EMJ17303

COMPUTER AIDED DRAWING

LAB MODULES

FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
 Lab 1: Introduction to Mechanical Drawing 2

Lab 1: Introduction to Mechanical Drawing

Part 1: Creating a Title Block

1. Start up AutoCAD 2013 from the program menu.

a. Once the program is loaded into memory, the AutoCAD® 2013 drawing screen will
appear on the screen as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: AutoCAD® 2013 drawing screen

b. If necessary, click on the down-arrow in the Quick Access bar and select Show Menu
to display the AutoCAD Menu Bar. The Menu Bar provides access to all AutoCAD
commands.

Figure 1.2: Enable Menu Bar

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Drawing Units Setup

a. Every object we construct in a CAD system is measured in units. We should determine

the system of units within the CAD system before creating the first geometric entities.
This is the most important steps before you start drawing.

b. Click , then Drawing Utilities >> Units

c. In the Drawing Units dialog box, set the Length Type to Decimal with Precision of 0.00
(two digits). Then, set the Units to scale inserted content to Milimeters.

d. Select OK to exit the Drawing Units dialog box.

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2. Drawing Area Setup

a. In the Menu Bar, select: [Format] → [Drawing Limits]

(Note: if the [Format] menu is missing, refer Figure 1.2]

b. In the command prompt area, the message “Reset Model Space Limits: Specify lower
left corner or [On/Off] <0.00, 0.00>:” is displayed. Press the ENTER key once to accept
the default coordinates <0.00, 0.00>.

c. In the command prompt area, the message “Specify upper right corner <12.00, 9.00>:”
is displayed. Change the coordinates to <297, 210>. This is to ensure that the size is
suitable for A4 paper.

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d. Inside the Menu Bar area select: [View] → [Zoom] → [All] or type ZOOM ALL in the
command prompt window
* The Zoom All command will adjust the display so that all objects in the drawing are
displayed to be as large as possible. If no objects are constructed, the Drawing Limits
are used to adjust the current viewport.

e. Hit the function key [F7] once to turn off the display of the Grid lines.

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3. Drawing lines with the LINE command

a. Move the graphics cursor to the first icon in the Draw panel. This icon is the Line icon.
Note that a brief description of the Line command appears next to the cursor.
b. Select the icon by clicking once with the left-mouse-button, which will activate the
Line command.

c. In the command prompt area, near the bottom of the AutoCAD drawing screen, the
message “_line Specify first point:” is displayed. AutoCAD expects us to identify the
starting location of a straight line. Move the graphics cursor inside the graphics
window and watch the display of the coordinates of the graphics cursor at the bottom
of the AutoCAD drawing screen. The three numbers represent the location of the
cursor in the X, Y, and Z directions. We can treat the graphics window as if it was a
piece of paper and we are using the graphics cursor as if it were a pencil with which
to draw.

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d. We will create a freehand sketch of a five point star using the Line command. Do not
be overly concerned with the actual size or the accuracy of your freehand sketch. This
exercise is to give you a feel for the AutoCAD® 2013 user interface.

e. We will start at a location about one-third from the bottom of the graphics window.
Left-click once to position the starting point of our first line. This will be point 1 of our
sketch. Next move the cursor upward and toward the right side of point 1. Notice the
rubber-band line that follows the graphics cursor in the graphics window. Left-click
again (point 2) and we have created the first line of our sketch.

f. Move the cursor to the left of point 2 and create a horizontal line about the same
length as the first line on the screen.

g. Repeat the above steps and complete the freehand sketch by adding three more lines
(from point 3 to point 4, point 4 to point 5, and then connect to point 5 back to
point 1).

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h. Notice that the Line command remains activated even after

we connected the last segment of the line to the starting
point (point 1) of our sketch. Inside the graphics window,
click once with the right-mouse-button and a popup
menu appears on the screen.

i. Select Enter with the left-mouse-button to end the Line

command. (This is equivalent to hitting the [ENTER] key
on the keyboard.)

