AutoCAD Mechanical 2010 Getting Started Part No.
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Contents Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Why Use this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Chapter 2 Get Familiar with the Work Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 AutoCAD Mechanical User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Workspace Settings . . . .
Power Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Chapter 5 Generate Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Standard Parts Content . . . . . . . Content Libraries Navigation . Resize the Panels . . . . . . . Insert Screw Components . . . Insert Fasteners . . . . . . . . Edit Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . Projected Views of Standard Parts . . Change Representations . . . . . . . Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Introduction 1 AutoCAD® Mechanical software extends the capabilities of AutoCAD® so that you can quickly create and manage mechanical drawings. This Getting Started guide provides concepts and short exercises to help you get started with AutoCAD Mechanical. Why Use this Guide As you make the transition from AutoCAD to AutoCAD Mechanical, this guide provides an introduction to the most commonly used features of AutoCAD Mechanical. Use it to learn the basic features so you can start working quickly.
■ Mechanical Feature Workshop demonstrates the top 10 most important features in AutoCAD Mechanical. ■ Learning Resources link to additional resources about AutoCAD Mechanical. Before You Begin Before you begin, we recommend that you have a working knowledge of Microsoft® operating systems and how to use basic AutoCAD commands. You must have AutoCAD Mechanical installed and licensed on your computer system to complete the lessons in this guide. The exercise files are in the Getting_Started folder.
Get Familiar with the Work Area 2 This chapter shows how you can quickly get acquainted with the AutoCAD® Mechanical work area. It also shows you how to work with the AutoCAD Mechanical user interface, workspaces, and drawing file types. AutoCAD Mechanical User Interface When you start AutoCAD Mechanical, the Mechanical workspace appears as the current work area. Use this workspace to learn to use AutoCAD Mechanical. Refer to the following image.
About the Work Area The work area consists of the following components: 1 Menu Browser button Click this button to access a complete list of commands in the menu bar and to search for Help information. 2 Ribbon The ribbon contains commands in a set of tabs for performing tasks. It is a mix of AutoCAD® and AutoCAD Mechanical commands. 3 Workspaces toolbar This toolbar shows the current selection of workspaces. You can also switch to other workspaces while working on your drawings.
6 Status bar Contains the application and drawing status bars for you to view and switch drawing settings, helping you to work efficiently on your design. NOTE Whether you are running AutoCAD Mechanical in Windows® XP or Windows Vista®, 32-bit or 64-bit versions, AutoCAD Mechanical shows a similar work area. Workspace Settings Selecting a workspace controls the display of the predefined menus, toolbars, palettes, and dashboards for quick and easy access to commands.
NOTE AutoCAD Mechanical automatically starts the last workspace you used, but not your workspace (My Workspace) the next time you launch the application. To use your workspace, click on the drawing Workspace toolbar. NOTE If you add or remove any toolbars on the predefined workspace, these changes do not appear in the active workspace the next time you use that workspace. The changes appear when you select Automatically save workspace changes in the Workspace Settings dialog box.
■ Structure Workspace Select the Structure workspace when you create structured objects in AutoCAD Mechanical. The program groups structured objects into parts, subassemblies, and assemblies for quick selection and modification. The mechanical browser in the left pane appears when you select the structure workspace. Other relevant toolbars for structured objects appear when you work on structured objects.
NOTE To use the Structure workspace, it is important to understand how mechanical structure works for your design. Learn more about mechanical structure from Mechanical Help, or the built-in Learning Mechanical Structure tutorial.
Drawing File Types AutoCAD Mechanical includes the complete installation of AutoCAD reinforced with a complete suite of 2D mechanical features. You can use drawings created in AutoCAD in AutoCAD Mechanical. The program retains all entities when moving AutoCAD drawings to AutoCAD Mechanical. It maintains visual fidelity when exchanging drawings with older or 2009 versions of AutoCAD to AutoCAD Mechanical. You can also save AutoCAD Mechanical drawings to formats from AutoCAD 2009 or earlier.
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Drawing Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical 3 Mechanical drawings consist of commonly used parts connected to other parts or features in a design. AutoCAD® Mechanical drawing commands provide more flexibility for creating these parts. This chapter shows you how to create a part of an assembly efficiently using the primary AutoCAD® commands together with the extended AutoCAD Mechanical drawing commands. Drawing Commands AutoCAD Mechanical provides several options for drawing commands.
