ALPHABET OF LINES

1. CONSTRUCTION LINES (Very Fine) Used to block in objects to be drawn. Line weight for construction lines is not important since they will not appear on your finished drawing. They should be heavy enough to see, but light enough to erase easily. A 4H to 6H pencil with a sharp, conical point should be used. 2. OBJECT OR VISIBLE LINE (Thick) Used to represent the visible edges of an object. 4. DIMENSION LINE (Thin) Used to indicate measurements or dimensions of objects. PARTS OF A DIMENSION LINE a. ARROWHEAD short heavy stroke (called flares) placed at the extremities of the fine line. b. FINE LINE unbroken except to permit insertion of the dimension figure. c. NUMBER OR MEASUREMENT usually positioned at the middle of the fine line and its axis is perpendicular to it.

3. HIDDEN OR INVISIBLE LINE (Medium) Used to represent the hidden edges of an object. It is composed of small or short dashes about 3-4 mm long with gaps between dashes, each about 1-2 mm wide.

5. EXTENSION OR PROJECTION LINES (Thin) Continuous lines extending from a view to indicate the extent of a measurement given by a dimension line that is located outside a view.

6. CENTER LINE (Thin) Made with alternate long and short dashes. It is used to indicate the axis or center of objects with symmetrical shapes such as washers, gears, pulleys and rivets.

7. VIEWING OR CUTTING PLANE LINE (Thick) used to designate where an imaginary cutting took place. a) CUTTING PLANE LINE consists of one long and two alternative dashes. It is used to indicate a plane or planes in which a sectional view is taken. It is clearly identified with reference letters along with arrowheads to show the direction in which the view is taken. b) VIEWING PLANE LINE consists of one long and several (more than two) alternative dashes . It is used to indicate the plane or planes from which a surface or several surfaces are viewed.

8. SECTION LINES (Thin) Evenly spaced slant lines which are placed on the cut surface in section views. Usually, they are drawn at an angle of 45o except in cases where a number of adjacent parts are shown assembled.

9. LEADER LINE (Thin) A broken line consisting of a long inclined line (with an arrowhead) and a short horizontal line. It is used to lead the eyes to the part being labelled and measured and is commonly used in machine drawings. If the reference is to a line, the leader is always terminated at this line with an arrowhead. However, a reference to a surface terminates with a dot within the outline of that surface.

10. REFERENCE LINE (Thin) An irregular curved line with an arrowhead at one end and a note or dimension at the other end. It is often used to label the parts of an object. 11. BREAK LINES (Thin) Used to break objects which are too big to be drawn on paper. The size of the graphic representation of an object is often reduced (usually for the purpose of economizing on paper space) by the use of this device called a break. (Suppose, for example, you want to make a drawing of a rectangle 1 ft wide by 100 ft long to the scale of 1/12, or 1 in. = 1 ft.) If you drew in the full length of the rectangle, you would need a sheet of paper 100 in. long. By using a break, you can reduce the length of the figure to a feasible length a. LONG BREAK LINES ruled lines with freehand zigzags. b. SHORT BREAK LINES wavy lines in freehand.

12. DITTO OR REPEAT LINES (Medium) Consists of two dashes drawn repeatedly. It is used to indicate repeated part of the object drawn. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 13. PHANTOM LINES (Thin) Also called ALTERNATE POSITION LINES Lines consisting of one long and two short dashes, evenly spaced, terminating in a long line, used to indicate an additional position of a part or object.

14. BORDER LINES (Heavy) - Generally the heaviest or darkest lines in a drawing. They serve as frame in the drawing.

USE OF SPECIAL BREAKS