4. Visual reference
a. The method we just used to create the freehand sketch is known as the interactive
method, where we use the cursor to specify locations on the screen. This method is
perhaps the fastest way to specify locations on the screen.
b. AutoCAD® 2013 provides us with many tools to aid the construction of our designs.
For example, the GRID and SNAP MODE options can be used to get a visual reference
as to the size of objects and learn to restrict the movement of the cursor to a set
increment on the screen.
c. The GRID and SNAP MODE options can be turned ON or OFF through the Status Bar.
The Status Bar area is located at the bottom left of the AutoCAD drawing screen, next
to the cursor coordinates.

d. The second button in the Status Bar is the SNAP MODE option and the third button is
the GRID DISPLAY option.

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5. Using the ERASE command

a. Pick Erase in the Modify toolbar. (The icon is a picture of an eraser at the end of a
pencil.) The message “Select objects” is displayed in the command prompt area and
AutoCAD awaits us to select the objects to erase.

b. Left-click the SNAP MODE button on the Status Bar to turn OFF the SNAP MODE
option so that we can more easily move the cursor on top of objects.

c. Select any two lines on the screen; the selected lines are displayed as dashed lines as
shown in the figure below.
* To deselect an object from the selection set, hold down the [SHIFT] key and select the
object again.

d. Right-mouse-click once to accept the selections. The selected two lines are erased.

e. Save file. Type qsave or select save from File Menu

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6. Drawing the title block as shown in Figure 1.4.

*All dimensions in mm

186
Prepared
DRAWN by: Title: Exercise 1

7
BY:
Programme: RK24 Course: ENT186 Scale: Date:

7
COURSE: ERT146/3

70 70
131 131
Figure 1.4: Title block

a. Drawing first line (see Figure 1.5)

i. Command : LINE or <click Line button>

ii. Specify first point: 0,0
iii. Specify next point or [Undo]: 262,0
iv. Specify next point or [Undo]: <press Enter to exit line command>

Note: - Typed commands and their aliases are NOT case-sensitive.

- Try to Zoom your drawing using the Zoom toolbars.

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Figure 1.5: First line

b. Add second line. See Figure 1.6 below.

i. Command: LINE
ii. Specify first point: 0,7
iii. Specify next point or [Undo]: 262,7
iv. Specify next point or [Undo]: <press Enter to exit line command>

Figure 1.6: Second line

c. Save file as Laboratory 1. Type qsave or select save from File Menu

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d. Offset
Offset command copies or creates a new object parallel to the shape of a selected
object. Offsetting a circle or arc creates a larger or smaller circle or arc, depending
on which side you specify for the offset.

i. Command: OFFSET or <click Offset button, >

ii. Specify offset distance or [Through/Erase/Layer] <Through>: 7
iii. Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>: < click on the second (TOP)
line you added. It will change into a dashed line to indicate that it is
selected>.
iv. Specify point on side to offset: <click in the drawing area ABOVE the line>.
v. Select object to offset or [Exit/Undo] <Exit>: <press Enter to exit the
command>.
vi. See Figure 1.7 below.

Figure 1.7: Offset

vii. Offset again.

viii. Add a line 186 mm above the last line you added. See Figure 1.8.
ix. Zoom all to see all lines.

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Figure 1.8: Offset

e. Complete other lines in title block.

i. Using the steps and commands that you have learnt, complete other lines
in the title block lines as in Figure 1.4.

f. Adding a layer
ii. Before adding text, you must add another layer
iii. Click the Layer Properties Manager button (Figure 1.9) on Layers
toolbar. Layer Properties Manager allows you to set the drawing that
suits your need.

Figure 1.9: Layers toolbar

iv. Click on New Layer button, (the little yellow explosion just above
the Status column) on the Layer Properties Manager (Figure 1.10) to
create a new layer.

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Figure 1.10: Layer Properties Manager dialogue box.

v. Type the new layer name as Text in the name slot.

vi. Change the color to blue and click OK.
vii. Click the <Set Current Button, > , Click OK to accept the new layer
settings.

