Creating a Manufacturing Drawing for a Harness Design in Altium Designer
Once the wiring diagram and layout drawing are complete, read-only copies of their contents can be placed into the manufacturing drawing and annotated as required. A manufacturing drawing for a harness design is being created in the Draftsman editor.
Setting Up a Manufacturing Drawing Document
To create a manufacturing drawing for the harness design, a new Draftsman document (*.HarDwf) should be added to the harness project. To do this, right-click the project entry in the Projects panel and then select Add New to Project » Draftsman Document from the context menu (or use the File » New » Draftsman Document command from the main menus). In the New Document dialog that opens, select an available manufacturing drawing template as required and ensure that a correct Project and harness layout drawing Document is selected.
The New Document dialog
Options of a manufacturing drawing document can be configured in the Properties panel in its Document Options mode, which is active when no object is selected in the document's design space. Refer to the Setting Up a Draftsman Document page to learn more.
Working with Views
In a manufacturing drawing document, you can place read-only views of the harness wiring diagram and harness layout drawing included in this project.
Wiring Diagram View
A Wiring Diagram View is an automated graphic composite of the active harness design project's wiring diagram.
A Wiring Diagram View
A Wiring Diagram View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by clicking the 
button in the Active Bar or selecting the Place » Wiring Diagram View command from the main menus.
The properties of a placed Wiring Diagram View can be configured in the Properties panel when the view is selected in the design space.
The Properties panel in Wiring Diagram View mode
Using Multiple Wiring Diagrams for Wiring Diagram View Generation
You can have multiple Wiring Diagram documents (*.WirDoc) in the same project, so you can choose the wiring diagram document from which a placed wiring diagram view should be generated and updated. Use the Document drop-down in the Properties region of the Properties panel when the wiring diagram view is selected to choose the wiring diagram document for this view.
Layout Drawing View
A Layout Drawing View is an automated graphic composite of the active harness design project's layout drawing.
A Layout Drawing View
A Layout Drawing View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by clicking the 
button in the Active Bar or selecting the Place » Layout Drawing View command from the main menus.
The properties of a placed Layout Drawing View can be configured in the Properties panel when the view is selected in the design space.
The Properties panel in Layout Drawing View mode
Additional Views
Additional views can be used to complete your manufacturing drawing: Harness Detail View and Component View.
The Harness Detail View allows a defined area of an existing drawing that is a floating, magnified view of its detail. The Harness Detail View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by selecting an option from the 
button menu on the Active Bar or via the Place » Additional Views » Harness Detail View menu options. Two options are available for the Detail View area: Circle area detail view and Rectangle area detail view.
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An example circle area Harness Detail View applied to a Wiring Diagram View An example rectangle area Harness Detail View applied to a Wiring Diagram View |
The Component View is a drawing view of a single component from the current harness design. The Component View is placed in a manufacturing drawing document by selecting the Place » Additional Views » Component View command from the main menus.
An example Component View
Drawing Annotation and Dimensioning
A range of additional annotation, dimensioning and drawing tools are provided to add important information to a manufacturing drawing. These include automated note and highlighting systems, as well as tools to indicate the lengths, sizes, and angles of the object outlines, or the distance between nominated objects.
An example of an annotated Layout Drawing View
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A callout associated with a connector or a connection point displays BOM item position numbers for the connector/connection point itself and its associated parts. An example is shown below.
- When a callout set to display the BOM Item is added to the physical view of a component on a layout drawing view, it will include BOM line numbers for all assigned cavities – show image.
show imageWorking with Tables
A manufacturing drawing document allows a Bill Of Materials (BOM), Wiring List, Connection Table, and a generic Table to be placed on the drawing. The tabular data is directly derived from the project files and provides a simple, visual way to convey crucial information for the harness manufacturing processes.
- When any table object is copied from the manufacturing drawing document, its content can be pasted into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
- For harness wiring components, the Length column in a bill of materials table presents the total length for wires/cables of the same BOM item rather than their individual lengths – show image.
show imageWiring List
A Wiring List is an automatically generated table object that displays the start and end points and parameter values for each wire in the harness.
A Wiring List
To place a Wiring List, select the Place » Wiring List from the main menus or use the Wiring List command from the Active Bar.
