Learn about the drawing tools that are specific to AutoCAD Mechanical toolset and how they can speed up drawing tasks typical to manufacturing drawings.
You can learn how to draw centerlines, construction lines, symmetrical lines, and section lines using AutoCAD Mechanical toolset commands. You can also learn how to insert standard parts from the content library and generate projections for various orthogonal views. Additionally, the video highlights the differences between AutoCAD layer management and AutoCAD Mechanical toolset layer management.
This video was recorded in AutoCAD Mechanical 2015, but continues to be valid for AutoCAD Mechanical 2025 toolset.
| Time Stamp | Commentary |
|---|---|
| 00:06 |
Welcome to another Getting Started Video for AutoCAD Mechanical toolset. This time I’ll show you some AutoCAD Mechanical toolset drawing Commands by enhancing this drawing to make it look like this. In the end we’ll have a top view and a sectional view of this gland. You’ll also get used to work with layers in AutoCAD Mechanical toolset. |
| 00:24 |
Let’s begin! I’ll start by adding a centerline. I click the command and select the start and end point… and we have a centerline. The command we just used is special to AutoCAD Mechanical toolset. It comes with a big advantage. Did you noticed the automatically created centerline layer? That’s where AutoCAD Mechanical toolset places all centerlines. You don’t have to create or change layers by yourself anymore. AutoCAD Mechanical toolset does all the Layer Management for you. |
| 00:56 |
Now let’s say you want to change the properties of all centerlines at once or rename the layer they’re on. Just click the Mechanical Layer Manager button on the ribbon or type AMLAYER on the command line. By the way, the letters A and M stand for AutoCAD Mechanical toolset. Note that even if you change the name of the centerline layer all centerlines will still be drawn on this layer. |
| 01:23 |
Next I will show you another handy drawing feature - construction lines. Drawing becomes a lot easier when you use them. AutoCAD Mechanical toolset provides many options to choose from. That means that you’re not restricted to the commands you might already know from AutoCAD. Of course you can still use AutoCAD commands, as AutoCAD Mechanical toolset is build on top of AutoCAD. Usually AutoCAD Mechanical toolset commands are a bit more powerful and offer more options when it comes to mechanical drawings. Look at what happens when I chose the Automatic option. I want the construction lines to be horizontal, pointing to the right. I select my drawing, press enter and I’m done. All construction lines in AutoCAD Mechanical toolset are automatically drawn on a layer reserved for construction lines. It only takes one click to hide them, or display them again. If I want to delete them later, I just have to click here. |
| 02:27 |
With the help of the construction lines it didn’t take long for me to create the basic outlines of the top view. Next I ‘m going to add a center mark to the circle. I select the “Centerline Cross in Holes” option from the Centerline drop-down and follow the instructions in the command line. In no time we’ve created centerlines with the correct offshoot length from the circle, according to the standard we’ve chosen for our drawing. You don’t have to calculate them yourself and there’s no need to draw and trim lines by hand anymore. Take a look at the layer the construction lines are on. I didn’t change layers before I created the centerlines, but thanks to automatic layer management in AutoCAD Mechanical toolset, they are on the right layer. |
| 03:14 |
Let’s go on and add two 8mm through holes. Rather than drawing circles, we will insert the holes from the content library. I select the hole type, the view, the insertion point and the size. This is more than just a circle. For example I can now simply click Power View to generate the front view. Finally let’s mirror the hole to the other side. I specify the mirror line and we’re done. |
| 04:04 |
In the next step I’ll draw the inner wall of the part. I work with symmetrical lines to do that. First I select the centerline which defines the axis of symmetry. Then I draw one half of the wall while the other one is automatically created. Next, let’s project the inner wall on the top view of the part. I insert two more construction lines, and draw the circle. But wait, the circle must be drawn as a hidden line. In AutoCAD Mechanical toolset you don’t have to change the line type to indicate that it’s hidden. Instead, you create a hide situation and chose which objects lie on top. This feature is very handy, especially when it comes to more complex parts. I only applied the hide situation to the top view. I’ll now change the front view to a sectional view. And we don’t need hidden lines for that. |
| 05:05 |
I start with drawing a section line. I select the end points of the section line and the position to label the section view. Last of all I add a hatch. I choose the hatch type and simply click in the areas where I want to insert it. And that’s it, we’re done. If you want to learn more about AutoCAD Mechanical toolset, you can watch another getting started video or just play around with the commands for a bit. |