Introduction to Drafting and Design

In order to begin our drawing we have to set the drawing limits or the paper size

 In the menu bar select FORMAT  DRAWING LIMITS  When the command bar reads “ Reads Model Space Limit: Specify lower left corner or [On/Off] ”, Press the ENTER key to accept the default coordinates  The command bar will then read “ Reads Model Space Limit: Specify upper right corner ”, Press the ENTER key to accept the coordinates

 In the menu bar, select VIEW  ZOOM  ALL ◦ The ZOOM ALL command will adjust the display so that all the objects in the drawing are displayed to be as large as possible  If you would like the Grid lines to be On or Off hit the [F7] function key

The drawing units are what sets the units within the actual drawing

 In the menu bar, click on the red A at the top left hand corner  Click on DRAWING UNITS  Click on UNITS  Set the precision to 2 decimal places  Set the units to inches

Within the drawing we need to create layers to distinguish between different aspects of the drawing

 When you open a new drawing, the “zero” layer is the only layer that appears  To create a new layer, click the dropdown menu under the layers tab  Click the create new layers button and you will be transferred to a dialog box

 Click the create new button located on the top left corner ◦ Enter the following information into your new layer  Name, color, line type, line weight and if you want it on or off  Create the following layers ◦ Center, Dimension, Hidden, Object, Construction

The model space needs to be confined to a space that is as large as the paper space that we have to print

 Click on the red A  Click on Print  Click Page Setup, this will bring up the page setup manager  Make sure the *Model* line is highlighted and then click the Modify button

 A dialogue box will appear and you will need to make the following changes: ◦ Select “Adobe PDF” for the name of the printer/plotter ◦ Set the paper size to “A4” ◦ Select “Limits” as the plot area ◦ Make sure “Fit to Paper” is checked ◦ Select “in” as units ◦ Click OK when you have finished

Now that the model space is formatted, the layout or area in which the model will be printed needs to be formatted

 Switch to the layout sheet ◦ Click “Layout 1” located at the bottom of your screen ◦ Click on the A and then click “Print”, “Page Setup” ◦ Click on “Modify” in the Page Setup Manager

◦ In the “Page Setup” dialog box make the following changes:  Select “Adobe PDF” for the printer  Select the paper size to be “A4”  Select “Layout” as what to plot  Select a scale of “1:1”  Click on OK when you have made all of the changes

 This drawing is going to be a template for you to use in previous activities and projects  We need to save this file under the name “Startup_Drawing_YourName”

In every drawing there is a section with the information about the drawing, we are going to create that section

 Border  Title Block  Wording  To create all of this we need to open a new drawing

 A4 page is 8.5 inches high by 11 inches wide  The border needs to be 7.5 inches high and 10.5 inches wide  Use the following sequence to insert the border: Line Specify first point: 0,0 Specify next point or 0 Specify next point or 7.5 Specify next point or -10.5, 0 Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: c

 The title block will include: ◦ Your name ◦ Your student number ◦ The date the drawing was made ◦ The page number ◦ The total number of pages in the set of drawings ◦ The part name

 Using the OFFSET command, we will create a title block that has two rows 0.4 inches tall Offset Specify offset distance: 0.4 Select object to offset : {click on the bottom line of the title block} Specify point on side to offset: {click above the bottom line to place the offset line} Select object to offset : {click on the line you just created} Specify point on side to offset: {click above the new line to create another offset line} Select object to offset : {press ENTER to end the command}

 Using the same OFFSET command, we will create the vertical lines of the title block by cutting the existing rows in half (10.5 in / 2 = 5.25 in) Offset Specify offset distance: 5.25 Select object to offset : {click on the left border line of the title block} Specify point on side to offset: {click in the page border to the right of the left line} Select object to offset : {press ENTER to end the command}

 Using the same OFFSET command, we will create a the vertical lines of the title block by cutting the existing rows in half (5.25 in / 2 = in) Offset Specify offset distance: Select object to offset : {click on the line in the middle of the page that was just created} Specify point on side to offset: {click to the right of the middle line} Select object to offset : {press ENTER to end the command}

 Now that we have all of the lines, we need to trim the lines to create a neat title block TRIM Select all object to trim {select all of the lines in the border region and title block, press ENTER} Select objects to be trimmed {select the lines located in the model space above the actual title block} Select objects to be trimmed {press ENTER to exit the command}

 Next is to add the needed information using the MTEXT command  Click the Annotate tab, then click on the small arrow to the right of the pull down tab

 This opens the “Text Style” dialog box  Under the “Size” make sure “Annotative” is marked  Set the Paper Text Height to 0.15 ◦ This may need to be adjusted depending on the amount of information you have to enter into your title block  When you have made the changes click on “set current” then on “Apply”

 Now we are ready to enter the text ◦ Mtext Current text style: “Standard” Text height: 0.15 Annotative: Yes Specify first corner: {click on the intersection at point 1} Specify second corner: {click the intersection at point 2} Point 1 Point 2

 The text alignment scale will appear ◦ Click Justification ◦ Select Middle Left ◦ Move top and bottom text pointers over one space to the right  Once you have made these changes, enter “Drawn by: Your name” ◦ Continue until you have entered all the necessary information

 We need to create a block that encompasses all of the parts of the title block  Type BLOCK and hit enter ◦ Enter a name for the block – “YourNameTitleBlock_BLK” ◦ Mark the “retain” radio button ◦ Mark the “annotative” check box ◦ Mark the “allow exploding” check box ◦ Click on the “Select Objects” button and the dialog box will disappear  Type the following sequence  All Select objects: ALL Select objects: {Press Enter} ◦ Click on “OK”

 Next, the block needs to be “written” so that it can be entered into other drawings  Type WBLOCK ◦ The “Write Block” dialog box appears ◦ Mark the “block” radio button ◦ Locate the block name in the pull down list ◦ Make sure the file path is on a USB drive ◦ Make sure the units are in inches ◦ Click “OK”

 Close the drawing that contains the title block and open the start-up file that was created earlier  Once the start-up file is open, click on the “Layout 1” tab  Follow this sequence to insert the block ◦ Insert ◦ Make sure that the “Specify on- screen” is marked ◦ Click on “Browse” to find the block file ◦ Find the name of your title block that you created ◦ Click on “Open” to open the file ◦ Click on “OK” to insert the title box

 You then need to position the page borders and title block on the screen ◦ Move the mouse until it is centered in the white area of the screen and then click ◦ Click on the green border and blue square grips will appear on the corners of the title block ◦ Drag these grips until the title block and borders are at the edge of the paper Drag Corners to here

 The block can’t be edited if it is a single entity  Using the “ EXPLODE ” command: ◦ EXPLODE Select Objects: {Click on the title block} Select Objects: {Enter}  Using the DDEDIT command, the text can be changed in the title block

 The Start-Up drawing is complete  Save this file in a secure location for you to have at all times  When you start a new drawing, open the start-up file and immediately “Save As” under a different name

This includes selecting layers, color and line types for certain properties.

 In order to change the properties of an entity you can do one of two options: ◦ Double click on the entity  This will pull up the entity dialog box on the left part of your screen  In this dialog box, you can change anything about the entity including color, line type, layer, size, etc. ◦ Click on the entity once  This will pull up a small dialog box in the model space  In this dialog box you can only change minor details such as layers and color

 In this presentation we learned how to: ◦ Edit different settings ◦ Create title blocks ◦ Explode blocked entities ◦ Create a start-up drawing that can be used for all of the drawings in the future ◦ Edit entity properties