This chapter shows you how to create a part (a gland) using AutoCAD Mechanical Draw commands. Use the measurements in the following image for the exercises.
Draw Construction Lines AutoCAD Mechanical includes a full complement of construction lines for aligning drafting views. Click Home tab ➤ Draw Tools panel ➤ Construction Lines the Construction Lines dialog box. to open Draw Construction Lines 1 Begin a New drawing based on the am_iso template. NOTE AutoCAD Mechanical includes eight drafting standard templates that control drafting elements such as layer settings, object properties, text heights and colors, and symbology formats.
5 Click Home tab ➤ Draw Tools panel ➤ Construction Lines drop-down ➤ Horizontal the front view. to create horizontal construction lines aligned to 6 Click Home tab ➤ Draw Tools panel ➤ Construction Lines drop-down ➤ Vertical to create a vertical construction line for the position of the side view. See the following image. The program creates horizontal and vertical construction lines. Create Holes In AutoCAD, you create holes using Line, Circle, Trim, and Modify commands.
Create Holes 1 Click Content tab ➤ Holes panel ➤ Through Hole through hole. to create a 2 Scroll to the bottom of the Details list, and select User Through Holes. 3 Select Front View. 4 Place a through hole with the diameter 8 mm, as specified. 5 Click Home tab ➤ Modify panel ➤ Copy to create another similar hole. The Power Copy command remembers the attributes of the Power Object and creates another hole of the same size, symmetrical to the first hole.
When inserting the hole, select the construction line at the center of the part for its symmetry point. 6 Use the Circle, Line, and Trim commands to draw the side view of the gland as shown in the following image. Draw the side view to full scale using the dimensions on the first page of this lesson.
7 Click Content tab ➤ Tools panel ➤ Power View projected top view of the holes from the front view. to create a NOTE You can create two horizontal construction lines aligned from the front view for the positions of the holes on the side view. 8 Create the top view of the holes based on the front view (parent). 9 The program creates the top view of the holes. NOTE You can use Power View to create projected views of standard parts such as screws, bolts, and nuts.
Create Countersink Holes Countersink holes are Power Objects or mechanical objects. Use AMCOUNTS2D to create a countersink hole. You can quickly change the size of countersink holes by using the Power Edit command. Create a Countersink Hole 1 Click Content tab ➤ Holes panel drop-down ➤ Countersink . 2 Create a countersink hole with nominal diameter 26 mm, countersink diameter 35 mm, and angle 90 degrees. 3 Specify its insertion point as shown in the following image.
7 Click Content tab ➤ Tools panel ➤ Power View to create the projected top view of the countersink hole from the front view. 8 Click Home tab ➤ Draw Tools panel ➤ Erase all Construction Lines . 9 The program creates a part (gland).
Create Hatch Patterns Hatches enable people using your mechanical drawings to distinguish between parts in the section or breakout views more easily. In AutoCAD Mechanical, there are three types of hatches: associative hatch, user-defined hatch, and predefined hatch. Predefined hatches are for manufacturing drawings with parts of different sizes and shapes in an assembly.
4 Click a point within the boundary area of the part to add the hatch pattern. 5 Press ENTER. 6 Click a point within the next boundary area to add the hatch pattern. See the following image. 7 Press ENTER to repeat the command. Clear the Adapt hatch distance at less than five hatchlines check box in the Hatch dialog box. Doing so ensures consistent hatch spacing on the part. 8 Press ENTER to repeat the command. Continue to add hatch patterns to the parts.
The program creates the hatch patterns. Draw a Rectangle You can create rectangles and squares with the Rectangle command in AutoCAD Mechanical. This function gives you a convenient and flexible way to place rectangles at the specific positions with no further modification to your design. Try It: Draw a Rectangle You can select the rectangle from the Rectangle toolbar or press ENTER at the Rectangle command options to open the Rectangles dialog box.
The program creates the rectangle and places it at the specified location. Draw a Centerline Pattern Mechanical drawings often require centerlines and centerline crosses with or without holes, countersink holes, or counterbore holes. The Centerlines dialog box provides you with multiple ways to create centerlines and holes quickly.
