Last updated July 28, 2026
AWELD places welding symbols on a drawing from a dialog box, and it does it without a block library. You pick the weld type from a graphical menu, set the side, add the sizing and notes, and it draws the symbol as plain geometry sized from your DIMSCALE. That last point is the design decision that makes it interesting: with no blocks to insert, there is nothing to go missing when the drawing is sent out, and nothing to rescale when the plot scale changes.
It is version 4.0, written by Eric Howard and dated November 1992, with the accompanying documentation dated February 1993. All the symbol geometry goes on a layer called WELD_SYM, which the routine creates in blue if it is not already there.
The weld types it draws
Thirteen separate weld symbols are built into the code, each with its own drawing routine: square groove, V groove, bevel groove, U groove, J groove, flare-V groove, flare-bevel groove, fillet, plug, surfacing, backing, flange edge and flange corner. That is a genuinely complete set for the common groove and fillet symbols rather than the handful most free routines stop at.
The dialog controls the rest. A “Weld Side” group offers this side, other side or both sides — the arrow-side and other-side convention that gives welding symbols their meaning. Three tick boxes add a backing weld, weld all around, and field weld. Two fields take the fillet size and the length-pitch for intermittent welds, and three note fields let you add text to the tail.
If you want the background on what those symbols mean and where the standards sit, our guide to welding symbols covers the convention itself.
Two support files must be findable
This is the usual reason a package like this appears not to work. AWELD.LSP is the program, but the dialog lives in AWELD.DCL and the weld-type pictures in the dialog come from WELDS.SLB, a slide library. Both have to sit somewhere AutoCAD can find them, or the command will load and then fail the moment it tries to show you the dialog. Put all three in one directory on your support file search path.
The author’s own suggestion for everyday use was to add a menu item that loads the file on first use and then runs it, so it is not reloaded every time. The mechanism he describes is a pull-down menu entry in ACAD.MNU, which is a menu format AutoCAD replaced long ago — the idea still works, but you would build it as a modern CUI button rather than editing an MNU file.
Command reference
The file defines a single command, AWELD. Everything else in it is the thirteen weld-drawing routines and a handful of helpers that the dialog calls.
How to load it
Unzip Awelds4.zip, put AWELD.LSP, AWELD.DCL and WELDS.SLB in one folder on the support file search path, and load the LSP with APPLOAD or by typing (load "AWELD"). Set DIMSCALE to suit your plot scale before you start, since that is what sizes the symbols. Our AutoLISP guide covers loading and the search path.
Step-by-step usage
- Check DIMSCALE is right for the sheet. Everything the routine draws is sized from it.
- Type AWELD. The Weld Selection dialog opens with the weld type slides.
- Pick the weld type, then the side — this side, other side or both sides.
- Tick backing weld, weld all around or field weld as required, and fill in the fillet size and length-pitch if the weld calls for them.
- Add up to three lines of note text for the tail, then place the symbol in the drawing.
The routine turns ortho off and MIRRTEXT off while it works, and puts your ortho mode, text style and current layer back when it finishes.
Compatibility notes
The header states plainly that this version was written for Release 12 and will not work in any earlier version. At the other end, our own listing records errors when running it on AutoCAD 2019, and that is worth taking at face value — expect problems on a current release rather than a clean run. The thirteen weld-drawing routines are readable AutoLISP, so if it half-works the source is there to fix.
It is dialog-driven, so it needs full AutoCAD. DCL is not supported on AutoCAD LT, and LT 2024 brought AutoLISP to LT without bringing DCL, so LT users cannot run this one at any release. See what runs on AutoCAD LT.
Download
| Name: | AWELD4 |
| Description: | An autolisp routine complete with menu and toolbar for all your welding detailing needs. Unlike AutoWeld Lisp Routine, this lisp routine doesn’t use a collection of blocks for welding symbols. |
| Type: | AutoCAD AutoLISP Routine |
| Author: | Eric Howard |
| File Size: | 8 Kb |
| Cost: | Free |
| Worked on: | AutoCAD. Some errors running on AutoCAD 2019 |
| Download File: | Awelds4.zip |
Related routines
- Welding symbols explained — what the symbols mean and which standard governs them.
- BOLTS — metric bolts, nuts and washers for the same detail drawings.
- Wisey’s Steel Shapes — the Australian sections the welds go on.