Students practice creating rudimentary detail drawings. They learn how engineers communicate the technical information about their designs using the basic components of detail drawings. They practice creating their own drawings of a three-dimensional block and a special LEGO piece, and then make 3D sketches of an unknown object using only the information provided in its detail drawing.

Instructional materials for the course "ENGR 1110: Engineering Graphics" include videos, assignments, slides, and drawings on the following topics: engineering graphics and scales, orthographic views, isometric views, dimensioning, section views, AutoCAD, layers, colors, mirrors, fillet, arrays, chamfer, blocks, Fusion 360, sheet metal modeling, tracing, textures, lofting and more.

Instructional materials for the course "ENTC 2160: Architectural CAD" include videos demonstrating how to create CAD drawings and use CAD tools. Videos cover the following topics: exterior walls, interior walls, doors, windows, dimensioning, linetypes, electrical, slab, stairs, hatching, fireplaces, and roofing.

Instructional materials for the course "ENTC 2170: Computer Aided Design and Drafting" include videos, assignments, slides, and drawings on the following topics: engineering graphics and scales, orthographic views, isometric views, dimensioning, section views, AutoCAD, layers, colors, mirrors, fillet, arrays, chamfer, blocks, Fusion 360, sheet metal modeling, tracing, textures, lofting and more.

Prologue: All too often current “CAD” text books concentrate too much on the software and not enough on the basic fundamental principles that are required to create a working industrial drawing. More and more college freshman enter the post-secondary arena knowing one or more cad software packages. A skilled instructor can rapidly get a group of students up to speed on whatever software package that is being used at that institution. However, over the last 25 years it has been my experience that many students only know the software…and not what to do with it. Now, this is not the fault of the technology education teachers in the secondary school system. They are most likely trained with a Charles Prosser philosophy that students leave high school with a set of skills grounded in meeting the needs of industry. However, since very few technology education teachers have actually spent any time in industry as a draftsman, designers, or engineers…the product they produce only knows “some” of what is required to be successful in the post-secondary arena. Make no mistake, this is not something done intentionally…it is simply the way “the American Education System” works. This document and the material contained within is being created to assist in both secondary and post-secondary educators who lack either the educational component of how to facilitate the required material…or more importantly, what that required material is.

This series of lessons will teach all of the key features in Tinkercad, a free, web-based 3D design platform. When you have finished the lessons you will have a comprehensive knowledge of how to design/draw in 3D. After that all you need is practice to improve your skills.

Students practice human-centered design by imagining, designing and prototyping a product to improve classroom accessibility for the visually impaired. To begin, they wear low-vision simulation goggles (or blindfolds) and walk with canes to navigate through a classroom in order to experience what it feels like to be visually impaired. Student teams follow the steps of the engineering design process to formulate their ideas, draw them by hand and using free, online Tinkercad software, and then 3D-print (or construct with foam core board and hot glue) a 1:20-scale model of the classroom that includes the product idea and selected furniture items. Teams use a morphological chart and an evaluation matrix to quantitatively compare and evaluate possible design solutions, narrowing their ideas into one final solution to pursue. To conclude, teams make posters that summarize their projects.

In this activity, students learn about creating a design directly from a CAD (computer-aided design) program. They will design a tower in CAD and manufacture the parts with a laser cutter. A competition determines the tower design with the best strength:weight ratio. Students also investigate basic structural truss concepts and stress concentrations. Partnership with a local college or manufacturing center is necessary for the completion of this project.

This resource contains a short presentation on virtual product development and a video example on the basics of CAD using Siemens NX