While working at H.G. Matthews, a brickyard in Southeast England, I was tasked with solving the problem of the lengthy and time-consuming nature of creating accurate templates for use in the manufacturing of brick arches, which at the time were calculated and drawn manually in pencil. I developed a bespoke software solution capable of not only creating the requested templates, but also generating accurate, labelled technical drawings for providing customers a preview of exactly what they were paying for.

On this page, I have created a rudimentary demonstration of this functionality. This was, in part, to explore the possibility of developing a standalone web app for generating these templates and drawings, with options to export them to industry standard electronic formats. Some of the features I have in mind far surpass even the capabilities of the original CAD program, including custom keystones and advanced shapes with multiple curves. Development of this demonstration is still ongoing - check the to-do list to view and track my progress.

To-do List

• (Most important) Fix the broken maths on flat arches with rises
• Implement horizontal joints for radial arches
• Implement complex horizontal joints for flat-gauge arches with options for curves
• (Long-term) Implement custom arch shapes with configurable bends (like thick strokes from paths with joints and curves in Inkscape)
• Implement vertical joints
• Implement basic shapes for all arch types
• Figure out more sensible scaling algorithm for axes' labels and grid
• Change expand/restore functionality to maximise/restore for all project windows
• Replace toolbar spans with class system for displaying required items
• Move window bar to program itself and change section font/styling
• Refactor existing JavaScript with emphasis on object-oriented practices