Autodesk 057A1-09A111-1001 - AutoCAD LT 2009, AutoCAD Mechanical 2009 User Manual

AutoCAD Mechanical 2009

User’s Guide

January 2008

©

2008 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be

reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.

Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.

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Contents

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 About AutoCAD Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

AutoCAD Mechanical Software Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Leveraging Legacy Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Starting AutoCAD Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

AutoCAD Mechanical Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Product Support and Training Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Design Features in AutoCAD Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Mechanical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Associative Design and Detailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

External References for Mechanical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Associative 2D Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Autodesk Inventor link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2D Design Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Engineering Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Machinery Systems Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Intelligent Production Drawing and Detailing . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Detailing Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Standard Mechanical Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Standard Parts Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

iii

Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Command Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Design and Annotation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter 3 Working with Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Working with Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Setting Mechanical Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Specifying Drawing Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Saving Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Using Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Setting Default Standards Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Working with Mechanical Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Creating Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Modifying Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Nesting Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Instance vs. Occurrence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Selection Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Components and Component Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating Part Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Creating Assembly Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Modifying Assembly Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Using Folders with Component Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Mechanical Browser Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Mechanical Browser and BOMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Browser Restructure and Ghost Components . . . . . . . . . . . 76

External Reference Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Inserting External Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Editing External Components In-place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Localizing and Externalizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Annotation Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Associative Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Basics of AMSHIDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Using AMSHIDE in Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Chapter 5 Designing Levers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Extending Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

iv | Contents

Using Libraries to Insert Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Configuring Snap Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Creating Construction Lines (C-Lines) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Creating additional C-Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Creating Contours and Applying Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Trimming Projecting Edges on Contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Applying Hatch Patterns to Contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Dimensioning Contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Creating and Dimensioning Detail Views . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Chapter 6 Working with Model Space and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Working with Model Space and Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Creating Scale Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Creating Detail Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Generating New Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Inserting Holes Within Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Creating Subassemblies in New Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Chapter 7 Dimensioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Adding Dimensions to Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Adding Multiple Dimensions Simultaneously . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Editing Dimensions with Power Commands . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Breaking Dimension Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Inserting Drawing Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Inserting Fits Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Chapter 8 Working with 2D Hide and 2D Steel Shapes . . . . . . . . . . 151

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Working with 2D Hide and 2D Steel Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Opening the initial drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Defining 2D Hide Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Inserting 2D Steel Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Modifying Steel Shapes Using Power Commands . . . . . . . . . 159

Editing 2D Hide Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Copying and Moving 2D Hide Situations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Chapter 9 Working with Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Working with Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Inserting Screw Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Copying Screw Connections with Power Copy . . . . . . . . . . 176

Contents | v

Creating Screw Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Editing Screw Connections with Power Edit . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Working with Power View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Deleting with Power Erase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Inserting Holes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Inserting Pins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Turning Off Centerlines in Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Hiding Construction Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Simplifying Representations of Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . . 201

Chapter 10 Working with BOMs and Parts Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Working with Parts Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Inserting Part References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Editing Part References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Placing Balloons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Creating Parts Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Merging and Splitting Items In Parts Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Collecting Balloons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Sorting and Renumbering Items In Parts Lists . . . . . . . . . . 227

Using Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Chapter 11 Creating Shafts with Standard Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Creating Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Configuring Snap Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Configuring Shaft Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Creating Cylindrical Shaft Sections and Gears . . . . . . . . . . 240

Inserting Spline Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Inserting Chamfers and Fillets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Inserting Shaft Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Creating Side Views of Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Inserting Threads on Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Editing Shafts and Inserting Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Replacing Shaft Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Inserting Bearings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Engineering Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Chapter 12 Calculating Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Calculating Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Creating Shaft Contours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Specifying Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

vi | Contents

Placing Shaft Supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Specifying Loads on Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Calculating and Inserting Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Calculating Strengths of Shafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Chapter 13 Calculating Moments of Inertia and Deflection Lines . . . . . . 275

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Performing Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Calculating Moments of Inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Calculating Deflection Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Chapter 14 Calculating Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Chain Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Performing Length Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Optimizing Chain Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Inserting Sprockets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Inserting Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Chapter 15 Calculating Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Calculating Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Starting Spring Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Specifying Spring Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

Calculating and Selecting Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Inserting Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Creating Views of Springs with Power View . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Chapter 16 Calculating Screw Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Methods for Calculating Screws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Using Stand Alone Screw Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Selecting and Specifying Screws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

Selecting and Specifying Nuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Selecting and Specifying Washers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Specifying Plate Geometry and Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

Specifying Contact Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Specifying Loads and Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Specifying Settlement Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Specifying Tightening Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Creating and Inserting Result Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Chapter 17 Calculating Stress Using FEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Contents | vii

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

2D FEA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

Calculating Stress In Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Defining Loads and Supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Calculating Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Evaluating and Refining Mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Refining Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Recalculating Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Chapter 18 Designing and Calculating Cams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Designing and Calculating Cams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Starting Cam Designs and Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Defining Motion Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Calculating Strength for Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Exporting Cam Data and Viewing Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Autodesk Inventor Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Chapter 19 Using Autodesk Inventor Link Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Linking Autodesk Inventor Part Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Shading and Rotating Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Inserting Drawing Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Creating Drawing Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

Working with Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Exporting Drawing Views to AutoCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

Linking Autodesk Inventor Assembly Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

Accessing Parts from the Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Accessing iProperties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

Inserting Drawing Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Creating Parts Lists and Balloons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Creating Breakout Section Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Modifying Breakout Section Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Removing Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396

Updating Autodesk Inventor Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

viii | Contents

Overview

Part I provides information for getting started with your AutoCAD® Mechanical software.

It includes an overview of the product capabilities, a summary of commands with their
toolbuttons and descriptions, and a summary of new and revised commands in this release
of AutoCAD Mechanical.

In addition, Part I includes information about methods to access commands, AutoCAD
Mechanical Help, and product support and training resources.

1

2

About AutoCAD
Mechanical

This chapter provides information about the AutoCAD® Mechanical software application. It
describes the software package, the basic design features in the software, and the methods for
accessing commands.

A brief overview of the Help, along with information about where to find resources for product
learning, training, and support are included.

1

AutoCAD Mechanical Software Package

AutoCAD Mechanical is a 2D mechanical design and drafting solution for
engineers, designers, and detailers. Its intelligent production drawing and
detailing features decrease the time required to create and change 2D production
designs. AutoCAD Mechanical introduces many 3D concepts in a familiar 2D
environment. It is powered by AutoCAD®, with its easy-to-use palette interface
and time-saving xref functionality.

The AutoCAD Mechanical design software package includes both AutoCAD
Mechanical and AutoCAD. You can use one Options dialog box to customize
settings for both AutoCAD Mechanical and AutoCAD.

Leveraging Legacy Data

The tools for migrating legacy data are installed automatically when you install
the AutoCAD Mechanical software. A separate utility tool is available for adding
structure to legacy files after they are migrated.

3

The integrated Autodesk® IGES Translator for transferring and sharing of CAD
data between CAD/CAM/CAE systems is installed along with the AutoCAD
Mechanical product.

Newly generated files in AutoCAD Mechanical can be saved to a previous
version so that you can run multiple versions of AutoCAD Mechanical within
the same environment.

