CAD designs.”
Finding CAD drawings on the Thomas Register website is a relatively easy process. For example, if an engineer is looking for pumps, the engineer can type in the search word “pumps” and a comprehensive list of suppliers listed in the Thomas Register is presented. Those that make their CAD drawings available are clearly identified with a “CAD drawing” icon. Once a manufacturer that offers CAD content has been selected search capabilities allow users to select a product line, part attribute or product category.
If a designer needs a custom designed item, certain Thomas Register manufacturers have structured a parametric tool which can immediately create a drawing based on the specifications provided. As is often the case with designing, an engineer may need to build a part from scratch, which may have various sizes or mounting options. An engineer can select from multiple design options to specify a custom product to meet the demands of a specific project.
The website also provides three-dimensional drawings from selected manufacturers. The 3D models can be displayed in wireframe, polygon edges or shaded mode. Although the 3D parts currently are not generated “on the fly,” all 3D models will soon be generated parametrically.
