Elective: Creating Shop Drawings Using AutoCAD
AutoCAD is used throughout the cabinetmaking industry and cabinetmakers with AutoCAD training are very much in demand by employers. As the industry has become more technology- oriented, most shops have had to move to computer aided design (CAD) in order to stay competitive. While there are many people who know how to use AutoCAD, there are very few that also know how to build cabinets, which is a fundamental requirement for cabinet shops before they will hire someone to work in their drafting department. Even if you don't plan to work as a draftsperson, knowing AutoCAD will give you one more valuable skillset to add to your resume and make it easier for you to interpret drawings generated by CAD.
NESAW plans to continue its successful AutoCAD elective that teaches students the critical subset of AutoCAD commands required to generate shop drawings. Students will learn in a "workshop" type class format, observing and following along with instructor led exercises. Upon completion of this course, attendees will be able to navigate the AutoCAD interface, draft and dimension 2-D cabinet geometries using the supplied drawing template, and output the completed drawings to a printer.
All enrolled students qualify for a free student copy of AutoCAD with a three year license that you can install on your home computer. This is a fully featured version of AutoCAD that normally costs $4,000! The only difference is that there is a watermark that says "Education Version" on any printouts.