Starting AutoCAD Mechanical

You can start AutoCAD Mechanical by using one of the following procedures:

■ Click Start on the task bar, and then choose Programs. Select Autodesk ➤

AutoCAD Mechanical 2008.

■ On the desktop, double-click the AutoCAD Mechanical icon:

AutoCAD Mechanical Help

The Help in AutoCAD Mechanical provides information about AutoCAD
Mechanical with the power pack.

The Help is formatted for easy navigation, and includes:

■ Content organized by the major functional areas of AutoCAD Mechanical,

with Concept, Reference, and Procedure pages for each functional area.
Procedure pages provide step by step instructions on how to execute a
given task. The linked Concept page provides background information
about the procedure. The linked Reference pages contain information
about all the commands and dialog boxes visited while performing the
procedure.

■ Specific information about each of the features in the program.

■ Concepts and procedures for the new features in this release.

■ A keyword index and search function.

■ Printable Command Reference.

■ Guides to system variables and accelerator keys.

4 | Chapter 1 About AutoCAD Mechanical

■ Access to Support Assistance with integrated links to solutions.

For access to Help, you can choose from the following methods:

■ From the Help menu, select Mechanical Help Topics.

■ Select the Help button in the standard toolbar.

■ Press F1.

■ Click the Help button within a dialog box.

Product Support and Training Resources

Be more productive with Autodesk software. Get trained at an Autodesk
Authorized Training Center (ATC®) with hands-on, instructor-led classes to
help you get the most from your Autodesk products. Enhance your productivity
with proven training from over 1,400 ATC sites in more than 75 countries.
For more information about Autodesk Authorized Training Centers, contact

[e-mail] or visit the online ATC locator at
www.autodesk.com/atc.

Sources for product support are listed on the AutoCAD Mechanical Product
Information Web page. From the AutoCAD Mechanical Web site at
http://www.autodesk.com/autocadmech, navigate to the Support Knowledge Base.
You can also navigate to the Community page, which contains links to various
communities, including the AutoCAD Mechanical Discussion Group.

Design Features in AutoCAD Mechanical

This section provides an overview of the functionality in the AutoCAD
Mechanical software, including numerous innovative 2D design features.

Mechanical Structure

Mechanical structure comprises a suite of 2D structure tools for organizing
drawings and for reusing associative data. The capabilities of reuse in blocks
and accessibility in layer groups are combined in mechanical structure. When
you start the AutoCAD Mechanical application, the Mechanical structure
environment is enabled by default. You can also work with it disabled.

Product Support and Training Resources | 5

The mechanical structure tools include:

■ A browser interface for structured 2D mechanical design, where parts,

assemblies, views, and folders containing associated data are organized,
structured, and managed. Standard parts are automatically organized and
managed in the browser. All components are accessible through the browser
for many functions, and filters can be set to control the type and level of
detail of information displayed.

■ Folders in the browser are used for capturing elements of design for reuse.

These elements provide all of the associative instancing benefits of
components, but do not register as items in the live BOM database. They
can contain geometry.

■ All geometry remains selectable and editable at all times using familiar

commands in open workflows. Workflows for structure can be bottom-up
(recommended), middle-out (the most flexible and common workflow),
and top-down (not the primary workflow).

Associative Design and Detailing

The browser is used to manage and reuse data in both the design and detailing
drafting stages. Many functions can be performed in the browser, including
the following:

■ You can instance components and assemblies multiple times. The live

BOM database in AutoCAD Mechanical keeps track of the quantity of each
part or assembly used.

■ Changes made to an associative instance of a part or assembly, associative

component, assembly detailing view, or a standard part or feature are
automatically reflected in the other instances.

■ Folders, components, and individual views of components can be reused

as needed. They maintain full associativity with each other.

■ Annotation views can be created for components and assemblies to fully

document the design. Changes made to geometry result in associative
dimensions being updated to reflect the change.

6 | Chapter 1 About AutoCAD Mechanical

External References for Mechanical Structure

External References for mechanical structure provides for the components of
a drawing to be inserted as an external reference to multiple drawings.
Conversely, multiple drawings can be attached as external references to a
single drawing.

The following are the key benefits of external references for mechanical
structure:

■ Increased efficiency by allowing insertion of structure components from

many drawings as external reference associatively for concurrent design.

■ Reuse of parts from existing assembly drawings very quickly.

■ Those involved in multiple design projects that reference the same drawing

are able to obtain the most updated design from the externally reference
component.

■ Ability to set up design specific reference directories as libraries for different

applications.

Associative 2D Hide

The 2D hide situation tool in AutoCAD Mechanical automates the process to
accurately represent parts and features which are partially or completely hidden
in drawing views. The following are some of the 2D hide benefits:

■ Associative hide situations are managed in the browser.

■ The underlying geometry is not altered when you create an associative

hide situation.

■ When geometry is hidden, AutoCAD Mechanical knows it is a component

in the mechanical structure, and provides a tooltip with the name and
view of the component.

External References for Mechanical Structure | 7

Autodesk Inventor link

Autodesk® Inventor™ link redefines the meaning of 3D to 2D interoperability.
Use the functionality to link to Autodesk Inventor parts and assemblies to:

■ Access and associatively document native 3D part models without the

presence of Autodesk Inventor.

■ Visualize part models, examine and use part properties such as material,

name, and number.

■ Associatively document part models using precision hidden-line removed

projections, dimensions, and annotations.

■ Link to the native Autodesk Inventor part models automatically notifies

you of changes and enables updating of views and annotations to keep
your drawing up-to-date.

2D Design Productivity

These features increase productivity and reduce the number of steps needed
to complete mechanical designs:

■ AutoCAD Mechanical provides an intelligent, customizable layer

management system that puts objects on the appropriate layers
automatically.

■ Entities that are not on the current layer group, or entities that are on a

locked layer group can be displayed in a different color to reduce screen
clutter.

■ 2D hidden-line calculations are based on defined foreground and

background objects. You can choose hidden line representation types.

■ Auto detailing creates detailed drawings of individual components from

an assembly drawing.

■ One set of power commands is used to create, update, and edit objects.

■ Mechanical line objects are available for creating centerlines and center

crosses, construction lines, symmetrical lines, section lines, break lines,
and others.

8 | Chapter 1 About AutoCAD Mechanical

■ Linear/symmetric stretch is used to modify dimensioned geometry by

changing the dimension value.

■ Predefined hatch patterns are applicable in two picks from toolbars and

menus.

Engineering Calculations

The automatic engineering calculations available in AutoCAD Mechanical
ensure proper function in mechanical designs.

■ The 2D FEA feature determines the resistance capability of an object put

under a static load and analyzes design integrity under various loads.

■ A number of moment of inertia and beam deflection calculations are

available.

■ Engineering calculations are available for shafts, bearings, and screws.

