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Design Master April 2016 Newsletter

Table of Contents


Electrical 8.4 Released

Design Master Electrical 8.4 is now officially released. All current users of our software are invited to download and start using the new software.

New Features in Design Master Electrical 8.4


BricsCAD V16 Support

We have added support for BricsCAD V16 and dropped support for BricsCAD V15 in the latest releases of our software. If you are using Design Master with BricsCAD, you will need to upgrade to BricsCAD V16 when you install your next update.


AutoCAD 2004, 2005, and 2006 Support

We have dropped support for AutoCAD 2004, 2005, and 2006 in the latest releases of our software. We now require you to have AutoCAD 2007 or later.

You are welcome to continue to use the previous version of our software with AutoCAD 2004, 2005, or 2006. We will continue to support it, but you will not have access to any new features.


Thornburgh Engineering Saves Time and Eliminates Errors with Design Master Electrical and Design Master Mechanical

Based in Englewood, Florida, Thornburgh Engineering is a one-person firm run by Tom Thornburgh, PE. Mr. Thornburgh has been a Design Master Mechanical user since 2005 and a Design Master Electrical user since 2006. He originally used both programs as a consulting engineer with other engineering and architectural firms.

Read more about Thornburgh Engineering.


Support Articles from the March and April Archives

Electrical

Electrical Load Type Explanations: This article translates from settings in Design Master Electrical to sections in the NEC. Use this article when you are working in Design Master Electrical and want to know what section to go to in the NEC.

Feeder and Service Load Calculations: This article translates from sections in the NEC to settings in Design Master Electrical. Use this article when you are reading your NEC and want to know what settings to use in Design Master Electrical.

Minimum Conduit Size: How to set the minimum conduit size for your feeders and branch circuits.

Inserting Fixed Loads Without Using the Mouse: Tips for inserting fixed loads using only your keyboard.

Branch Circuit Using #10 Instead of #12 Wire: Why some branch circuits use #10 wire instead of #12 wire.


New Wishlist Requests

Below is a list of recent ideas on our wishlist. 

Customers regularly share ideas about what they would like us to add to the software. What we don't know is how many other people are interested in the idea. If you see something that looks interesting to you, vote for it. We prioritize features based upon the number of votes and the difficulty to implement. Knowing whether other people are interested in an idea or not helps us know if we should spend development time on it or on something else.

Electrical

Electrical elevation label
Connect loops to fixtures on same switch first
Update impedances based upon conduit material
Default label locations in blocks
Upsize ground wire automatically

Electrical RT

Import and export customization settings

HVAC

Diffuser airflow patterns