Learn how to insert leader notes, taper symbols, surface texture symbols, feature control frames, and datum identification symbols, based on the DIN standard.
This video was recorded on AutoCAD Mechanical 2017.
| Time Stamp | Commentary |
|---|---|
| 00:04 | In this video I’ll show you how to annotate drawings with symbols. If this has been a time consuming task of adding blocks, exploding and modifying them, I have good news for you. AutoCAD Mechanical toolset comes with all the frequently used annotation symbols and also supports numerous standards. Simply choose a standard, select the symbols and insert them directly into your drawing. It’s as easy as that! Now let’s see how it works and add some annotation symbols to this shaft. |
| 00:37 | Suppose you want to add a note to this key, just click Leader Note from the Annotate tab and select the key. I dropped this key from the content library earlier. That means all the information about it is already stored in AutoCAD Mechanical toolset. Now see how the leader note automatically picks up this information and displays it as the default text. If you want to change the text, of course you can do so. |
| 01:05 | Next, I’ll dimension the slope of this conical section. I’ll use the taper symbol to do that. First I select the centerline. That is going to be the baseline from which I want to measure the slope from. After that I specify the attach point and place the symbol. Notice how AutoCAD Mechanical toolset automatically calculated the correct ratio. Maybe you want to make some changes to the symbol later. No problem! Whenever you want to check or change the properties of an object, simply double click it. |
| 01:43 | I’ll now go on and add a surface texture symbol. I select the shaft and specify the start point. I want to place the symbol on the shaft without a leader, so I just press enter when I am asked to pick the next point. Now we can specify the options and select the value for the roughness average. When I’m done, I click OK to place the symbol. |
| 02:15 | I want these two shaft segments to have the same roughness average as the one I’ve just added. That means I am going to use this value quite often. So I’m going to add it to the symbol library. That’ll help me to save some time later. I double click to display its properties and add it to the library. Now we can access this symbol directly from the ribbon. |
| 02:52 | I will now add a symbol to specify the surface texture requirements for all other surfaces. In the dialog box I flag it as a majority symbol and specify the roughness average. Note how it automatically picks up the other symbols in the drawing and lists them in brackets, as per the standard. Even if I modify a surface texture or add a new one later it’ll change accordingly. |
| 03:25 | Let’s go on and add some tolerances. I want to specify a circular runout tolerance. I start with attaching the datum identifiers that specify the tolerance axis. I click the “Datum Identifier” symbol on the ribbon and select the attach point. See how AutoCAD Mechanical toolset helps me to keep the standard by forcing the first segment of the leader to be perpendicular to the shaft. In the same way I create the second datum identifier. |
| 04:02 | Last I’ll specify the tolerance. I click the Feature Control Frame symbol and select the shaft segment which I want to attach it to. I don’t have a lot of space here so I will start the leader outside the shaft. AutoCAD Mechanical toolset draws an extension line as I move the cursor. I click to indicate the start point of the leader and AutoCAD Mechanical toolset forces it to be perpendicular to the shaft, as per the standard. I specify the first vertex of the leader and now this segment can only be vertical or horizontal. In the dialog box I select the symbol for a circular run out and specify the tolerance value as well as the axis. |
| 04:52 | And that’s it! We just added some rather complex annotations in almost no time. All the symbols in this video comply with the DIN standard. AutoCAD Mechanical toolset also provides many more standards. Before you start drawing just go to the options dialog box and choose the standard you need on the AM:Standards tab. The appearance and behavior of symbols will change according to your choice. In addition to the standard itself you can even select a specific revision. There is also a fair amount of customization that you can do without violating the standard. You will find more about this in the AutoCAD Mechanical toolset Help. |