COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING DRAWING

1. GETTING STARTED

ENGINEERING DRAWING
An engineering drawing is a type of drawing that is technical in nature, used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items, and is usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, appearance, size etc. Purpose: Its purpose is to accurately capture all the geometric features of a product or a component. Goal: The goal of an engineering drawing is to convey all required information that will allow a manufacturer to produce that component.
2

COMMON FEATURES OF ENGINEERING DRAWINGS

Drawings convey the following critical information: Geometry- the shape of the object; represented as views; how the object will look when it is viewed from various standard directions, such as front, top, side, etc. Dimensions- the size of the object is captured in accepted units. Tolerances- the allowable variations for each dimensions. Material- represents what the item is made of. Finish- specifies the surface quality of the item.

COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
Computer-aided design (CAD) is a use of wide range of computer-based tools that assist engineers, architects and other design professionals in their design activities. Application Software: AutoCAD

1.GETTING STARTED
Introduction Toolbars The Command: Line Box Command Tools Starting a New Drawing Naming a Drawing Drawing Units Drawing Limits Grid and Snap Save and Save As Open Exit
5

INTRODUCTION
This chapter explains the various aspects of the AutoCAD for windows drawing screen and shows how they can be manipulated. The figure shows a typical initial AutoCAD windows screen.

WINDOWS PULL-DOWN MENUS

The top line displays the windows pull-down menus for exiting a program and changing a program.

STANDARD TOOLBAR
The second line is the standard toolbar and contains a group of the most commonly used commands.

COMMAND ICONS & OBJECT PROPERTIES TOOLBAR

The third line contains some command icons and an area that shows the object properties that are active.

DRAWING AREA
The large open area in the center of the screen is called the drawing area, or drawing editor.
Cursor

10

COMMAND LINE, STATUS LINE & COORDINATE DISPLAY.

Command Line

Coordinate Display

Status Line
11

TOOLBARS
An AutoCAD toolbar contains a group of command icons with a common heading.
Draw Toolbar

Modify Toolbar
12

ADD A NEW TOOLBAR TO THE SCREEN

Place the cursor on the view pull-down menu heading and press the left mouse button. Select the item Toolbars (pressing the left mouse button). The toolbars tab of the customize dialog box, which contains a list of all toolbars, appears. (See next slide) Select/Check Dimension.
13

Customize Dialog Box

Dimension toolbar

14

THE COMMAND: LINE BOX

The size of the command window, located at the bottom of the screen, may be changed to display more or fewer commands lines. Resize the Command: line box
Place the cursor along the top edge of the Command: line box. A double arrow appears. Still holding the left mouse button down, move the cursor to a new location on the drawing screen.
The Command: Line box expands as the double arrow is moved upward.

Release the left mouse button when the new location is reached.

15

COMMAND TOOLS
A toolbar contains tools ( icons that allows access to commands).

To determine the command a tool represents, place the cursor on the tool, But do not press any mouse button. The name of the command represented Will appear.
16

STARTING A NEW DRAWING

When a new drawing is started:
A drawing name is assigned. The drawing units are specified. The drawing limits are modified, if needed. Grid & Snap values are defined.

The above four sections will be discussed in the next slides.

17

NAMING A DRAWING
Any combination of letters & numbers may be used as a file name. CORRECT DRAWING NAMES:
FIRST .dwg .dwg EK-130-1 .dwg PA$

All AutoCAD drawing files automatically have the extension (*.dwg). INCORRECT DRAWING NAMES:
100% .dwg *.* .dwg

Symbols such as % and *, may not be used otherwise symbols like $, - and _ may be used in the drawing names.
18

STARTING A NEW DRAWING

Four ways to create new drawing
Select the new drawing tool in the standard toolbar. Select the File pull-down menu, then select New. Type the word new in response to a command prompt Hold down the control key and press N ( Ctrl+N).