Click Home tab ➤ Draw panel ➤ Centerline display the Centerlines dialog box. and then press ENTER to Try It: Draw a Centerline Cross Refer to the following image. Draw a centerline cross with holes on a full circle on its side view. Draw Section Lines Click Home tab ➤ Draw panel ➤ Section Line to draw section lines in AutoCAD Mechanical. The layer, color, linetype, and lineweight properties are predefined for the section line.
Create Chamfers Click Home tab ➤ Modify panel ➤ Chamfer to create chamfers in AutoCAD Mechanical. As with AutoCAD, you can choose to trim or not to trim the geometry when you chamfer. Unlike AutoCAD, you can include dimensions when you chamfer. You can also configure the list of chamfer sizes for your drawings.
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4 Modify Drawings with Power Commands Power Objects or mechanical objects in AutoCAD® Mechanical are objects that contain attributes. They include standard parts, symbol libraries, Power Dimensions, holes, hole charts, title blocks, balloons, part lists, and all objects created with AutoCAD Mechanical commands. This chapter shows you how to create or modify Power Objects quickly with Power Commands. Power Commands In AutoCAD Mechanical, a Power Object is an object with attributes.
2 The User Through Holes - Nominal Diameter dialog box appears. 3 Change the diameter of the hole to 6 mm. NOTE Changing the hole size of the front view does not automatically update the hole size of its related side view. The geometry and its hole size change accordingly. Edit the Countersink Hole 1 Double-click the countersink hole. The User Countersinks - Parameter for Countersinks dialog box appears.
2 Change the countersink hole diameter to 30 and its nominal diameter to 20. Click OK to see the changes update automatically. 3 Undo the previous change. Edit the Chamfer 1 Double-click the chamfer. The Chamfer dialog box appears. 2 Change the chamfer length to 2 and click OK. Notice the chamfer and its dimension update to the new length. NOTE You can use the Power Recall command to create another hole with the same parameters as the existing hole.
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Generate Standard Parts 5 Manufacturing designs often include standard parts and features. These standard parts can include screws, nuts, washers, pins, rivets, bushings, and others. It is typically to find standard parts collected and published in libraries, and AutoCAD® Mechanical includes several such libraries. With AutoCAD Mechanical, you can insert standard parts from installed parts libraries directly into your drawings.
NOTE If you require standard parts from other manufacturers in your drawings, install the parts libraries from the installation media. It is important to make all required selections during the initial installation of AutoCAD Mechanical. Content Libraries Navigation The Content Libraries dialog box includes three panes: Content, Favorites, and Details. You can use any of the following methods to move the selected standard parts to the Favorites list for easy access and reuse in other drawings.
Method 2: Right-click the part family node and select Add to Favorites from the context menu. View Favorites Lists When you have a long list of favorites, you can organize the list with the buttons marked 1 and 2 in the following image.
1 To show a list of available views in the Favorites panel. 2 To show the available views in a tree structure. Select a Projected View in Favorites From the View column, click the current view to open a drop-down list of available views for that part.
Resize the Panels You can resize the panels by dragging the left-right arrows between the panels. You can open and close the panels with the up and down arrows (chevrons) in the upper-right corners of the panels. The following image shows selected standard parts in the Details panel.
Insert Screw Components You can create screw connection assemblies that consist of screws, nuts, washers, and holes with the Screw Connection wizard. When you insert screw connections, you indicate corresponding hole locations for the screws.
Insert Screw Components 1 Open the gs_sealed_shaft_assy drawing in the Getting_Started folder. NOTE The path to the folder containing Getting_Started files is: ■ Windows Vista®: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010/Acadm\Getting_Started ■ Windows® XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_ Started 2 Click Content tab ➤ Fasteners panel ➤ Screw Connection Screw Connection - Front View dialog box appears. .
4 Double-click SAMPLE #1 and select the M 8 screw from the list. 5 Click Next and specify the insertion point of first hole as shown in the following image. 6 Specify the endpoint of first hole as shown in the following image.