Machinery Systems Generators

Machinery systems in AutoCAD Mechanical generate the design and
calculation of shafts, springs, belts and chains, and cams. These tools ensure
that you get the design right the first time:

■ With the shaft generator, you can create drawing views of solid and hollow

shafts. Common shaft features supported include center holes, chamfers,
cones, fillets, grooves, profiles, threads, undercuts, and wrench fittings.
Common standard parts supported include bearings, gears, retaining rings,
and seals.

■ With the spring generator, you select, calculate, and insert compression,

extension, and torsion springs, and Belleville spring washers in a design.
You control the representation type of the spring, and create a spec form
to incorporate in the drawing.

■ The belt and chain generator function provides features to create chain

and sprocket systems, belt and pulley systems, calculate optimal lengths
for chains and belts, and insert these assemblies in your design. Chains
and belts can be selected from standard libraries.

Engineering Calculations | 9

■ The cam generator creates cam plates and cylindrical cams given input

border conditions. You can calculate and display velocity, acceleration,
and the cam curve path. You can couple driven elements to the cam and
create NC data through the curve on the path.

Intelligent Production Drawing and Detailing

A number of commands are available in AutoCAD Mechanical that automate
the process to create balloons and bills of material.

■ You can create formatted balloons and bills of material, as well as detailed

views of portions of designs.

■ Multiple parts lists per drawing are supported. Grouping of a parts list

provides lists of like items. Selected items can be combined to calculate
total length required for stock ordering. The parts lists recognize standard
parts. You can format item numbers on parts lists.

■ Standard-sized drawing borders and customizable title blocks are available.

■ Intelligent and associative hole tables show a total count of each type of

hole along with a description of them. A second chart lists the coordinates
for each of the holes selected. Any update to the holes is reflected in the
charts.

■ A language converter translates text on a drawing into one of seventeen

different languages.

■ Revision control tables in drawings track revisions and display comments.

■ Fits lists chart all fits used in a drawing.

Detailing Productivity

■ Smart dimensions automatically maintain the proper arrangement with

each other.

■ Power dimension commands provide a single command to create and edit

all dimensions, apply specified formats, and add fits or tolerances.

■ Dimensions are automatic for 2D geometry with either ordinate or baseline

dimensions.

10 | Chapter 1 About AutoCAD Mechanical

■ One command quickly cleans up and arranges dimensions in 2D drawings.

One system setting controls the scale for drawing symbols in all views.

■ Commands are available for align, break, insert, and join to easily

dimension a drawing.

Annotations

■ Hole notes can be inserted for standard holes.

■ Commands are available to create standards-based surface texture symbols,

geometric dimensioning and tolerances, targets, and weld symbols.

■ Fits description command creates fits descriptions for standard holes.

■ Leader command creates intelligent balloons and other leaders common

in mechanical drawings.

Standard Mechanical Content

Standard content includes parametrically generated, intelligent geometry that
you can use to generate an object from scratch. The following are available:

■ About 600,000 standard parts, including screws, nuts, washers, pins, rivets,

bushings, rings, seals, bearings, keys, and others, can be quickly
incorporated into any design.

■ About 8,000 standard features, including center holes, undercuts, keyways,

and thread ends can be quickly incorporated into any design.

■ More than 20,000 standard holes, including through, blind, counterbored,

countersunk, oblong, and others, can be quickly incorporated into any
design.

■ Thousands of structural steel shapes, including U-shape, I-shape, T-shape,

L-shape, Z-shape, rectangular tube, round tube, rectangular full beam,
rectangular round beam, and others, can be quickly incorporated into any
design.

Annotations | 11

Standard Parts Tools

Standard part tools provide for the elements that go with standard parts, such
as a hole to accompany a screw. These tools include:

■ Screw connection feature for selecting entire fastener assemblies at one

time.

■ Changeable representation of a standard part between a normal, simplified,

or symbolic representation.

■ Power view to automatically generate a different view of a standard part,

such as a top view from a front view.

Collaboration

Enjoy the benefits of design collaboration for your 2D output through Autodesk
Streamline® support. Autodesk Streamline is a hosted Web service for sharing
personalized design data across the entire extended manufacturing enterprise.

Autodesk Streamline functionality includes the following:

■ Members can view and interact with the 3D data set published on Autodesk

Streamline, without waiting for the data to download.

■ Using Streamline, many people can share design information and

collaborate online. Functionality includes instant messages, e-mail
notifications, polling/voting, discussion threads, database creation, and
more.

■ AutoCAD Mechanical data can be written to the AutoCAD DWF file format,

which is one of the file types that Autodesk Streamline leverages.

■ You can export 3D CAD data in ZGL format (a compressed form of a

standard Open GL file format called XGL). ZGL readily captures 3D data
that can be rendered by the Open GL library. ZGL files can then be
uploaded to Autodesk Streamline.

12 | Chapter 1 About AutoCAD Mechanical

Commands in AutoCAD
Mechanical

This chapter provides a list of the commands available in AutoCAD® Mechanical, along with
a brief description of the function of each command and the associated toolbutton.

2

Command Summary

The following is a list of the AutoCAD Mechanical commands, a brief description
of each, and the associated toolbutton.

Some commands do not have an associated toolbutton. This list does not contain
AutoCAD® commands.

In some cases where some of the task-specific toolbars are available in a more
comprehensive format from the Main toolbar at View ➤ Toolbars, it is noted
in the table.

ton

ADCENTER

AM2DHIDE

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Provides layer group support within the Auto­CAD Design Center.

Hides invisible edges in unstructured situa­tions.

13

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Edits existing unstructured hide situations.AM2DHIDEDIT

Creates an adjusting ring on a shaft.AMADJRINGS2D

AMANALYSEDWG

AMANNOTE

AMAUTOCLINES

AMAUTODETAIL

AMAUTODIM

Creates a file in which the current layer struc­ture of the drawing is written.

Creates, deletes, adds, and moves annotations
associated with drawing views.

Suits an existing hatch to a changed contour.AMASSOHATCH

Displays or attaches non attached symbols.AMATTACHSYM

Automatically creates construction lines on
selected drawing elements.

Creates an external detail drawing (xref) of
selected elements from an assembly drawing.

Creates chain, baseline, ordinate in both axes,
shaft, or symmetric dimensions.

Creates and places a balloon.AMBALLOON

14 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

Performs calculation on bearings.AMBEARCALC

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMBELL2D

AMBOM

AMBREAKATPT

AMBROUTLINE

Selects, calculates, and inserts Belleville spring
washers, and inserts spring specification tables
in drawings.

Creates a standard related blind hole.AMBHOLE2D

Creates a formatted BOM database containing
a list of attributes, parts lists with item num­bers, and lists of like items in a BOM.

Breaks a line, polyline, or a spline on a speci­fied point.

Draws a special spline to show the breakout
borders.

