Expert: J. B. Borge - 1/24/2008

Question
I am helping get a small business up on a cad program. I have worked in the PC board design area previously but this application is in designing large cooking stations and or barbecue grills.  I  am wondering what program will best fit my needs.  My thoughts are that I would like multi layer component libraries to give me the clearances (door swings,cooktop cover clearances etc.), cutouts, dimensions etc all on different levels that can be turned on and off as necessary.  So my question finally is does Autocad allow for the creation of multi level component libraries that will allow me to use the different levels when drawing a design and then shut them off when not needed in the final drawing?

Answer
Doug, AutoCAD is very customizable & powerful tool. It will support multi level libraries (called blocks or xrefs) & gives you the flexibility to turn certain objects off thru its layering system. However, AutoCAD is just a 2D tool, not fully pledged 3D. Therefor, cutouts has to be manually drafted. Dimensions can be set to any precision or unit format you require.
You might also check Inventor or Solidworks for 3D options depending how complex your end product will be. Both offers much better interfaces at lower learning curves. However maybe harder for you to find seasoned users/drafters. Hope this helps!