Note: The layer Status Window drop-down list on the Layers toolbar now displays
the Text Layer as the current layer. Everything drawn within this layer will be
blue in color.

g. Adding texts
i. Command: DTEXT or click Draw Menu >Text > Single Line Text
ii. Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]: 2,2
iii. Specify height: 3
iv. Specify Rotation angle of text <0>: 0 or press Enter to select the default
value and maintain the text’s horizontal orientation.
v. Type the text “Programme: RK24” and enter until you exit the command.
vi. Using the same height:3 and rotation:0, repeat the processes for the
following texts:
a. For position 2,9, type in “Prepared by:”
b. For position 72,2, type in “Course: ENT186”.
c. For position 133,9, type in “Title: Exercise 1”.
d. For position 133,2, type in “Scale: 1:1”

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e. For position 202,2, type in “Date: <Today’s date>”

vii. Change back to 0 layer. Save your file. Your drawing should look like
Figure 1.11 below.

Figure 1.11: Text in the title block

h. Block
Block command allows you to select part or all of a drawing, group it, and reuse it
over and over. Once it is a block, you can use Insert to place as many copies of a
block you need.

i. Make sure the Layer Status Window is in 0 layer.

ii. Type BLOCK or go to Draw Menu, then Block then Make
iii. A dialogue box appears. See Figure 1.12.

Figure 1.12: Block Definition dialogue box

iv. Type Titleblock on Name: window

v. Under the heading Objects, click Select Objects button. AutoCAD will
return to the drawing.

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vi. Select the entire titleblock then Enter. Use Zoom All if necessary.
vii. Under Basepoint heading, select the absolute coordinate (0,0,0). In
this case, just click OK because the X,Y and Z points is 0.000. A
Basepoint is the position on the block that AutoCAD will use when
inserting it into the MODEL or PAPER Space.

i. Insert
You are to insert the titleblock into Layout 1.

i. At the bottom of AutoCAD screen, there are three tabs, labelled Model,
Layout 1 and Layout 2. You are now working in MODEL Space. Model
Space is three-dimensional space where you create drawings and
models.
ii. Click at the Layout 1 tab.
iii. Go to File Menu, then Page Setup Manager…. A dialogue box as in Figure
1.13 appears. Click Modify button to change the page settings.

Figure 1.13: Page Setup Manager dialogue box.

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Figure 1.14: Page Setup dialogue box

iv. Make sure your settings are the same as in Figure 1.14 above. Click OK.
v. When the Page Setup dialogue box closes, a white Layout 1 screen can be
seen. You will see a continuous line rectangle with the titleblock inside and
a dash line rectangle.

Viewport

Figure 1.15: Layout 1

vi. A window (Viewport) usually is cut in the paper so that a drawing or

model in MODEL Space shows through and can be printed.
vii. However, we wish to place the Titleblock on Layout 1. With the
titleblock on Layout 1, you can cut Viewport in it so a drawing created in
Model Space will appear to be inside of the titleblock.
viii. To remove viewport, click on the rectangle and erase it.

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ix. Select Insert Menu then Block or type INSERT.

x. Insert dialogue box will appear as shown in Figure 1.16. Click OK.

Figure 1.16: Insert dialogue box

xi. You will return to the Layout 1 screen. The titleblock will appear in the
Layout 1 screen, but can be moved by dragging the cursor.
xii. Place it at center (see Figure 1.17).

Figure 1.17: Example of finished class template drawing

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xiii. Go to model space to delete the model titleblock that you have drawn.

xiv. Save your drawing in template format .dwt. The name should be
Titleblock-ENT186.dwt.

j. Printing
This task gives methods to print your drawing.

i. Type Plot or Print or click the Plot button,

Figure 1.18: Plot dialogue box

ii. Click the Preview button to examine the way your file will look like when
it is printed.
iii. To Exit Print Preview, hit the esc button. You will return to Plot
Configuration dialogue box.
iv. Now you can print your drawing.

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