Switches the mechanical browser on and off.AMBROWSER

Switches the mechanical browser on.AMBROWSEROPEN

Switches the mechanical browser off.AMBROWSERCLOSE

Creates a blind slot.AMBSLOT2D

Creates and calculates cam designs.AMCAM

Draws a centerline cross with an angle.AMCENCRANGLE

Command Summary | 15

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Draws a centerline cross in a corner.AMCENCRCORNER

Draws a centerline cross on a circle.AMCENCRFULLCIRCLE

Draws a centerline cross with a hole.AMCENCRHOLE

Draws a centerline cross in a hole.AMCENCRINHOLE

Draws a centerline cross.AMCENCROSS

Draws centerline cross on a plate.AMCENCRPLATE

Draws a centerline in between two lines.AMCENINBET

Creates a centerhole.AMCENTERHOLE2D

AMCENLINE

Creates a centerline and center marks through
selected circles and arcs while in Drawing
mode.

Draws a centerline.AMCENTLINE

16 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Draws chain or belt links.AMCHAINDRAW

AMCHAINLENGTHCAL

AMCHECKDIM

Determines the tangent definition between
sprockets or pulleys.

Bevels the edges of objects.AMCHAM2D

create dimensions for chamfers.AMCHAM2D_DIM

Checks for, highlights, and edits dimensions
with overridden text.

Creates a clevis pin.AMCLEVISPIN2D

Locks or unlocks the construction line layer.AMCLINEL

Switches construction lines on or off.AMCLINEO

AMCOMP2D

AMCONSTLINES

Designs, calculates, and inserts compression
springs, and places spring specification tables
in drawings.

Draws construction lines.Design Toolbar De­sign Toolbar - Draw, Construction for more
construction line commands.

Command Summary | 17

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMCONSTSWI

AMCOPYLG

AMCOPYVIEW

Switches construction lines between lines and
rays.

Displays the inner contour of an object.AMCONTIN

Displays the outer contour of an object.AMCONTOUT

Traces all points of a contour.AMCONTRACE

Converts the current drawing.AMCONVDWG

Copies a user specified layer group or selected
geometry into a new layer group.

Copies views to the same layout or to a differ­ent layout.

Creates a cotter pin.AMCOTTERPIN2D

Creates a standard related counterbore.AMCOUNTB2D

Creates a standard related countersink.AMCOUNTS2D

Creates a countersunk rivet.AMCRIVET2D

18 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Creates a cylindrical pin.AMCYLPIN2D

Creates datum identifier symbols.AMDATUMID

Creates datum target symbols.AMDATUMTGT

AMDEFLINE

AMDETAIL

AMDIMALIGN

AMDIMARRANGE

Calculates the deflection line or moment line
of an object that has various force elements
acting on it.

Deletes views and its dependent views.AMDELVIEW

Creates associative and scaled detail frames of
selected parts of a drawing.

Aligns linear, rotated, aligned, ordinate, or
angular dimensions that have a base dimen­sion of the same type.

Rearranges individual dimensions that lie along
one axis, in respect to a reference point.

Creates breaks in an existing dimension.AMDIMBREAK

Modifies dimensions in drawing mode.AMDIMFORMAT

Command Summary | 19

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMDIMINSERT

AMDIMJOIN

AMDIMSTRETCH

AMDRBUSHHOLE2D

AMDWGVIEW

Edits linear, aligned, rotated, and angular di­mensions by inserting new dimensions of the
same type simultaneously.

Edits linear, aligned, and angular (3-point or
2-line) dimensions by joining similar dimen­sions into a single dimension.

Edits multiple dimensions at the same time.AMDIMMEDIT

Resizes objects by stretching/shrinking linear
and symmetric dimensions.

Creates a single drill bushing.AMDRBUSH2D

Creates a drill bushing and the corresponding
hole.

Creates views of Autodesk® Inventor™ linked

models while in Drawing mode.

Creates edge symbols.AMEDGESYM

Edits balloons, parts lists, and symbols.AMEDIT

AMEDITPSCUTLINE

Displays or selects the paper space cutline for
breakout section views.

20 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Edits views created in Drawing mode.AMEDITVIEW

Generates and organizes equations.AMEQUATEDIT

Erases all construction lines.AMERASEALLCL

Erases selected construction lines.AMERASECL

AMEXPLODE

AMEXT2D

AMFEA2D

Breaks a compound object in the mechanical
structure environment into its component
objects.

Designs, calculates, and inserts extension
springs, and inserts spring specification tables
in drawings.

Creates an external thread.AMEXTHREAD2D

Creates feature control frame symbols.AMFCFRAME

Calculates stress and deformation in a plane
for plates with a given thickness or in a cross
section with individual forces and stretching
loads.

Creates feature identifier symbols.AMFEATID

Command Summary | 21

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Rounds and fillets the edges of objects.AMFILLET2D

AMFITSLIST

AMGROOVE2D

AMHATCH_135_11

AMHATCH_135_2

AMHATCH_135_4

AMHATCH_45_13

Puts existing fits and their respective dimen­sion values into a list and inserts this fits list
into your drawing.

Inserts a retaining ring/circlip with the appro­priate groove in a shaft.

Creates a grooved drive stud.AMGROOVESTUD2D

Creates a 135-degree and 11 mm/0.4 inch
hatch.

Creates a 135-degree and 2.7 mm/0.11 inch
hatch.

Creates a 135-degree and 4.7 mm/0.19 inch
hatch.

Creates a 45-degree and 13 mm/0.5 inch
hatch.

22 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

AMHATCH_45_2

AMHATCH_45_5

Creates a 45-degree and 2.5 mm/0.1 inch
hatch.

Creates a 45-degree and 5 mm/0.22 inch
hatch.

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMHATCH_DBL

AMHOLECHART

AMINERTIA

AMINERTIAPROF

AMIVLINK

Creates a double hatch of 45- and 135-degree
and 2.3 mm/0.09 inch.

Displays the online Help.AMHELP

Documents the holes in a design, including
coordinate dimensions.

Calculates the following tasks: center of gravi­ty, directions of the main axes moment, mo­ments of inertia, effective moment of inertia,
deflection angle.

Calculates the moment of inertia for cross
sections of cylinders, hollow cylinders, rectan­gular prisms, or hollow rectangular prisms.

Recreates the associative link between a .dwg
file and an Autodesk Inventor assembly (.iam)
or part (.ipt) document.

AMIVPROJECT

AMIVUPDATE

AMLANGCONV

Selects an Autodesk Inventor Project (.ipj) file
to use as the active project file for opening
Autodesk Inventor assembly (.iam) files.

Rereads associated Autodesk Inventor part or
assembly file and updates the linked .dwg file.

Joins different entities.AMJOIN

Translates text strings in your drawing into
another language.

Command Summary | 23

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMLANGTEXT

AMLAYER

Displays and uses text from the Language
Converter.

Manages mechanical layers and layer defini­tions.

