Footprints for panel layouts in AutoCAD Electrical

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In AutoCAD Electrical, you can insert smart footprint outlines of electrical components and devices onto your layout drawings.

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To insert a panel component, on the ribbon, select the Panel tab, and on the Insert Components panel, click Icon Menu.

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This opens the Insert Footprint dialog, which displays symbol categories, such as Push Buttons, Selector Switches, and Relays.

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Note: The footprint symbols included with AutoCAD Electrical are scaled to the Imperial system.

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When working with IEC-style drawings, in the Insert Footprint dialog, set the Scale panel value to 25.4 to ensure proper scaling.

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To insert a symbol, first select the general component category.

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For this example, select Push Buttons.

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Next, select one of the push button component symbols, such as Push Button NO.

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The Footprints dialog appears, because a catalog number is not yet assigned.

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Here, you are given three choices—A, B, or C.

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In the Choice A group box, select Catalog lookup.

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In the Catalog Browser, you can browse for and select a part number.

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Select the first part number, and then click OK.

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This populates the manufacturer and catalog number.

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In the Footprints dialog, click OK.

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AutoCAD Electrical attempts to find a matching footprint symbol for the part number in the footprint database.

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If it finds one, the footprint appears in your crosshairs, at which point you can select the insertion point in the drawing.

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If it does not find a match, you need to select Choice B or Choice C.

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Choice B, which is only a temporary solution, has several options for manually selecting or creating a footprint.

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You can use a generic marker, draw a shape, use a similar footprint already in the drawing, or click Browse to use an external footprint file.

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You can also select Pick to select a non-AutoCAD Electrical block in your drawing—for example,

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if you have downloaded component symbols from a manufacturer.

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For a more permanent solution, if you have the manufacturer and catalog number of the component,

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you can select Choice C and add a new entry to the footprint look-up file.

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Now, clicking OK finds the matching symbol, as in Choice A.

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With the footprint in your crosshairs, click to insert it into one of the panels.

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In this case, orientation does not matter, so click again to accept the orientation.

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This opens the Panel Layout – Component Insert/Edit dialog.

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Here, you can add an Item Number and edit the Installation, Location, and Component Tag.

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Note that AutoCAD Electrical does not automatically calculate the tag for the panel drawings.

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You can either type the value in manually, or you can click Schematic List or External List to select it.

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From this dialog, you can also edit Catalog Data, enter Descriptions, and for reports, enter the Mount or Group.

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When you finish with these options, click OK to complete the insertion.