ProgeCAD LT 2006 Tutorial

ProgeCAD LT 2006 is a freeware CAD program that is “an easy replacement for AutoCAD®
and AutoCAD LT®”. It reads and writes AutoCAD DWG files, uses industry standard
AutoCAD commands, and has AutoCAD menu, script, and font compatibility. You can
download the latest version from www.progecad.com.

1. Download and Install the program

a. Copy the file PCADLT2006.EXE onto your
desktop.
b. Run the file.
c. You should get the message at right displayed on
your screen. Ignore it and click “finish.” You
will then get the message at right. On the next
window, click on “next.”

d. At this point, the license agreement will be

displayed. ProgeCAD LT 2006 is freeware, but
you are not allowed to sell it or modify it. Click
on “I accept” and “Next” if you are okay with
this.

e. Choose where you would like it installed and

click on “Next”

f. On the next window, click on “Next” again to

begin the installation.

g. After the program is copied to your hard drive,

the window at right will appear. Select “standard
menu.” You will then be shown the “readme”
file. Click on “okay”, and then “finish.”
2. Run the program.
a. From the windows “start menu”, run
ProgeCAD LT 2006.
b. You should get the window at right.
Select “Run progeCAD LT 2006” and
click “Next.”

c. The program will begin by asking you to

“Use a template”. Don’t do this – instead,
select “Start from scratch” – the button
with the blank white sheet at the top left.
Click on “OK”

d. You will then see the window at right.

Select “English” and click on “OK.” You
will then be asked to donate money
(which you may if you like) – click
“close” if you want to move on.

e. Now you will be given some information

about the libraries that are available.
Click “OK”. You will be given the
chance to select a library. Just pick one
and click “OK”.

f. The window at right will appear. Just

close it.

g. Now you are ready to begin!

 3. Using the program.
a. You should see the following (without the descriptive balloons!)

You can
customize the
menu and toolbars
at the top of the
window. You can
move and dock You can draw
the toolbars to using the cursor
any location on and your mouse,
your screen. or with keyboard
commands and
coordinates.

You can type

commands in the
command bar. To
reposition the
command bar,
drag it to another
location on your The status bar displays information such as
screen. the name or purpose of a tool, the current
cursor coordinates, layer name, and mode
settings. You can control the snapgrid
from here.

b. General Comments
i. The command window is at the bottom of the screen. This is where you
can enter text commands. For example, to draw a line, enter “L”.
ii. Just above the “Command:” prompt is the history window. This shows a
list of the previously entered commands.
iii. Make sure that you are in the “Model Space” work area. You can change
this by clicking on the tab in the status bar at the bottom of the page.
iv. <esc> ends the current command.
 v. To show or hide toolbars, either use “view\toolbars” from the menu, or
right click on the toolbar area.
vi. Real Time Pan – hold down <ctrl>-<shift> and click the left mouse
button to pan by moving the mouse.
vii. Real Time Zoom -- hold down <ctrl>-<shift> and click the right mouse
button to zoom by moving the mouse. If your mouse has a scroll wheel, it
will zoom the image.

c. Entering Coordinates:
i. Absolute – enter the numbers separated by commas, i.e. x, y or x, y,
z for three dimensions.
ii. Relative – enter an “@” before the coordinates, i.e. @x,y.
iii. Polar – you can also enter absolute or relative positions using polar
coordinates, e.g. 12<45 (radius 12 at angle 45 deg above x axis)
d. Before you start
i. Use View\Toolbars to select the following toolbars: Standard,
Draw2D, Entity Snaps, Dimensions, and Settings. Make sure the
other choices are not selected.
ii. Change the size of the “pickbox” – the little white box that lets you
select objects. Go to “Tools\Drawing\Coordinate Input” and select
“Entity Selection” from the dropdown box. Make the pickbox size
about 6.
iii. When I work, I like large crosshairs so that I can see if things are
lined up. To change this, go to “Tools\Options…” and pick the
“Crosshairs” tab. Change it to 100%.
iv. Turn on the scrollbars to make it easier to move around. To do this,
click on “Tools\Options…” and pick the “Display” tab. Check
“Show scroll bars”.
v. Turn on the snap grid and snap to it. To do this, pick
“Format\Reference Grid” and “Format\Snap”. You could also click
on these buttons on the setting toolbar: .
vi. Make the grid fill your screen by zooming in. Select
“View\Zoom\All”.
vii. Try panning around by pressing <cntl>-<shift> and the right mouse
button.
e. Now your screen should look like this
4. Lets draw!
a. There are three ways you can draw: but selecting drawing objects from the
menu, by clicking on the toolbar, or by using text commands. Lets use the menu
and toolbars first.

