AutoCAD Electrical 2020 – Creating a New Nameplate

By Miles Nicholson

AutoCAD® Electrical has built in nameplate footprints that can automatically assume the tag and description information from the associated component footprint.

You can create your own nameplate and have the same level of automated assignment to components.

When you create a panel nameplate, define the symbols as a Panel Nameplate.

Draw the graphics to represent the nameplate or label and add the attribute P_TAG1 as a minimum.

* RATING1 would also be useful for labels for fuses, overloads etc.

Save the symbol within the root of the PANEL_MM library if the nameplates aren’t manufacturer specific.

Once created, the symbol can either be added as a “Component” or a “Command”.

• Selecting component means you can insert one nameplate at a time and then subsequently have to associate to a component footprint
• Selecting command means you can insert multiple nameplates to multiple component footprints and they will be instantly associated

If you select command, define the name, image and Command. For the Insert Nameplate command to execute, type:

wd_inrnp_xg "" "" "" "<<SYMBOL BLOCK NAME>>"

The new nameplate will appear in the icon menu:

Nameplates are inserted based on the insertion point of the component footprint that they are associated with so you may find the position of the nameplates needs to be moved as shown in the example video.