Manages layer groups in a drawing.AMLAYERGROUP

Switches invisible lines on or off.AMLAYINVO

Moves lines to another layer.AMLAYMOVE

Moves lines to parts layers.AMLAYMOVEPL

Moves lines to working layers.AMLAYMOVEWL

Switches standard parts on or off.AMLAYPARTO

Switches part reference on or off.AMLAYPARTREFO

Resets all layers.AMLAYRESET

Switches the border and title block on or off.AMLAYTIBLO

24 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMLAYVISENH

AMLGMOVE

AMLISTVIEW

AMMANIPULATE

Specifies the layer group setting during a
working session.

Switches viewports on or off.AMLAYVPO

Moves elements in a selection set to a specific
layer group.

Displays the Library dialog box.AMLIBRARY

Lists information about a selected view while
in Drawing mode.

Creates a lubricator.AMLUBRI2D

Dynamically moves and rotates selected geom­etry along/around the X, Y, Z axes.

AMBROWSER

Makes a contour visible.AMMCONTV

Displays the browser in the mechanical struc­ture environment.

Creates marking and stamping symbols.AMMARKSTAMP

Command Summary | 25

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMMIGRATEBB

AMMIGRATESYM

AMMOVEDIM

AMMOVEVIEW

AMNOTE

Converts infopoints, position numbers, and
parts lists (on a drawing) from Genius 13/Ge­nius 14 to AutoCAD Mechanical 6 format.

Converts all symbols from Genius 13/14 to
AutoCAD Mechanical 6 format.

Switches between model and drawing modes.AMMODE

Moves dimensions on drawings while main­taining their association to the drawing view
geometry.

Moves a drawing view to another location in
the drawing or to another layout while in
Drawing mode.

Describes holes, fits, and standard parts, and
creates associative notes to the drawing with
a leader.

Creates a nut.AMNUT2D

AMOFFSET

AMOPTIONS

Creates new objects at specified distances from
an existing object or through a specified point.

Sets configurations. Merged with AutoCAD
command OPTIONS.

Creates and places a parts list in a drawing.AMPARTLIST

26 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Creates part references.AMPARTREF

Edits part reference data.AMPARTREFEDIT

AMPIN2D

AMPLBEAR2D

AMPLOTDATE

AMPOWERCOPY

AMPOWERDIM

Creates cylindrical pins, cotter pins, taper pins,
and grooved drive studs.

Inserts a plain bearing on a shaft or in a
housing.

Inserts the current date in the lower right
corner of the title block.

Creates a plain rivet.AMPLRIVET2D

Creates a plug.AMPLUG2D

Copies an object with its internal information
to another position in the drawing.

Creates power dimensions, or assigns toler­ances or fits to power dimensions.

Creates aligned linear dimensions.AMPOWERDIM_ALI

Command Summary | 27

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMPOWERDIM_ANG

AMPOWERDIM_ARCLEN

AMPOWERDIM_BAS

AMPOWERDIM_CHAIN

AMPOWERDIM_DIA

Creates an angular dimension showing the
angle between three points or the angle be­tween two lines, or the angle an arc subtends
on its center.

Creates an create an arc length dimension for
arcs.

Creates a linear or angular dimension from
the baseline of an existing dimension.

Creates a linear, angular, or arc length dimen­sion from the second extension line of an ex­isting dimension.

Creates diameter dimensions for arcs and cir­cles.

Creates horizontal linear dimensions.AMPOWERDIM_HOR

AMPOWERDIM_JOG

Creates radius dimension with a jog at a con­venient location and the origin of the dimen­sion at any location you wish.

Creates radius dimensions for arcs and circles.AMPOWERDIM_RAD

Creates rotated linear dimensions.AMPOWERDIM_ROT

28 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Creates vertical linear dimensions.AMPOWERDIM_VER

AMPOWEREDIT

AMPOWERRECALL

AMPOWERSNAP

AMPROJO

Starts the command with which the selected
object was created to edit the object.

Deletes selected objects.AMPOWERERASE

Starts the command with which the selected
object was created, to create a new object.

Sets object snap modes, polar snap, and filters
for object snaps.

Creates top or side views of standard parts.AMPOWERVIEW

Creates a projection crosshairs used for creat­ing orthographic views.

Controls the scale of all drawing symbols.AMPSCALE

Sets user-defined snap settings on tab 1.AMPSNAP1

Sets user-defined snap settings on tab 2.AMPSNAP2

Sets user-defined snap settings on tab 3.AMPSNAP3

Command Summary | 29

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Sets user-defined snap settings on tab 4.AMPSNAP4

Snaps the rectangle center.AMPSNAPCEN

Switches the entity filter on or off.AMPSNAPFILTERO

Snaps to the middle of two points.AMPSNAPMID

Snaps to a reference point.AMPSNAPREF

Snaps to a relative point.AMPSNAPREL

AMPSNAPVINT

AMPSNAPZO

AMRECTANG

Snaps to a virtual intersection point of two
lines.

Switches snapping of the Z coordinate on or
off.

Creates a rectangle by defining its starting and
endpoint. See Appendix A, Design Toolbar ­Draw - Rectangle for more rectangle com­mands.

Saves REFEDIT working set changes.AMREFCLOSE

30 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMREFCOPY

AMREFDIM

AMRESCALE

AMREVLINE

Copies objects from other blocks to the
REFEDIT working set.

Creates reference dimensions between the
part edges created in Model mode and lines,
arcs, circles, ellipses created in Drawing mode.

Rescales dimensions and symbols in model
and layout.

Switches revision lists on or off.AMREV

Inserts a revision list into a drawing or adds
an additional revision line to an existing revi­sion list.

Updates revision lists.AMREVUPDATE

Creates plain and countersunk rivets.AMRIVET2D

AMROLBEAR2D

AMSACTIVATE

AMSBASE

Inserts a radial or axial roller bearing on a shaft
or in a housing.

Selects folder(s) or view folder(s) in mechanical
structure and sets them as the active edit tar­get.

Specifies new base points for folders or views
that can be activated.

Allows scaling for entities in X and Y direction.AMSCALEXY

Command Summary | 31

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMSCAREA

AMSCATALOG

AMSCMONITOR

AMSCOPYDEF

AMSCREATE

Creates a scale area (an area that has a scale
that is different to model space scale) in
model space.

Opens the structure catalog dialog box, which
gives you the ability to insert structure compo­nents to the current drawing as external refer­ences and manage them.

Opens the structure catalog dialog boxAMSCATALOGOPEN

Closes the structure catalog dialog box.AMSCATALOGCLOSE

Views and edits the scale of scale areas or
viewports.

Copies the definitions of instanced folders,
components or views in the mechanical
structure environment.

Creates components, component views, fold­ers, and annotation views in drawings in the
mechanical structure environment.

Creates a screw or bolt.AMSCREW2D

AMSCREWCALC

Calculates factors of safety for parts of a screw
connection.

Opens the Screw Connection dialog box.AMSCREWCON2D

32 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

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DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMSCREWMACRO2D

AMSEALS2D

AMSEDIT

AMSEXTERNALIZE

Opens the Screw Assembly Templates dialog
box.

Generates scripts.AMSCRIPT

Creates a sealing ring for use under a plug.AMSEALRING2D

Inserts a seal or O-ring with the appropriate
groove in a shaft.

