Overview

At the beginning of 2023 I started an internshp at an mechanical consulting company called Avalon Mechanical. After one week, I started to notice that many of the tasks are repetitive and can be automated. With a office full of mechanical engineers that considered coding as black magic, no one was there to guide me. So I set out the journey to dig through the little and scattered documentation of AutoLISP, the scripting language used for AutoCAD. I did all this coding during the down time between the tasks. I could have relaxed, but the engineer within me can't stand this inefficiency. I ended up with 10 sets of programs that can be used both individually and collectively to greatly reduce task time and human inputs.

Section of the code in one automation program

Design

  • The programs are designed to minimize human inputs and do repetitive tasks such as copy and pasting in a certain pattern and replacing attributes of all drawings on certain layers
  • All functions are designed modularly to enable customizable usage in special scenarios
  • Commands will prompt with clear instructions to users and are perfectly beginner friendly
  • Flexibilities of the program with different units, imperial and metric

Results

  • The program allows for semi-automatic conversion of architecutral drawings to engineering drawings of company standard that lowered the process time by up to 80 percent depending on project size
  • A combination of programs will setup an entire project in seperating drawings into sections like HVAC, plumbing, fire suppression, and specifications and assign each floor plan into its own viewport, automatically naming, numbering, and filling out standard company information and date for all drawings, making them ready for export. This reduces work time and human input by 80-90 percent and ensures the consistency in the layout of the engineering drawings
  • Reviewed by supervisor and co-worker in the office and frequntly utilized by company employees
  • Included detailed documentation for all the programs in company OneDrive for ease of use and future improvement
  • Code here

Images & Videos

No images of the projects I used the script on since I started this portfolio after I finished the internship and I am probably not allowed post company drawings. (AutoCAD drawing used on this page is from google)