ASSIGNMENT :- 4

 TRADE :- DRAUGHTSMAN MECHANICAL

 SUBJECT :- DIMENSIONING
 LESSON :- 04

MR. Ronakkumar V .Patel

 Dimensioning
BIS (Board of Indian Standards SP 46: 2003) defines dimension as a
numerical value expressed in appropriate units of measurement and
indicated graphically on technical drawings with lines, symbols and notes.
Units of Measurement: The most commonly used unit for length is the
millimetre. In civil engineering and architectural drawing, inch or foot is
often used as a unit of length. Angles are shown in degrees.
Symbols are incorporated to indicate specific geometry wherever necessary.
Notes are provided to give specification of a particular feature or to give
specific information necessary during the manufacturing of the object.
EXAMPLE ON DRAWING SHEET
No dimension unit to be mentioned on the drawing
At the bottom sheet mention “All dimensions in ……”

DRAWING SHEET

50

MENTION UNIVERSAL DIMENSION

HERE
TITLE BLOCK

All dimensions are in mm

DIMENSIONING
Providing information on a drawing about
 Distances (size or functional dimensions)
 Sizesand positions (location or datum dimensions) of holes,
grooves and other features.
 Details relating to manufacture etc.
Manufacturing detail
Location
Roughness 0.5
15

Location 15
30 Size,
functional

Hole 15 Size specification,  – symbol for

diameter
DIFFERENT LINES IN DIMENSIONING
 Oultline - Forms the shape of the object in a view (drawn dark and
continuous)
 Extension line – An extension of an outline or centerline (drawn
light and continuous, used to indicate the entity being dimensioned)
 Dimension line – Thin continuous line terminated by arrowheads
touching the outlines, extension lines or center lines (used to specify
end points of a dimension)

Dimension line Dimension Extension

50 line

Outline
LEADER LINES AND NOTES
Leader (or pointer) line – Thin continuous line connecting a note or dimension
figure with the feature to which it applies. One end of the leader terminates in an
arrowhead or dot.
The arrowhead touches the outline while the dot is placed within the object or on
the outline
The other end of a leader is terminated in a horizontal line underlining the note

Roughness 0.5
Leader line
Material: mild steel

Leader line Hole 15 Note

RULES FOR LEADER LINES
 A leader line is never drawn horizontal, vertical or curved
 It is drawn at an angle not less than 30o to the line that it touches
 When pointing to a circle or arc, it is drawn radially

Material: mild steel

Roughness 0.5
Leader line
> 30o

Hole 15 Note

ARROWHEADS AND DIMENSION LINE POSITIONING
 A dimension line is placed at least 6-8 mm away from an outline and from each
other
 An extension line extends ~3mm beyond a dimension line
 Arrowhead – Placed at each end of a dimension line, its pointed end touches an
outline, extension line or a centerline. It is also placed at the end of a leader 45
line
o

Open Closed Closed and Oblique

w
filled stroke
Size of the arrowhead should be
proportional to the length of the
3w dimension line

~6-8mm
~3mm 50
Arrowhead
 Systems of Dimensioning

Aligned System
In the aligned system, dimensions are aligned with the entity being measured.
They are placed perpendicular to the dimension line such that they may be read
from the bottom or right-hand side of the drawing sheet. Dimensions are placed
at the middle and on top of the dimension lines.

Unidirectional System
In the unidirectional system, dimensions are placed in such a way that they can
be read from the bottom edge of the drawing sheet. Dimensions are inserted by
breaking the dimension lines at the middle.
DIMENSIONING SYSTEMS

Aligned system Unidirectional system

(readable from bottom and (visible from bottom edge)
right edge of sheet)
 Dimensioning elements
A line on the drawing whose length is to be shown is called an object line. The object
line is essentially an outline representing the feature(s) of the object. While showing an
angle, the two lines forming the angle will be the object lines.
Dimensioning is often done by a set of elements, which includes extension lines,
dimension lines, leader lines, arrowheads and dimensions. These are shown in the figure
below.
PLACING OF DIMENSION

Within extension Outside extension With leader

lines lines

7o
CHAIN (CONTINUOUS) DIMENSIONING
All the dimensions are aligned in such a way that an arrowhead of one
dimension touches tip-to-tip the arrowhead of the adjacent dimension. The
overall dimension is placed outside the other smaller dimensions
PARALLEL (PROGRESSIVE)
DIMENSIONING
All the dimensions are shown from a common reference line. Obviously, all these
dimensions share a common extension line. This method is adopted when
dimensions have to be established from a particular datum surface

Smaller dimensions should always be placed nearer the view. The next smaller
dimension should be placed next and so on.
COMBINED DIMENSIONING

When both the methods, i.e., chain dimensioning and

parallel dimensioning are used on the same drawing, the
method of dimensioning is called combined dimensioning

15
CIRCULAR HOLES
A hole is usually dimensioned by giving its diameter instead of radius. The dimension
indicating a diameter should always be preceded by the symbol ø
They should be dimensioned in the view in which they appear as circles