Creates cutting plane lines.AMSECTIONLINE

Directly manipulates the contents of an active
folder or view in the mechanical structure en­vironment.

Sets up a drawing.AMSETUPDWG

Moves a structure component from the cur­rent drawing to a new drawing file and con­verts it to an external reference component.

AMSHAFT2D

AMSHAFTCALC

AMSHAFTEND

Creates rotationally symmetric shaft parts and
inner and outer shaft contours.

Calculates deflection line, bending moment,
torsion moment, supporting force, torque ro­tation angle, equivalent tension, and the
safety factor of shafts.

Creates a zigzag line, a free-hand line, or loop
to represent a shaft end.

Command Summary | 33

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMSHAFTKEY2D

AMSHAFTLNUT2D

AMSHIDE

AMSINSERT

Inserts a parallel or woodruff key with the ap­propriate keyseat in a shaft.

Creates a shaft lock nut including the lock
washer and inserts both in a shaft.

Creates and edits hide situations in the me­chanical structure environment.

Edits hide situations created with AMSHIDE.AMSHIDEEDIT

Creates a shim ring on a shaft.AMSHIMRING2D

Creates seam and fillet simple welds.AMSIMPLEWELD

Inserts a new instance of a component view,
folder or annotation view in model space, in
the mechanical structure environment.

AMSLOCALIZE

AMSMOVE

AMSNAVMODE

Converts an external reference component to
a local component on the current drawing.

Moves objects and their associated occur­rences in one or more folders or views to an­other folder or view in the mechanical struc­ture environment.

Toggles the Design Navigation mode on and
off.

34 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

AMSNEW

AMSPURGE

AMSREPLACEDEF

AMSTDPLIB

AMSTDPLIBEDIT

Creates and manages new folders, compo­nents, and annotation views in the mechanical
structure environment.

Draws sprockets or pulleys.AMSPROCKET

Removes unused structure objects, including
folders, components, views, and annotation
views in the mechanical structure environ­ment.

Replaces the definition of a folder or view with
another definition of objects in the mechanical
structure environment.

Opens the Standard Parts Database dialog box
for selection.

Opens the Standard Parts Database dialog box
for editing.

Changes the representation of a standard part.AMSTDPREP

Creates a steel shape.AMSTLSHAP2D

Changes the text style to italic.AMSTYLEITAL

Changes the text style to simplex.AMSTYLESIMP

Command Summary | 35

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Changes the text style to standard.AMSTYLESTAND

Changes the text style to TXT.AMSTYLETXT

Creates surface texture symbols.AMSURFSYM

Appends or removes a leader.AMSYMLEADER

Draws symmetrical lines.AMSYMLINE

Creates a standard related tapped blind hole.AMTAPBHOLE2D

Creates a taper hole with an external thread.AMTAPETHREAD2D

Creates a taper hole with an internal thread.AMTAPITHREAD2D

Creates a taper pin.AMTAPERPIN2D

AMTAPTHOLE2D

Creates a standard related tapped through
hole.

Creates a taper or slope symbol.AMTAPERSYM

36 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Inserts mtext with 3.5 mm height.AMTEXT3

AMTEXT5

AMTEXTHORIZ

AMTEXTSIZE

Inserts mtext with 5 mm height. See Appendix
A, Assistance Toolbar - Text for more text
commands.

Inserts mtext with 7 mm height.AMTEXT7

Centers text horizontally and vertically.AMTEXTCENT

Centers text centered horizontally around the
selected point.

Aligns mtext to the right.AMTEXTRIGHT

Sets text to its default size in model space and
layout, and defines a height for an inserted
text.

Creates text with the text style to TXT.AMTEXTTXT

Creates a standard related through hole.AMTHOLE2D

Creates a thread end.AMTHREADEND2D

Command Summary | 37

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Inserts a title block and a drawing border.AMTITLE

AMTOR2D

Designs, calculates, and inserts torsion springs,
and inserts spring specification tables in
drawings.

Traces contours on construction lines.AMTRCONT

Creates a standard related through slot.AMTSLOT2D

Creates a user-defined blind hole.AMUBHOLE2D

Creates a user-defined blind slot.AMUBSLOT2D

Creates a user-defined counterbore.AMUCOUNTB2D

Creates a user-defined countersink.AMUCOUNTS2D

38 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

Creates an undercut on a shaft.AMUNDERCUT2D

Inserts a user-defined hatch.AMUSERHATCH

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Creates a user-defined slot.AMUTSLOT2D

Connects to a database.AMVARIODB

Zooms the view according to the limits.AMVIEWALL

Zooms the center of the viewports.AMVIEWCEN

AMVIEWLL

AMVIEWLR

AMVIEWUL

AMVIEWUR

Zooms the predefined lower-left quarter of
the drawing.

Zooms the predefined lower-right quarter of
the drawing.

Zooms the predefined upper-left quarter of
the drawing.

Zooms the predefined upper-right quarter of
the drawing.

Creates a viewport in layout.AMVPORT

Creates viewports automatically.AMVPORTAUTO

Resets the viewports to the default scale factor.AMVPZOOMALL

Creates a washer.AMWASHER2D

Command Summary | 39

ton

DescriptionCommand NameToolbut-

Creates a welding symbol.AMWELDSYM

Controls the representation of xrefs.AMXREFSET

Draws zigzag lines.AMZIGZAGLINE

Displays a selected area in another viewport.AMZOOMVP

SAVEAS

Saves a file into a different file format for use
in more than one version of AutoCAD Mechan­ical.

40 | Chapter 2 Commands in AutoCAD Mechanical

Design and Annotation
Tools

The tutorials in this section teach you how to use the tools in AutoCAD® Mechanical for
design, annotation, and productivity. The lessons include step-by-step instructions and helpful
illustrations. You learn how to work with templates and layers, mechanical structure, model
space and layouts, dimensions, steel shapes, bills of material (BOMs) and parts lists. Instructions
on how to prepare your designs for final documentation are also included.

41

42

Working with Templates

3

In this tutorial, you learn about the predefined templates and how to create your own
user-defined templates in AutoCAD® Mechanical.

Key Terms

DefinitionTerm

base layer

layer group

part layers

template

A layer made up of working layers and standard parts layers. Base
layers are repeated in every layer group.

A group of associated or related items in a drawing. A major advantage
of working with layer groups is that you can deactivate a specific
layer group and a complete component. The drawing and its overview
are enhanced with a reduction in regeneration time.

A layer where the standard parts are put. All standard parts layers
have the suffix AM_*N.

A file with predefined settings to use for new drawings. However, any
drawing can be used as a template.

The layer where you are currently working.working layer

43

Working with Templates

In AutoCAD Mechanical, you can use templates (*.dwt files) to create drawings.

Predefined templates, which contain settings for various drawings, such as
am_iso.dwt or am_ansi.dwt, are supplied with AutoCAD Mechanical. You can
create your own templates, or use any drawing as a template. When you use
a drawing as a template, the settings in that drawing are used in the new
drawing.

