A Wood Miser's Thoughts on CAD

by Roger Phillips, head miser at A Wood Miser's Workshop

You're kidding, right?...Me, CAD?!!

It was only about five years ago that this stubborn owner of a small, one horse woodworking and cabinet building operation just couldn't get his brain wrapped around the idea of reaping any personal or professional benefit whatsoever out of a computer. I certainly wasn't going to invest any of my hard earned profits into one of those things.

Then one fateful day it happened...a buddy gave me an old IBM XT, two file boxes chucked full of 5 1/4 floppies, and absolutely no manuals or instructions whatsoever (all which were otherwise headed for the curb next to the trash cans). In the true spirit of protecting the virtues of man over machine, I was determined not to be out done by a dumb looking antenna-less T.V. and a taupe colored plastic box full of wires. This rugged self made individual set aside a weekend, sent the wife and kids out of town, and locked himself and the electronic beast in a room for as long as it took until one of the two emerged victorious.

Albeit bloody and bruised, this hearty soul did finally emerge, but not the same man he once was. I was changed forever. And not only that, but the rabid contagion that infected me quickly spread throughout the family.

Now our humble home houses three PC's, two scanners, and three printers of various shapes and types, as well as an extra phone line for fax transmissions and internet access from which I post and maintain two web sites and am working on a concept for a third. Family conflicts now mostly center around who gets computer time and how long. And our teenage sons are embarrassed, not by our older, slightly rusting family car, but the fact that all their friends are getting Pentium III's and we only have a Pentium I processor...Go figure!

What does all of this have to do with CAD you ask? For many, the prospect of learning Computer Aided Design has the same intimidating dark cloud looming over it as gaining computer literacy had for me. A common reaction is to find every ridiculous excuse one can dig up to justify staying at a safe distance (my favorite is, "...and anyway, I can probably do it faster by hand").

The full list of benefits of using CAD is too long to get into here but in a nutshell, the ability to quickly produce high quality, professional looking, dead-on accurate, shop drawings and plans without a degree in drafting is definitely nothing to sneeze at.

The best example I can come up with to compare what it's like making the jump from the old T-square and drawing table to CAD, is making the transition from a typewriter to a word processor. At first it was slow, clumsy and awkward, and had it's moments when you were tempted to chuck it all straight out the window. Eventually though you caught on, and before long it all became second nature. Not long there after, the curb in front of your house was found decorated with several abandoned typewriters (because they wouldn't sell at the garage sale) and you peeking out from behind the blinds waiting to see if some poor sucker will grab them before the trash man gets there. Now the only problem is that occasionally you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from a horrible reoccurring nightmare that your computer has crashed and you have to go back to hand typing all of your documents.

Another wonderful feature that CAD has in common with word processors is that additions, corrections, changes, or any other editing can be handled with a few clicks of the mouse instead of the old "pain in the tookus" erasures, whiteouts, overlays or complete re-draws. For me, (one who seems to have more than his share of designers and customers who just can't seem to make up their minds) this feature makes CAD worth every penny spent on the price, and every minute spent on the tutorial!

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Because the functional aspects of CAD are so radically different than most of the other every day commonly used programs (i.e. word processing, spread sheets, data bases, etc), the learning curve tends to be hysterically over exaggerated in the mind of the beholder. I liken it to the difference between learning to speak a Latin based language as opposed to an Asian language. It's a whole different animal indeed and not a "piece of cake" task by any means, but very conquerable if approached with the right frame of mind.

First of all, learning anything new requires venturing out of your "comfort zone". You'll have to check your pride and/or ego at the door and be willing to look and feel like a dummy for a while.(I never cease to be amazed how many people just can't get passed this one.)

Next...patience, patience, patience,...and then a little more patience.

It's safe to say that all but the absolute cheapest of CAD packages have some sort of tutorial included or available. The secret of success is to simply be willing to hunker down and take whatever time is necessary to go through the entire tutorial step by step, skipping nothing, and taking no short cuts. If necessary go through it again and again.

Then, have the courage to take the plunge and use your CAD in a real time shop project application as soon as possible. If all you do is experiment and play around with it you'll never develop the speed necessary to make it's use worth while. Once again, you can "book learn" until you're blue in the face but you're never going to speak a foreign language fluently until you get your butt "in country" where you're forced to use it every day.

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When it comes to price, one can spend as much or as little as one's heart desires. Quality CAD software can range anywhere from $40.00 to $400.00 and up, so for a vast majority of you out there, cost is not a valid excuse.

Whether you're a struggling professional like me, or a serious weekend warrior, you've got something to gain by taking the CAD plunge. All you need is a little stubborn determination and a computer (and I assume you've got one of those or you wouldn't be reading this!). Once you pick up your own CAD package and get it down pat, not only will you have a more efficient way of planning out your projects, but you'll have a whole new set of valuable life long skills. And like the old adage goes, it's just like riding a bicycle, you might have to brush up every now and then, but you're not likely to ever forget how to do it.

Roger Phillips
R. A. Phillips Co. &
A Wood Miser's Workshop