Most hardware teams lose hours to documentation that falls out of date the moment an ECO lands. Quarter 20 is a CAD connected documentation tool that solves this by tying your documents straight to your CAD, so when the design changes, the docs change with it. Here is a walkthrough of how it works, step by step.
1. Bring your CAD into Quarter 20
Everything starts with the CAD model. You can push it in directly from SolidWorks or Onshape using the Quarter 20 plugins, or upload a STEP file if you are working from another tool. In this walkthrough, the CAD is pushed straight from SolidWorks into Quarter 20.
2. Build your operation steps
Once your CAD is in Quarter 20, create your operation steps and add the relevant parts to each one. As you assemble the operations, the document builds itself alongside you. Click through each step to see the assembly of your product take shape, operation by operation.
3. Enhance the document
Quarter 20 gives you the same tools you would expect in CAD itself, including exploded views and cross sections, plus automations that generate them for each operation step. On top of that, you can add annotations such as call out bubbles, arrows, and shapes to make each step clear.You can also pull metadata straight from CAD. Because that metadata is linked rather than copied, it updates automatically whenever the CAD changes. In this example, part number metadata is added directly from the model.
4. Tag everything
This is where Quarter 20 really earns its keep. Every document is built from tags, drawn from shared libraries of tools, procedures, and parts, and those tags stay consistent across every document you create.Add a text box, then tag in the part you need for the assembly, and tag in any tool required for the procedure. Once a part or tool is tagged, it is linked, not just labelled.Change anything about a tag, its name or its metadata, and it updates in one place across every document that uses it. Rename a part to V2, and that change flows through to every document your team has built with it. Every tag is also traceable, so you always know exactly where it is referenced across your library.
5. One workspace for the whole team
Quarter 20 gives your team a single place to work from. Open a CAD file and you can see every document that references it. In this example, one CAD file, an engine assembly, is tied to three separate documents. Update the CAD once, and all three documents update with it.
6. Let ECOs do the updating for you
Because each document stays tied to its CAD file, an ECO does not mean a manual scramble. When the design changes, whether that is a new cutout or something more involved, the images, metadata, and tags in your document update automatically to match.
The result
Quarter 20 turns documentation from a set of disconnected files into a connected knowledge system that updates itself as the hardware evolves. Less risk of error, no manual rework, and a digital thread that finally reaches the documents your team relies on every day. It is the CAD connected wiki that hardware has been missing.