19

STARTING A NEW DRAWING

New Drawing Tool

Select the File pull-down menu Then New.

20

CREATING A NEW DRAWING FILE

A drawing name is entered as file name by using the Save As option under the File pull-down menu.

Click Save As to name a new drawing file.

21

CREATING A NEW DRAWING FILE

The Save Drawing As dialog box appears.
Type in the name of the drawing. Select Save.
Type new drawing Name here.

22

CREATING A NEW DRAWING FILE

The name of the drawing appears above the upper left corner of the drawing screen.

New drawing name will appear here along with the selected directory.

23

DRAWING UNITS
AutoCAD can work in any of five different unit systems:
Scientific Decimal Engineering Architectural Fractional

Default system: Decimal can be applied to either English (inches) or Metric (millimeters).
24

SPECIFY OR CHANGE THE DRAWING UNITS

Select the Format pulldown menu. Select Units. Drawing Units dialog box appears. Select Architectural units by clicking the arrow to right of the type box.
A listing of the five unit options cascades down.

Select Architectural. Select OK.

25

SPECIFY OR CHANGE THE DRAWING UNITS

Select the Architectural units.

26

SPECIFY OR CHANGE THE PRECISION OF THE UNITS SYSTEM

Unit values can be expressed from zero to eight decimal places or from 0 to 1/256 of an inch. Access the Drawing Units dialog box as explained previously. Select the arrow to the right of the Precision display box.
A list of available decimal precision values cascades from the box.

Select 0.00 for two Decimal place Precision.

Select 0.00. Select OK.

27

SPECIFY OR CHANGE THE PRECISION OF THE UNITS SYSTEM

If the unit precision is changed, that change can be checked by looking at the coordinate display box in the lower left corner of the screen. The values displayed should reflect the new precision specification.

Coordinate display shows new precision of units.

28

SPECIFY OR CHANGE THE ANGLE UNITS VALUES

Angle units values.

29

DRAWING LIMITS
Drawing Limits are used to set the boundaries of the drawing. The drawing boundaries are usually used to match the size of a sheet of drawing paper. Purpose: when the drawing is plotted and a hard copy is made, it will fit on the drawing paper. Standard Engineering Sizes
Standard Drawing Sheet SizesInches A= 8.5 11 B= 11 17 C= 17 22 D= 22 34 E= 34 44

Standard Metric Sizes

Standard Drawing Sheets SizesMillimeters A4= 210 297 A3= 297 420 A2= 420 594 A1= 594 841 A0= 841 1189

30

ALIGN THE DRAWING LIMITS WITH A STANDARD A4=210 297 (METRIC) PAPER SIZE.

Select the Format pull-down menu. Select Drawing Limits. Press the Enter key or the right button of the mouse. Type 297,210; press Enter.
31

GRID & SNAP

The Grid command is used to place a dotted grid background on the drawing screen. Purpose: it is helpful for establishing visual reference points for sizing and locating points and lines. The Snap command limits the movement of the cursor to predefined points on the screen. For example: if the snap command values are set to match the grid values, the cursor will snap from grid point to grid point. The cursor cannot be located at a point between the grid points.
32

SET THE GRID & SNAP VALUES

Select the Tools pull-down menu. Select Drafting Settings. The Drafting Settings dialog box appears. If necessary, click the Snap tab and Grid tab.

33

SET THE GRID & SNAP VALUES

Click the Grid and Snap boxes. Place the cursor on the snap box to the right of the given value for snap X spacing.
Backspace out the existing value and type in 5.

Click the snap Y spacing box to make the X and Y values equal. Select the Grid X spacing box.
Backspace out the existing value and type in 10.

Click the Grid Y spacing box to make the X and Y values equal. Select OK.
Define the X and Y values for snap and Grid here.
34

AFTER SETTING GRID & SNAP

35

SAVE AND SAVE AS, OPEN, EXIT

Save & Save As. Open

Exit
36