Biosensors for Cancer – BIOEN 472

Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

AN INTRODUCTION TO DRAWING IN AUTOCAD

CREATED BY: ARMAN NADERI

SUMMARY: AutoCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) program utilized by engineers and

designers for the creation of 2D drawings and 3D models in a large variety of applications. In this
course, we will be utilizing AutoCAD and digital manufacturing to create digital 2D drawings that
will be used as precise instructions for a laser cutter. This document will introduce the tools and
features in AutoCAD that will allow you to create any 2D drawing. With these skills, you will be
recreating the design of a high impact microfluidic device by analyzing original manuscript
schematics to produce adapted 2D drawings.

OPENING A NEW DOCUMENT

To create a new document to click the AutoCAD icon at the top left corner of the screen and
then open the “acad” drawing template file.

To modify the working units on the drawing click the AutoCAD icon at the top left corner of the
screen and then click “Units” under the “Drawing Utilities” tab. Change units to “Millimeters.”
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Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

Navigation Bar: In the red circle at the right of the screen you will find the navigation bar.
AutoCAD’s navigation controls are very similar to other CAD programs such as Inventor,
SolidWorks, or Fusion 360. Because we will be working in 2D, we will only need the Pan tool,
which is represented with the Hand icon, and the Zoom tool, which is directly beneath the Pan
tool. If in case you need to rotate the camera out of the XY plane, the cube at the top of the
navigation bar can be used to rotate the camera in multiple planes by simply clicking, holding,
and moving the cursor in the desired direction.

Drawing Tools: In the red box at the top of the screen, under the home tab of the navigation bar,
you will find all of the most relevant tools for drawing in AutoCAD. In this tab, we will focus on
the use of the Draw, Modify, and Layers sections.

Command Bar: In the blue box at the bottom of the screen you will find the command bar. This
console can be used to input commands via text, and is also used to guide you in the
specification of parameters when using the tools within Draw and Modify.

DRAWING

Drawing in AutoCAD is unlike many other CAD programs that you may be familiar with
because object location and properties are not determined by user-defined constraints. To
begin, I will introduce the snap features that are useful when drawing different geometries. By
clicking the icon indicated by the purple arrow on the left in the figure above, a small window
will appear that will show whether you would like to have Polar Snap or Grid Snap on. Polar Snap
allows you to set the angle for every line you draw while it is on, and Grid Snap automatically
places the cursor only on the grid lines. There are also other snap options that can be used by
clicking Snap Settings within the icon indicated with the purple arrow on the right. A larger
window should appear that will indicate what type of Object Snaps you want to have on. I
recommend always having Endpoint turned on as this will make it easy to ensure that multiple
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Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

lines are connected when drawing, but you can also turn on the other snaps depending on your
own personal preference.

NOTE: The more snaps you have on, the more likely your drawing may be impeded by unwanted
snapping to geometry. Think of snaps when drawing like autocorrect when texting: Say you’re
trying to text “lol” but autocorrect automatically changes it “love” and every time you try to type
“lol” again, it corrects in the same, incorrect way. Snaps will do the same thing but for drawn
geometry: say you’ve drawn a line and are trying to connect it to another line ¼ of the way from
one of the end points, but instead of allowing you to click at your specified point, the cursor will
automatically snap to the midpoint. Snaps are very useful, but be sure to have snaps activated
(and deactivated) at the right times so that your drawing experience is less frustrating.

You may be familiar with using the Dimension tool and other constraints in programs like
Inventor or Fusion 360 to define the length of a line, or the distance between two lines or
objects; this tool does not work the same in AutoCAD. THE DIMENSION TOOL IN AUTOCAD
CANNOT BE USED TO REDEFINE THE LENGTH, DIAMETER, ETC. OF ANY GIVEN OBJECT - IT IS
SIMPLY AN ANNOTATION.

In order to specify distances between objects in AutoCAD, you must use the line
command to manually define the distance and the angle, and then from that endpoint, draw
your desired object or geometry. Once you have drawn the desired object, you can delete that
so-called “construction” line. If you make a mistake with the length, diameter, etc. of an object,
you must delete the incorrect object and create a new one with the correct parameters. There
are tools you can use to help in the correction of mistakes, and for general use when drawing, in
the Modify section of the home tab.

Task 1: Please complete these tasks in your drawing, and then check with me after you have
completed them.

• Create a square with a side length of 25 mm

• Create a rectangle with dimensions 10 mm x 20 mm and place a circle with a diameter of
5 mm at the exact midpoint of the rectangle
• Draw a line to have a length of 15 mm, draw another line with length 5 mm so that it is
orthogonal to the first, and lastly, draw another line that is 10 mm long and is at a 30
degree angle from the second line.
• Create two parallel lines that are separated from one another by 10 mm

MODIFY TOOLS
 Biosensors for Cancer – BIOEN 472

Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

There are several modify tools that will make drawing easier for you. There are brief
introductions to the most relevant one below. For all of these tools, follow the directions in the
command bar to input your desired parameters for the function.

Move: After specifying the set of objects you want to move, select a base point that will serve as
a reference to move those objects from, and then select
the end point to which those objects will move to with
respect to the base point.

Rotate: After specifying the set of objects you want to

rotate, select a base point that will serve as a reference
to rotate around , and then specify the angle or position
at which those objects will rotate around the base point
to.

Fillet: Select the corner(s) that you would like to round

the corner of (fillet), and then specify the radius that you
would like to round it to.
 Biosensors for Cancer – BIOEN 472

Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

Scale: Select the object(s) that you would like to scale,

specify a base point that you would like to scale around,
and then specify a distance from the base point, or a
scale factor to scale the object.

Trim: Select the line that you would like to trim around,
and the select the line that you would to trim.

Extend: Select the line that you would like to extend to,
and then select the line that you would like to extend.

Copy: Select the object(s) that you would like to copy,

specify the base point you would like to copy from, and
then specify the end point(s) you would like the object to
copied at.
 Biosensors for Cancer – BIOEN 472

Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

Mirror: Select the object(s) that you would like to mirror,

and specify the mirror line.

Rectangular Array: Select the object(s) that you would

like to mirror, specify the number of objects you would
like copy into a row or column, and the spacing between
those copies in each row and column.

Task 2:

• Create two circles with diameters 5 mm and 10 mm, spaced 15 mm apart. Copy these
two circles and move them 30 mm away from the original. Scale the copy by a factor of 2.
• Create an orthogonal X with lines, then trim one of the lines from the other line so that
you form the perpendicular symbol.
• Create a half circle by trimming via a line that runs through the center of the circle. Add a
circle and an arc to make half of a smiley face. Mirror all the objects across the same line
you used to trim the original circle. Finally, make a 4 x 4 rectangular array of smiley faces.
• Create a rectangle that has dimensions 20 mm x 10 mm. Fillet the four edges of the
rectangle to have a radius of 1 mm, 2.5 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm.
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Albert Folch, Arman Naderi

LAYERS
Layers are used to associate certain properties such as color, visibility, line thickness, etc.
to objects that have been, and are being, drawn. Layers are useful for making changes to the
properties of many objects at once. For our application in laser cutting, the color of the object
influences the type of cut being made by the laser cutter. The most efficient way to associate
specific colors to a set of objects is to create a layer with the desired properties and change the
objects’ original layer to the newly created one. To create a new layer right click in the layer
properties manager, and select New Layer. Name the layer and set the color.

Task 3:

• Create 3 layers with 3 different colors and associate all the objects in your drawing with
those different layers.