ISO/DIN line weight color coding system

 0.18mm Magenta
 0.25mm White
 0.35mm Yellow
 0.50mm Red/Brown
 0.70mm Cyan/Blue
 1.00mm Green

Line Weight

Line weights, or the varying line thicknesses used in engineering drawing, are essential in creating a
drawing that communicates efficiently.
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While line weight is an important factor on drawings, it is only so on hardcopy documents.  Different line
thicknesses on screen are of no value and in fact, if you were to use them, would be a hindrance.  Instead,
different line types are shown in colors which can symbolize a number of attributes of the line work.  The  
CAD user soon subconsciously equates line color with plotted line weight and simultaneously any other attributes
the color may represent in his or her office standard.  Our focus in this article set is on the relationship of color in a
CAD drawing to line weight when that drawing is output on paper.
A engineering drawing is a highly stylized graphic representation of an idea.  The idea might be of something that
we can see such a real or virtual object, space or environment.  In some cases, such as an electronic schematic
diagram for example, the drawing will bear no visual resemblance to the physical object that will be built from the
information it provides.

In every case with the possible exception of "3D" and rendered drawings, which communicate with a different
graphics language, we can understand engineering drawings only because we can understand the basic language
of technical graphics.

Line weights are a vital part of conventional technical graphics language.  They are embodied to the extent of
being defined in national and international standards.

Line types and line weights allow drawings to communicate information that would otherwise be very difficult to
convey.  For example:

 Hidden outlines
 Paths of motion
 Planes of symmetry
 Fictitious outlines such as major and minor diameters of screw threads
 Dimensions and projections
  Materials (hatching)
 Centers and imaginary intersections
Conventional practice is that only two different line weights be used on any one drawing.  This is subject to
discretion and some disciplines regularly use three, and occasionally four, different line weights.  Consistency and
clarity of communication are the deciding factors.  You could use 10 line weights in a drawing provided everyone
understood what they all meant and the document was consistent.

The thinnest line should be no less that 0.18mm. Finer lines are difficult to read and impossible to reproduce
easily.

Line weight groups chosen for most engineering drawings are selected from adjacent pen thicknesses (in mm). 
The table below indicates line weight groups for various sheet sizes.  Pen thickness are shown in mm.

0.18

0.25 A4, A2, A3

0.35 A1

0.50
A0
0.70

1.00

1.40

2.00

Typical Applications
Engineering drawings made on A4, A3 and A2-sized pages are at the smallest end of the range of document sizes
that would reasonably be used. As such they would use a pen rage at the documents might use a pen group from
the fine end of the scale. 0.18, 0.25 and 0.35mm pen widths.

Thickness
Line type Example Application

Fine Thick
Visible outlines, existing features,
Continuous thick 0.35 0.50
cut edges, general line work

Used where another level of line

Continuous weight would assist the
0.25 0.35
medium delineation e.g. internal line
work, notes

Fictitious outlines, imaginary

Continuous thin 0.18 0.25 intersections and projections,
hatching, dimensions, break lines

Dashed thick 0.35 0.50 Hidden outlines and edges

Dashed thin 0.18 0.25

Indication of special surface

requirements or (sometimes with
Chain thick 0.35 0.50
a text component) to indicate
pipelines and services

Center lines, motion paths,

Chain thin 0.18 0.25
indication of repeated detail