7 Specify the endpoint of second hole as shown in the following image. 8 Click Next on the Screw Assembly Location - Front View dialog box. 9 Select the Normal representation in the Screw Assembly Grip Representation - Front View dialog box. Click Finish. The program adds a screw connection to fasten the two plates. Notice that AutoCAD Mechanical automatically removes and cleans up excess materials when you insert the screw components.
Insert Fasteners In the standard part libraries, you can also find the most commonly used fasteners for your assemblies. In this exercise, you insert a cylindrical pin into the pin hole on the bracket. Insert a Cylindrical Pin 1 Click Content tab ➤ Fasteners panel ➤ Cylindrical Pins 2 Select the ISO 2338 pin. 3 Select the Front View. 4 Specify the insertion point as shown in the following image. 5 Enter 270 degrees for its rotation angle. 6 Select 3 mm for its diameter. 7 Click Finish.
9 Select the standard size - 3m6 x 12-A pin in the Select Part Size dialog box. The program inserts the cylindrical pin. Edit Standard Parts All standard parts and features in AutoCAD Mechanical are Power Objects. You can modify them using Power Commands. AutoCAD Mechanical automatically heals and cleans up affected areas after you modify an object with a Power Command. Erase the Pin 1 Right-click the drawing area to select Power Erase on the context menu. 2 Select the Pin to erase. 3 Press ENTER.
4 Select the other screw connection instances to change to size M 6. Both screw components change to size M 6. Projected Views of Standard Parts You can generate the projected view of a standard part from its existing view (parent view) using Power View command. Depending on the first-angle or third-angle projection for the drawings your company uses, it prompts you to select a view (top, bottom, front, or side) of the standard part to draw as you generate the projected view.
2 Select the screw components (Front View) on the right. 3 Click Top in AutoCAD Mechanical dialog box. 4 Specify the insertion point as shown in the following image. The program creates the top view of screw components. Try it: Edit the Screw Components Double-click the screw component front view and change its size to M 6. Notice that its associated top-view update accordingly. Change Representations Your conceptual designs do not need full representations of standard parts.
You can change the representation in the Options dialog box on the AM:Standard Parts tab. Types 2D Representations Symbolic Simplified Standard NOTE Changing the default setting in the Options dialog box does not affect standard parts already placed in the drawing. It affects only the newly created standard parts.
Organize Objects with Layers 6 With the predefined mechanical layers in AutoCAD® Mechanical, the program automatically organizes the layers for all mechanical parts. Automated organization helps to speed up and simplify your work. This chapter demonstrates how organizing objects with layers in AutoCAD Mechanical compares to AutoCAD®, and how to convert AutoCAD layers to AutoCAD Mechanical layers. Predefined Mechanical Layers Layers work differently in the AutoCAD Mechanical than they do in AutoCAD.
AutoCAD Mechanical manages these objects automatically with predefined layers based on the properties of the mechanical objects. Because of this functionality, you spend less time defining layers on your own. View the Predefined Layers All predefined layers begin with the prefix AM_. 1 Click Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Mechanical Layer Manager 2 In the Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box, click predefined mechanical layers. .
2 Click Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Mechanical Layer Manager to review the existing layers on the new drawing. Only two layers appear in the Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box. 3 Click Content tab ➤ Fasteners panel ➤ Screws . 4 Click Hex Head Types ➤ ISO 4014 (Regular Thread) ➤ Front View. 5 Insert the screw, size M 30 x 110. 6 Click Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Mechanical Layer Manager review the automatically generated layers for the screw.
Standard part - screw appears on Layer AM_0N. See other layers and associated objects used for the screw. 7 Save and close the drawing. Mechanical Layer Manager In AutoCAD Mechanical, you use Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box to organize and manage objects with layers. There are two methods to show this dialog box. ■ Method 1: At the Command prompt, enter AMLAYER. ■ Method 2: Click Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Mechanical Layer Manager 48 | Chapter 6 Organize Objects with Layers .
The following table shows the tool buttons and descriptions in the Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box. Button Description Create new layers. New Layer Delete layers. Delete Set a layer to be current. Set Current Check layers from existing objects. Check Layer Move objects into a selected layer. Move Into Highlight the selected layers. Highlight To show or hide layer definitions. Show\Hide Layer Definitions Mechanical Layer Manager | 49
Can I use the AutoCAD Layer Properties Manager dialog box to manage all layers including the predefined mechanical layers instead of Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box? We do not recommend this approach, because no changes you make in the AutoCAD Layer Properties Manager dialog box carry over for mechanical object definitions. For legacy AutoCAD drawings in AutoCAD Mechanical, can I change the properties for AutoCAD layers in the Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box? Yes.