40
CYLINDRICAL DIMENSIONS
 Cylindrical features should be dimensioned by giving their diameters.
 They should be dimensioned in the views in which they appear as rectangles.
CYLINDER – OUTER DIMENSION IS ALSO
CIRCULAR. CAN BE HOLLOW OR SOLID
NUMBER OF HOLES WITH SAME SIZE

 When more than one hole of the same size forms a pattern, it is not
necessary to dimension each one
 One hole is dimensioned and a note specifies the total number of holes
with that dimension

3 x 20
(or 3 HOLES,20)
 Dimensioning arcs
An arc is usually dimensioned by giving its radius. The dimension
indicating radius should be preceded by symbol R
The R can be placed after the dimension also
The position of center of arc is denoted by a
 19
FOR T.V.

ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS

30

FV 40

X O 10 Y

100
10 10
10 FO
25 R
F.V
TV .
25 O
30 R
20
PICTORIAL PRESENTATION IS GIVEN
DRAW FV AND TV OF THIS OBJECT
BY FIRST ANGLE PROJECTION METHOD
AND DIMENSION USING THE UNIDIRECTIONAL
METHOD
 Spherical features
Spherical features may be dimensioned by giving either the radius
or diameter of a sphere.
The symbols SR or Sø must precede the dimension for radius or
diameter respectively.
 Dimensioning of squares
Square features (e.g., a rod of square cross-section) are
dimensioned using symbol or SQ as shown in (i) or (ii)
 17

ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS

FRONT VIEW L.H.SIDE VIEW

SQ30
40 20

50
10
. FO
R

20
S. V F.V X
R Y
FO . 30
75
O 60
F.V. S.V.

PICTORIAL PRESENTATION IS GIVEN

DRAW FV AND SV OF THIS OBJECT
BY FIRST ANGLE PROJECTION METHOD AND
DIMENSION THE VIEWS USING THE ALIGNED SYSTEM
 DIMENSIONING CONICAL FEATURES
40

Giving 2 diameters and the Giving 1 of the diameters,

perpendicular distance length of taper and taper angle
Giving 1 diameter, distance
between them
between end faces and the
taper (slope) using the conical
taper symbol
DIMENSIONING OF FLAT TAPERED
FEATURES

Giving the height of one side, Giving the height of one side,
distance between flat ends and length of taper and slope of the
taper (slope) using a flat taper tapered face
symbol
 Dimensioning of threads
1. External metric threads are dimensioned by giving the threaded length and nominal
diameter preceded by symbol ‘M ’ (Fig. a)
2. Internal metric threads are dimensioned by giving the threaded length, depth of
drilled hole before threading and nominal diameter preceded by symbol ‘M’ (Fig. b)
 General rules of dimensioning
1. Between any two extension lines, there must be one and only one dimension line
bearing one dimension. One of the extension lines may be common to another
dimension as in parallel dimensioning.
2. As far as possible, all the dimensions should be placed outside the views. Inside
dimensions are preferred only if they are clearer and more easily readable.
3. All the dimensions on a drawing must be shown using either Aligned System or
Unidirectional System. The two systems should not be mixed on the same drawing.
4. The same unit of length should be used for all the dimensions on a drawing. The
unit should not be written after each dimension, but a note mentioning the unit
should be placed below the drawing.
5. Dimension lines should not cross each other. Dimension lines should also not cross
any other lines of the object.
6. All dimensions must be given.
7. Each dimension should be given only once. No dimension should be redundant.
DIMENSIONING, CORRECT VS. WRONG

25
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED
IN ENGG. DRAWING
DRAW 3 ORTHOGRAPHIC VIEWS IN 3RD. ANGLE AND
DIMENSION THEM USING UNIDIRECTIONAL SYSTEM
22
TOP VIEW

32 24

38 57
LEFT SIDE VIEW 12, 16 DEEP R22

36

19 6
38

30

22 24 22
FRONT VIEW
 Complete TV and
dimension it for HW

DRAW FRONT AND R. S. VIEWS IN

IIIRD. ANGLE WITH DIMENSIONS IN
ALIGNED SYSTEM
 Complete TV and
Project tangent
dimension it for HW
19 point in other
view
15
9



DRAW FRONT AND R. S. VIEWS IN

18

28
IIIRD. ANGLE WITH DIMENSIONS IN
ALIGNED SYSTEM
35
 ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS
PICTORIAL PRESENTATION IS GIVEN
20 
DRAW FV AND TV OF THIS OBJECT
BY FIRST ANGLE PROJECTION METHOD
30
FOR T.V.
Dimension using FV
UNIDIRECTIONAL RECT.
SLOT
system
50
35

10
X Y
10
30 
60 

FO
R
F.V
. TV
 ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS
10

15
25

25
40 10

25

. FO
. V R
S F.V 25
O R .
F O O 80 25

F.V. S.V.

Dimension using
PICTORIAL PRESENTATION IS GIVEN
UNIDIRECTIONAL
DRAW FV AND SV OF THIS OBJECT
system
BY FIRST ANGLE PROJECTION METHOD