b. To draw a line, pick “Draw\Polyline” or click on . In the drawing area, click

on the four corners of a square. When you finish the square, press <esc>.
Because the snap grid is on, your points should always click to the nearest grip
point.
c. To move your square, select it and draw it to where you like. To select the
square, simply click on one of the lines of the square, or draw the cursor around
it with the left mouse button pressed. This will make a “selection box”. When
your square is selected, the lines will change to dotted lines. You can also use
“Modify/Move” from the menu.
d. To copy your square, select it then pick “Modify\Copy”. Click on
“Modify\Paste” to place the new copy.
e. Your screen should now look something like this:

f. To delete your squares, select them and press the <delete> key.
5. Your first real drawing – lets make the drawing below.

a. Notice that all of the dimensions are in units of

1/16 inch. Let’s change the grid to take
advantage of this. Select “Tool\Drafting
Settings” and click on “Coordinate Input” tab
(or, right click on ‘SNAP” in the lower right
corner). Change the grid values to 1/16 inch
(0.0625).
b. Now, each point on the snap grid is separated
by 1/16 inch. Using the same method as before,
draw the top view.
c. Now, some of these lines need to be
centerlines (dot-dash) and hidden
lines (dashed). To fix these, first
select “Format\Explore Linetypes”.
Click on “Edit\New\Linetype”, and
select “Choose from File.” Now
pick “CENTER” and “DASHED”.
d. Right click on the center lines in the drawing, select “Properties”. Change the
line type to “CENTER” and the linetype scale to 0.2.
e. You can make the object lines thicker by right clicking on them, selecting
“properties” and changing the lineweight to 1.0 mm. You won’t see the
difference on the screen, but it will show up when you print your drawing.
f. Now draw the circle. To do this, select either “Draw\Circle\Circle Radius” or
click on . Then click in the center, and at the correct radius. Your screen
should look like this:

g. Now let’s draw the side view. To do this, let’s use the command line. Enter the
following commands, and see if you can understand what they do.
Command : l
ENTER to use last point/Follow/<Start of line>: 1,1
Angle/Length/<End point>: @1.75,0
Angle/Length/Follow/Undo/<End point>: @0,.25
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @-1/4,0
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,3/8
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @1/4,0
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,1/4
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @-1.75,0
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,-1/4
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @1/4,0
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,-3/8
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @-1/4,0
Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,-1/4
h. You might need to move the object you just drew up so that it is directly below
the top view. Add the hidden lines for the hole. It should now look like the
picture below.

i. Now we need to add the dimensions.

Before we can add them, however, we need
to set up the sizes of the text and arrows.
Click on “Format\Dimension Style” and
click on the “Arrows” tab, or click on .
Change the arrow size to 0.08. To change
the text size, click on the “Text” tab.
Change the text size to 0.06. Click on the
“Units” tab and select “Fractional
(stacked)”
j. Now add the dimensions using
“Dimension/Linear” or click on the
button. Place the dimensions where they
 are needed – first click on the two points that you need to specify the distance
between, then click on the position where you would like the dimension line.
You might need to use “Dimension\Baseline” or “Dimension\Continue” to get
multiple dimension lines.
k. When you finish, you can save your drawing, and print it out. The final, printed
version should look like this:

6. For next class…

Draw an orthographic projection
of the sketch at right. Be sure to
use as many views as needed, and
don’t forget to dimension your
drawing.