The Object Property Settings dialog box appears, as shown in the following image. NOTE For information on how to configure AutoCAD Mechanical object properties, refer to the Configure Automatic Property Management section in the Configuration and Setup Guide in AutoCAD Mechanical.
Object Property Settings When you open AutoCAD drawings in AutoCAD Mechanical, all layers created in AutoCAD automatically appear in the AutoCAD Mechanical Layer dialog box. They remain AutoCAD layers until you change them to AutoCAD Mechanical layers in the Object Property Settings dialog box. Description Representative AutoCAD Layer Mechanical Layer Convert AutoCAD layers to Mechanical layers 1 Open the gs_acad_layers drawing from the Getting_Started folder.
3 To convert the AutoCAD layer - Centerline to a mechanical layer, change the layer for Centerline in the category Drafting to Layer - Centerline in the Object Property Settings dialog box. 4 Click the layer AM_7 on the object, Centerline. Object Property Settings - Select Layer dialog box displays. Scroll down to the bottom of the list to select the layer centerline.
5 The Mechanical Layer - Select dialog box appears, informing you that the program is converting an AutoCAD layer to an AutoCAD Mechanical layer. 6 Click OK three times to close all dialog boxes. 7 Next, click Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Mechanical Layer Manager . Notice that the Centerline layer is now an AutoCAD Mechanical layer. 8 Next, change the layer for the object - Centerline, narrow in the Standard Features category on the Object Property Settings dialog box to centerline.
9 Click Home tab ➤ Layers panel ➤ Mechanical Layer Manager Notice the Mechanical layer - centerline is now associated to two mechanical objects: Centerline and Centerline, narrow. 10 Click Content tab ➤ Holes panel ➤ Through Holes . . 11 Select the ISO 273 normal icon, and click Top View to insert an M 30 hole at the center of the plate. Notice the mechanical object, through hole now uses the Layer - centerline for its centerline.
12 Create the front view of the hole using Powerview . 13 Change the Hole - front view to hidden lines type. Tips ■ Use Mechanical Layer Manager dialog box to work with all layers in the drawing instead of the AutoCAD Layer Properties Manager dialog box. ■ To ensure layer consistency across all drawings, set up the layers in the Object Property Settings dialog box and save them as templates for reuse.
Create Hidden Lines 7 In assembly or conceptual drawings, it is common to hide background objects to show objects obscured behind connected front objects. AutoCAD® Mechanical represents background objects with hidden lines. This chapter shows you how to create associative hidden lines by specifying which objects lie in front of others. Any changes to the front or back objects automatically update the associated hidden lines.
NOTE The path to the folder containing Getting_Started files is: ■ Windows Vista®:C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_Started ■ Windows® XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_ Started 2 Click Home tab ➤ Draw Tools panel ➤ Create Hide Situation . 3 Select the shaft for the foreground object. Notice that AutoCAD Mechanical automatically places all obscured objects behind the shaft on Level 2 as background objects.
Try It: Associative Hidden Lines In this exercise, you move the shaft away from the assembly to see how hidden lines heal and change to solid lines. Move the shaft back into place to see the hidden lines return to the previous state. Any changes to the foreground or background objects update the resulting hidden lines automatically.
NOTE You can use AMSHIDE command on structured or non-structured drawings. For more information on mechanical structure, refer to Mechanical Help or the Learning Mechanical Structure tutorial. Tip ■ To revert all hidden lines to geometrical lines for reuse, use the AMSHIDEEDIT command to open the Hide Situation dialog box. Remove the elemental geometry from the levels. ■ You can also use the AMSHIDEEDIT command to modify or update the hide situations in the drawing.
Reusable Detailing Tools 8 In AutoCAD® Mechanical, the drafting tools have intelligence built-in that help you edit the features easily without having to remove and recreate the original features. This lesson demonstrates some reusable tools such as chamfers, title blocks, and associative detail views. Chamfers You can resize chamfers created in AutoCAD Mechanical using the Chamfer dialog box. Because the chamfer has built-in intelligence, double-click the chamfer to make changes.