Although you can save any drawing as a template, prepare templates to include
settings and drawing elements that are consistent with your company or
project standards, such as the following items:

■ unit type and precision

■ drawing limits

■ snap, grid, and ortho settings

■ layer organization

■ title blocks, borders, and logos

■ dimension and text styles

■ linetypes and lineweights

If you start a drawing from scratch, AutoCAD Mechanical reads the system
defaults from the registry. The system defaults have a predefined standard.

If you create a new drawing based on an existing template and make changes
to the drawing, those changes do not affect the template.

To begin working with templates immediately, you can use the predefined
template files.

However, for this tutorial you create your own template.

Setting Mechanical Options

In the Options dialog box, you can specify general settings for AutoCAD
Mechanical, Autodesk® Mechanical Desktop®, and AutoCAD®. Tabs that affect
settings for either Mechanical Desktop or AutoCAD Mechanical, or both, have
an AM prefix. Use the arrows at the right end of the tab bar to move left and
right through all of the available tabs.

44 | Chapter 3 Working with Templates

To set mechanical options

1 Start the Mechanical Options command. On the command line, enter

AMOPTIONS.

2 In the Options dialog box, AM:Structure tab, clear the Enable Structure

check box, and then choose Apply.

3 On the AM:Standards tab, specify:

Standard: ISO

Measurement: Metric

Model Scale: 1:1

Click OK.

NOTE All settings in this dialog that are stored in the drawing (template) are

marked with this icon: The current standard and all related settings are
listed in the right section.

Setting Mechanical Options | 45

Specifying Drawing Limits

Specify the drawing limits according to size A0 (840 x 1188 mm). This limits
your drawing space to the specified size.

To specify the drawing limits

1 Start the Drawing Limits command. On the command line, enter LIMITS.

2 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.00,0.00>: Press ENTER

Specify upper right corner <420.00,297.00>:

Enter 841, 1189, press ENTER

The limits are expanded to A0 format.

Saving Templates

Save the previously changed drawing as a template.

To save a template

1 Start the Save As command. On the command line, enter SAVEAS.

2 In the Save Drawing As dialog box, specify:

Files of type: AutoCAD Mechanical Drawing Template (*.dwt)

File name: my_own_template

46 | Chapter 3 Working with Templates

Click Save.

3 In the Template Description dialog box, specify:

Description: Tutorial Template

Measurement: Metric

Click OK.

4 Close the drawing.

Using Templates

Use the previously created template to start a new drawing.

Using Templates | 47

To open a template

1 Start the New command. On the command line, enter NEW.

2 In the Select template dialog box, select my_own_template.dwt, and then

choose Open.

Start the new drawing using the settings of the previously saved template.

Setting Default Standards Templates

Specify your template as the default template.

To set a default template

1 Start the Mechanical Options command. On the command line, enter

AMOPTIONS.

2 In the Options dialog box, AM:Standards tab, choose Browse.

48 | Chapter 3 Working with Templates

3 In the Open dialog box, select my_own_template.dwt, and then choose

Open.

4 In the Options dialog box, Click OK.

The template my_own_template is used as the default standards template
until you specify a different default template.

NOTE The default standards template is used if a drawing does not contain
any AutoCAD Mechanical configuration. If a drawing already contains
AutoCAD Mechanical configuration data, or a new drawing has been created
using an AutoCAD Mechanical template, the default template does not affect
the drawing.

This is the end of this tutorial chapter.

Setting Default Standards Templates | 49

50

Using Mechanical
Structure

In this tutorial, you learn how to use mechanical structure in AutoCAD® Mechanical. You
learn how to work with folders, components and component views. You also review the bill
of materials, restructure components and resolve ghost components. You learn how to insert
components from external files, edit in-place, localize external components and externalize
local components.

4

Key Terms

DefinitionTerm

annotation view

associative

A folder that contains one or more component views dedicated
to annotating and detailing parts and subassemblies.

In mechanical structure, the implication that a change to one
instance of a definition is reflected in all other instances of that
definition, including the definition itself.

mechanical browser

component

A browser that contains the hierarchy of components, compo­nent views, annotation views, and folders of a given mechanical
structure.

A browser placeholder and identification for the component
type. A component is analogous to the manufacturing units of
parts and assemblies.

51

DefinitionTerm

component view
folder

definition

elemental geometry

in the Create Hide
Situation dialog box)

geometry

object

A folder nested under a component that contains the geometry
for a particular view of that component.

A description of a folder, component, or view that AutoCAD
Mechanical saves in the database, similar to a block definition.

The graphical elements of a drawing that represent the shape
and size of a part or assembly.

A unit of elemental geometry.free object (as used

The graphical elements of a drawing that represent the shape
and size of a part or assembly.

Geometry that is included in a hide situation.hidden geometry

An iteration of a definition as it appears in mechanical structure.instance

Used variously to describe any item in mechanical structure,
whether a component, folder, or geometry.

occurrence

Placement of a component, usually in multiple-level assemblies,
where a component is replicated as a result of multiple place­ments of a single part or subassembly.

Working with Mechanical Structure

Mechanical structure is a set of tools used to organize data for reuse. Structure
is graphically represented by a tree called the Mechanical Browser.

52 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

The Mechanical Browser and structure tools are not displayed by default. To
display them, you must switch to the structure workspace.First, you must
create a new drawing and enable mechanical structure.

To display the Mechanical Browser

1 On the command line, enter WORKSPACE and press ENTER.

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter workspace option

[setCurrent/SAveas/Edit/Rename/Delete/SEttings/?]:

Enter C and press ENTER

Enter name of workspace to make current [?] <Current Workspace>:

Enter Structure and press ENTER

Even though you switch to the Structure Workspace, mechanical structure is
not switched on automatically.

To enable mechanical structure

■ Click the STRUCT status bar button and ensure that it lights up.

Working with Mechanical Structure | 53

Folders

The basic element of mechanical structure is the folder. A folder is similar to
a block in that it has a definition that can be instanced multiple times. Like
a block, the definition is stored away in the nongraphical area of the drawing.
Similar to blocks, any change you make to the folder definition is reflected in
all instances of that folder.

Creating Folders

1 Use the Circle tool to create a circle. The size and proportions are not

important.

2 Use the Rectangle tool to draw a rectangle around the circle.

3 Right-click anywhere in the browser, and select New ➤ Folder.

4 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter folder name <Folder1>: Press ENTER

Select objects for new folder:

Select the circle and then the rectangle and press ENTER

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the rectangle

Modifying Folders

While folders are similar to blocks, there are significant differences. The most
significant, is that the contents of a folder remain editable without the need
for a special editing mode such as REFEDIT.

54 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

To grip edit the circle

1 Continue clicking the circle until you see the word CIRCLE in the tooltip

window.

