ALPHABET OF LINES

LINE: the most fundamental and

perhaps the most important,
single entity on a technical
drawing
: help to illustrate and describe
the shape of objects that will
later become real parts.
OBJECT or VISIBLE LINE –
thick, dark line use to show the
outline of the object. Define features
you can see in a particular view.

HIDDEN LINE – short dash lines

use to show nonvisible surfaces that
are not visible in orthographic view.
Usually shows as medium thickness.
CENTRE LINE – long and short
dash lines. Usually indicates center of
holes, circles and arcs. Line is thin
and dark.
EXTENSION LINE – a light line
that extends from the edge or end of a
main object line on a drawing, used in
conjunction with dimension lines to
help determine the dimension of a
particular feature
DIMENSION LINE – Used for
dimensioning and notes. Drawn as
thin lines. Drawn with arrowheads on
each end and placed between
extension lines. The dimension is
lettered above the dimension line
approximately halfway between the
two extension lines.
PHANTOM LINE – Used to show
objects that are not hidden but they
are simply not in view. Also used to
indicate alternate positions of moving
parts, lines of motion, adjacent parts
and repetitive details. Drawn as thin,
dark lines.

LONG BREAK LINE – Used to

indicate parts of the object has been
removed. Used when it is desirable to
shorten the view of a long part. Long
break lines are drawn thin with
freehand “zigzags”.

SHORT BREAK LINE – Used to

indicate parts of the object has been
removed. Used when it is desirable to
shorten the view of a long part. Short
break lines are drawn thick and with
freehand wavy lines.
CUTTING-PLANE LINE – Used to
indicate the plane through which a
cut was made. A cutting plane line is
usually a heavy line with long dashes
with arrowheads at both ends of the
line. The arrowheads point to the
surface to be viewed.
Section Line – Used to indicate the
surface in the section view imagined
having been cut along the cutting
plane line. Thin “cross hatching” lines
drawn at a 45° angle.

LEADER LINE – a thin line used to

connect a dimension line with a
particular area or point on the
drawing. It is also used to show notes
or labels.

BORDER LINE – used to outline

the entire drawing. They are a
continuous thick line on the outer rim
of the paper.