Despite their small size, fasteners are critical to a building’s strength. Failure could lead to a whole host of larger, more expensive problems, so it’s important to get their designs right. Computer-aided design (CAD) drawings of fasteners are an indispensable tool to that end.

While paper designs are easy and familiar, making them tempting to rely on, 3D CAD fastener models outperform them on several fronts. Recognizing these benefits will help you optimize your redesigns as much as possible.

1. Faster Design Changes

The most obvious advantage of CAD drawings of fasteners is they’re faster. Drawing things up by hand takes time — and any time spent redesigning something is time away from using the optimized design.

You can choose from hundreds of ready-made CAD fastener designs to kickstart your process. Using these digital alternatives instead of a pen and paper also removes the need to redraw the foundations you already have. There’s little reason to spend time drawing what you’re not going to change.

Even without these streamlined steps, CAD’s automated features can remove much of the manual work in the design process. Consequently, you can quickly redesign fasteners without sacrificing precision, letting you capitalize on the new design sooner.

2. Faster Testing

Testing 3D CAD fastener models is similarly efficient. Fastener testing is essential, as any failures could result in collapsing structures or malfunctioning heavy equipment. However, manual, real-world tests can create production bottlenecks.

In CAD, you can simulate various conditions using the 3D models you’ve created. You don’t have to wait for a physical prototype to see how it’ll likely perform. That efficiency also means you can highlight potential issues and redesign the fastener as necessary in less time.

Some physical testing may still be necessary, just in case virtual tests don’t perfectly represent the real world. However, perfecting the design through repeated 3D simulations means you’ll likely need less real-world testing. As a result, you’ll spend less time and money on prototyping.

3. Easier Optimization

Because you can create and test CAD fastener drawings faster, they’re easier to optimize. Finding the ideal design for something as critical as a fastener can involve a lot of small adjustments. CAD’s speed of design and wealth of digital tools make that more achievable.

The best fastener design for one application won’t be ideal for another. Spring-loaded devices, for example, remain secure over time but require significantly less installation torque, so they’re less suited for construction workflows and more reliant on power tools. CAD makes it easy to bring up information about a project or tweak existing designs as necessary to account for these variations.

In CAD, you can adjust designs or start from a template instead of creating a new drawing every time. By making small adjustments less of a hassle, it promotes further optimization to achieve ideal fastener designs.

4. Fewer Design Flaws

3D CAD fastener models are also less likely to feature design flaws. This accuracy stems from the distinct advantages of CAD software.

First, because CAD redesigns take less time and effort, they give you more room to review and edit designs. When you have the time and energy to focus on these improvements, you’re more likely to catch small errors that may have big real-world consequences.

Secondly, CAD software features extensive automated features, minimizing chances for human error to occur. Some of these tools could automatically predict yield strength and similar factors to calculate bearing stress more accurately or suggest design changes to create a more resilient structure. As small as some of these changes may seem, they can yield significant improvements, just as small fasteners serve large roles.

5. Streamlined Communication

A more easily overlookable benefit of CAD fastener drawings is they’re easy to share. Communication is crucial but often insufficient in construction and engineering workflows. Using digital software to redesign fasteners makes it easier to keep everyone on the same page to avoid confusion and mistakes.

The building industry has found digital collaboration prevents construction delays and rework by increasing transparency. CAD falls into that category. You can easily attach these digital files to an email or save them in shared cloud storage so all key stakeholders can access them wherever they are.

The more streamlined communication is, the more people will be willing to communicate. Consequently, using collaboration-facilitating systems like CAD will help the whole team stay up to date on faster redesigns.

3D CAD Fastener Models Have Many Benefits

CAD drawings of fasteners may seem similar to conventional drawings initially. Once you dig into the real-world consequences of digital tools vs. manual processes, though, the benefits become clear. CAD is faster, more informative, less error-prone, and easier to share.

These benefits apply across many stages in design, testing, and application. As a result, switching to CAD to redesign fasteners will drive improvements across your entire workflow and those of your fasteners’ end users.

Author : Emily Newton

Cover image by Sven Mieke on Unsplash