Select the placed Wiring List to access its property settings in the Properties panel. This provides configuration options for most aspects of the Wiring List, including its visual attributes and data content.
The WiringList Properties panel
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Designators of shield with connector objects are displayed in the wiring list when a wire is connected to the shield's connector.
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If a wire has the
Novalue for its Include Cut parameter, this wire will not be presented in the wiring list. -
Wire parameters (and their values) specified in the wiring diagram are reflected in the wiring list. An additional column is added to the wiring list for each wire parameter. These additional columns are hidden by default – use the visibility controls on the Columns tab of the Properties panel when the wiring list is selected to show these columns in the design space (and hide the default columns if needed).
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Multicolored wires are supported in wiring lists (
):
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cells of the Color column are split to show the secondary and tertiary colors assigned to the wire
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the ColorName column includes names of the main, secondary and tertiary colors
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additional columns for secondary, tertiary and border colors can be made visible.
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For wires in a cable, the Length column in a wiring list displays the individual wire lengths for each wire in the cable.
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For the bulkhead connector (the connector with the largest number of cavities), automatic grouping is applied to the wiring list, ensuring that all of its cavities are correctly grouped in the From column.
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Use the Move Left and Move Right buttons to move a visible column whose entry is selected in the Columns tab to the left or right by one count in the wiring list.
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Click a cell in the Order column to cycle between table column data sort order options (off, ascending, and descending). Sorting can be applied to multiple columns on a priority basis by holding
Ctrland clicking cells in the Order column.
Splitting a Wiring List
The wiring list of an advanced harness design may have a large number of entries, which can be difficult to fit into a drawing document as a single table. Rather than resorting to font and table scaling, multiple custom table entries, or an external document, you can 'split' a wiring list table so that the wiring list will be presented over a number of 'pages.'
In the Properties panel for a placed wiring list, enable the Limit Page Height option in the Pages region to restrict the height of the table to the nominated height entry (Max Page Height) and, therefore, the number of lines shown in the table.
The editor detects that the entire Wiring List is not shown, as indicated by the panel's Page entry (for example, 1 from 2), and the associated drop-down menu allows you to nominate which page is shown. To add further pages of the Wiring List, place another Wiring List (Place » Wiring List) and specify the next Page in the Pages region of the Properties panel.
Connection Table
A Connection Table is an automatically generated table object that shows the wires connected to every connection point (connector pin, splice, etc.) in the harness.
A Connection Table (for all components)
To place a Connection Table, select Place » Connection Table from the main menus or use the Connection Table command from the Active Bar.
Select the placed Connection Table to access its property settings in the Properties panel. This provides configuration options for most aspects of the Connection Table, including its visual attributes and data content. You can use the Component option to show the data of all project components in the table or the data of a specific component or splice.
The ConnectionTable Properties panel
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If a wire has the
Novalue for its Include Cut parameter, this wire will not be presented in the connection table. - Wire parameters (and their values) specified in the wiring diagram are reflected in the connection table. An additional column is added to the connection table for each wire parameter. These additional columns are hidden by default – use the visibility controls on the Columns tab of the Properties panel when the Connection Table is selected to show these columns in the design space (and hide the default columns if needed).
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Multicolored wires are supported in connection tables – show image:
- cells of the Color column are split to show the secondary and tertiary colors assigned to the wire
- the ColorName column includes names of the main, secondary and tertiary colors
- additional columns for secondary, tertiary and border colors can be made visible.
- For wires in a cable, the Length column in a connection table displays the individual wire lengths for each wire in the cable.
- Use the Move Left and Move Right buttons to move a visible column whose entry is selected in the Columns tab to the left or right by one count in the connection table.
- Click a cell in the Order column to cycle between table column data sort order options (off, ascending, and descending). Sorting can be applied to multiple columns on a priority basis by holding Ctrl and clicking cells in the Order column.
show image-
Use the Display drop-down in the Properties panel to configure the data that is displayed in the table.
- Wires Only – show only pins that have wires connected to them
- Wires & Parts – show pins that have wires connected to them and any cavity parts added, such as a plug in case of a sealed connector with no wire
- All Cavities – show all pins of all components, irrespective of connected wires and added cavities (for example, if there is a 10-pin component, all the 10 pins will be shown in the table)