Title Block You can scale and center your drawing within the title block using the Title Block (AMTITLE) command. After you place the title block, you can make edits, such as changing the title block style, without erasing and reinserting the title block. Double-click the title block to change its size in the dialog box. Insert a Title Block In this lesson, you place the assembly in the layout, and then insert the title block. 1 Open the completed gs_hidden_lines drawing from the previous lesson.
NOTE Use the Viewport/Scale Area command to control the length and text scaling when creating viewports. For more details, refer to the AutoCAD Mechanical Help. Associative Detail View Detail views show an enlarged area of geometry or a dimensioned part that is not clearly visible in the original view. Use the Detail command to create linked views at different scales and place them in model space or in the layout. The geometry in the detail view is associative to the original view.
Create a Detail View 1 Click Home tab ➤ Draw Tools panel ➤ Detail View . 2 Enclose the screw connection as shown in the following image. 3 Switch to the viewport of the original layout in the Detail view list to place the detail in the layout tab.
4 Click the Settings button in the Detail ISO dialog box. Select the Show view border check box. 5 Click OK and place the enlarged detail view on the drawing. Try It: Edit a Detail View Double-click the centerline of the screw connection and change its size from M 8 to M 6. Notice that the associated detail view changes accordingly.
Try It: Dimension a Detail View Use the Power Dimension command (AMPOWERDIM) to add dimensions in the detail view.
Power Dimensions 9 Unlike AutoCAD®, AutoCAD® Mechanical does not use several dimension commands to create linear, angular, baseline, and chain dimensions. In AutoCAD Mechanical, the power dimension command, AMPOWERDIM, saves you time in creating multiple dimension types on your drawings. This lesson describes how to use the Power Dimensioning and automatic dimensioning tools to add dimensions on your drawings. It also shows you how to edit dimensions quickly with a set of editing tools.
1 Open the gs_dimensions drawing in the Getting_Started folder. NOTE The path to the folder containing Getting_Started files is; ■ Windows Vista®:C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_Started ■ Windows® XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_ Started 2 Click Annotate tab ➤ Dimension panel ➤ Power Dimension . 3 Insert the 6-mm dimension for the flange of the part. 4 Locate the dimension line location.
5 The Power Dimensioning dialog box appears showing the dimension value. Click OK. 6 NOTE By default, the Power Dimensioning dialog box appears for the first set of dimensions and not for subsequent dimensions when working on the Power Dimension. To change this behavior, go to Options ➤ AM:Standards ➤ and double-click the Dimension in the Standard elements list. 7 Enter C (for Chain) in the command line. Insert the 24-mm dimension. Notice you are still in the Power Dimensioning command.
NOTE When adding the dimension, you can set its options, add tolerances, and fits to the dimensions. 8 Press ENTER twice to reactivate the Power Dimensioning command to create the 26-mm dimension. 9 Enter S to select the line for the 35-mm dimension. Enter O to open the Power Dimensioning dialog box and create its tolerance. 10 If the 70-mm dimension overlaps the 52-mm dimension, a Dimension Overdrawn dialog box appears. You can move the overlapping dimension away from the other automatically.
12 Continue to add the radial dimensions for the side view. NOTE When placing dimensions, you can switch between radial dimensions and diameter dimensions. Multiple Dimensions It is often necessary to create ordinate dimensions on semiconductor or automation drawings. In AutoCAD Mechanical, you can create a group of parallel, ordinate, shaft, and symmetrical dimensions all at the same time by using the Multiple dimensioning command.
Filtering is enabled automatically to prevent you from dimensioning hidden lines, auxiliary lines, text, phantom lines, section lines, hatches, or other dimension lines.
Multiple dimensioning commands use the current drawing standard and drawing scale. The program places them on layer AM_5. Try It: Create Multiple Dimensions In the following exercise, you specify the datum point at the lower left corner of the flange and create automatic dimensions along its x-y axis. Notice that the program ignores hatching lines when dimensioning. . Select Click Annotate tab ➤ Dimension panel ➤ Multiple Dimension the Ordinate tab, and select the check boxes for Both Axes and Rotate Text.
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Add Part Lists and Balloons 10 Adding part lists and balloons in AutoCAD® Mechanical is easier than the manual method in AutoCAD®. You can also ensure an accurate count of item quantities as you add or remove objects in an assembly drawing. This lesson describes the role of part references for objects and how they relate to a bill of materials (BOM) in an assembly drawing. It also shows you how to create and edit a bill of materials (BOM), and to add a part list and balloons to a drawing.
The part reference contains component properties such as material, note, vendor, measurement, and units. You can also add and include the component properties from the bill of materials. Click the Settings button on the Part Reference dialog box. The program captures component properties to the bill of materials (BOM) for use in part lists and balloons.
NOTE If you add or remove part references, the quantity value for the changed component updates automatically in the bill of materials. Try It: Create a part reference Create a part reference for a component on your own. From the Annotate menu, click Part Reference, and then click the component to locate the node and open the Part Reference dialog box. Enter the component properties and click OK.
2 In the pane on the right, in the Standard elements list, Double-click BOM. A dialog box with BOM settings for the active standard displays. In the BOM Settings dialog box, you can add component properties from the available component properties list to the four tabs: Component Properties, BOM, Parts List, and Balloon. Select an entire row, and then click Add. You can also add custom component properties to the Available component properties list.
NOTE The path to the folder containing Getting_Started files is: ■ Windows Vista®:C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_Started ■ Windows® XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_ Started 2 Click Annotate tab ➤ Balloon panel ➤ Balloons . 3 Enter T (auto) to create balloons automatically for the selected part references. 4 Enclose the whole assembly - front view. Make sure that you do not miss any part references.
Create a Parts List 1 Continue from the previous exercise. 2 Click Annotate tab ➤ Table panel ➤ Parts List . 3 Press ENTER to create a parts list from the main BOM. 4 Click OK and place the parts list at the bottom right of the title block.
International Drafting Standards 11 Setting a standard based on industry standards or a custom company standard helps to maintain a common form of communication for consistent productions results. AutoCAD® Mechanical supports ANSI, BSI, CSN, DIN, GB, GOST, ISO, and JIS industry standards. You can also create a custom standard based on one of the industry standards and change some or all the settings according to your company standard.
Create Custom Standards In the Options dialog box, double-click the active standard and type a new standard name, for example “Company Standard.” Press ENTER. The Selection dialog box appears, enabling you to select a base standard. Select a base standard from the drop-down list and Click OK. The program creates a custom standard, Company Standard.
Best Practice Set up a default template file with your selected standard to start every new drawings and make it available to everyone in the project team. By doing so, you save time configuring your requirements and ensure consistency with all team members using the company standards.
Save your default standards template in DWT format. To use this template for non-AutoCAD Mechanical drawings, import this template into the drawings when you open them. Scale for Text and Symbols For many large components or assemblies, it is necessary to scale down text and symbols to fit them on standard paper sizes (A4, A3, A2, A1, or A0 size). Annotations, including dimensions, symbols, and notes, can become illegible when you view them in the model space.
To set the size of symbols and text to the required sizes for viewing and printing purposes, set the scale factor in the Model scale list in the Options dialog box. NOTE When you change the model scale factor to 1:2, the annotations are automatically two times larger than they are at scale factor 1:1.
Standard-based Annotations In the following exercise, you create the symbols for the front view of a shaft used in a sealed shaft assembly based on the ISO standard with metric measurements. The following image shows a detailed shaft with the annotations. Try It: Standard-based Annotations Open the gs_shaft drawing in the Getting_Started folder. NOTE The path to the folder containing Getting_Started files is: ■ Windows Vista®:C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2010\Acadm\Getting_Started ■ Windows
Index A additional resources 1 associative hatch 20 associative hidden lines 57 automatic dimensioning 71 mechanical dimensions 67 modify dimensions 73 O B balloons 78 bill of materials bom 77 object properties 77 C center line 23 center line pattern 23 chamfer 61 construction line 13 Convert AutoCAD Layers to Mechanical Layers 52 countersink hole 18 custom standard 82 D 50 P part list 79 part reference 75 power commands 27 predefined layers 45 projected view 42 R rectangle 22 resources additional
W 88 | Index workspace 5