2 Select a grip, drag and then click.

If a folder's contents are selectable, how do you select the folder? This is where
the tooltip comes in. You select folders (and other elements of structure) by
cycling through a selection, and the tooltip tells you what you are selecting.
In the next exercise, you copy the folder to demonstrate structure selection.

To copy the folder

1 Press ESC to clear any preselection.

2 On the command line, enter COPY and press ENTER.

3 Continue clicking the circle until you see the word Folder1:1 in the tooltip

window.

4 Press ENTER to complete selection, then pick points to finish the copy.

5 Press ESC to finish.

Modifying Folders | 55

The Mechanical Browser shows a second instance of the folder (Folder1:2),
implying that you copied the folder, not just the contents.

In the next exercise you modify the contents of a folder to demonstrate that
modifying one instance of a folder updates both.

To edit an instance

1 Continue clicking a circle until you see the word CIRCLE in the tooltip

window.

2 Press DELETE. Note how the circle is deleted from both instances.

Next, you add new geometry to a folder. Before you add geometry you must
activate the folder to make it the active edit target. This ensures that geometry
is added to the folder and not to model space.

To activate and add geometry

1 In the browser, right-click Folder1:1 and select Activate. The geometry

that does not belong to this folder is dimmed out.

2 Use LINE to draw two diagonal lines from corner to corner on the

rectangle. Note that the lines appear in the other instance as soon as the
command is completed.

56 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

3 Double-click a vacant area in the browser to reset activation.

Nesting Folders

Like blocks, folders can be nested. However, a folder cannot be nested within
itself, which is about the only restriction on folder nesting.

1 Draw a small circle in the lower triangle in the second instance of the

folder.

2 Draw a line from the center of the circle to the 3 o’clock quadrant of the

circle.

3 In the browser, right-click Folder1:2 and select New Folder.

4 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter folder name <Folder2>: Press ENTER

Nesting Folders | 57

Select objects for new folder:

Select the circle and then the line, press ENTER

Specify base point: Select the center of the circle.

5 Expand Folder1:1 and Folder 1:2 and verify that a nested folder was

created.

6 In the browser, right-click Folder1:2 again and select Insert Folder.

7 Respond to the prompts as below:

Enter folder name to insert or [?] <?>: Enter Folder2, press ENTER

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate 90]:

Click in the triangle on the right, in the second instance of Folder1

Specify rotation angle <0>: Enter 45, press ENTER

58 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

Notice that when you added the nested folders, both instances updated,
as when you added the lines. Folder2:1 was created as a child of Folder1:2
because we chose New Folder from its context menu, and Folder2:2 was
inserted into Folder1:2 for the same reason. Note that as with blocks, you
were able to rotate the folder instance on insertion.

Instance vs. Occurrence

To finish with folders, you inspect a few browser functions such as visibility
and property overrides. While performing these exercises you learn the
difference between instances and occurrences.

To override properties

1 In the browser, right-click Folder1:1 and select Property Overrides.

2 In the Property Overrides dialog box, select the Enable overrides check

box.

3 Select the Color check box, The default color changes to red.

4 Click OK.

Note how the entire instance, inclusive of the nested folders is now red.
Also note how the color change did not have an effect on Folder1:2.

5 In the browser, right-click Folder1:1 again, and select Property Overrides

6 In the Property Overrides dialog box, clear the Enable overrides check

box, and click OK.

7 In the browser, right click Folder1:1 ➤ Folder2:1 and select property

overrides.

8 Apply a color override of red to the folder.

Instance vs. Occurrence | 59

The subfolder you selected is now red, but the other subfolder is not.
Notice that the same subfolder under Folder1:2 has changed color to red.
This is because property overrides are instance-based. When you look at
visibility you will understand why this matters.

To apply visibility overrides

1 In the browser, right-click Folder1:1 and select Visible. The entire folder

is now invisible.

2 In the browser, right-click Folder1:1 and select Visible. The folder is visible

again.

3 In the browser, right-click Folder1:1\Folder2:2 and select Visible. Notice

that unlike the property overrides, both instances of Folder2 are visible
in Folder1:2. That's because visibility is occurrence-based.

Selection Modes

There are three status bar buttons that control the different selection modes.
These buttons are not visible by default and you must display them first.

To display the selection mode status bar buttons

1 Click the Drawing Status Bar Menu arrow at the right end of the drawing

status bar.

60 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

2 Turn on the Status Toggles ➤ S-LOCK, Status Toggles ➤ R-LOCK and

Status Toggles ➤ Top Down/Bottom up options.

FunctionButton

BTM-UP/TOP-DN

R-LOCK

S-LOCK

Switches the structure selection order between bottom-up and
top-down.

Switches the Reference Lock on and off. When the Reference Lock
is on, you cannot select entities in an external folder or view (more
on this later).

Switches the Selection Lock on and off. When the Selection Lock
is on, selection is restricted to the active edit target and below.

The next two exercises demonstrate the behavior of the BTM-UP/TOP-DN and
S-LOCK selection modes.

To select items when the selection mode is set to top-down

1 Press ESC to clear any preselection.

2 Click the BTM-UP/TOP-DN button and ensure that the text on the button

reads TOP-DN.

3 Click one of the circles in Folder1:1. Note the tooltip indicates that you

selected the folder, Folder1:1, and not the circle.

4 Click the circle again. Note the tooltip indicates that you selected the

nested folder.

5 Click the circle again. Note the tooltip indicates that you have finally

managed to select the circle.

6 Click the circle again. Selection cycles to Folder1:1 again.

When the selection mode is set to top-down, the selection sequence begins
at the topmost level and ends with the elemental geometry. When the selection
mode is set to bottom-up the selection begins with the elemental geometry.

You may want to set the selection mode and repeat the exercise to verify the
behavior of the selection modes under the bottom-up.

Selection Modes | 61

To select items when S-LOCK is on

1 Press ESC to clear any preselection.

2 In the browser, double-click Folder1:1 to activate it.

3 Click the S-LOCK button and latch it down to turn on the selection lock.

4 Click one of the circles in Folder1:2. Note that the circle is no longer

selectable.

5 Click one of the circles in Folder1:1. Grips appear, indicating that selection

is possible.

6 Double-click the root of the Mechanical Browser tree to reset activation.

7 Close the drawing. You can save the drawing, if required.

Components and Component Views

You may notice that folders provide some useful features, but they're probably
not different enough from blocks to convince you to change over to the
structure paradigm. The true potential of mechanical structure becomes visible
only when you start dealing with components and component views.

Component Views are basically folders with some extra rules that make them
more suitable for mechanical design. You typically need more than one view
to fully describe a part or assembly. Folders (and blocks before them) don't
offer any mechanism other than naming to associate multiple views of the
same part. Components and views solve this by allowing you to collect multiple
folders (component views) under a single Component.

A component can be a part or assembly, based on its contents (if a component
contains another component, it's an assembly). The component also gives
you a place to store attributes like description and material. Components don't
actually contain geometry; they group the views that contain the geometry.
This will begin to make more sense when you create some components and
component views.

Creating Part Components

1 Start a new drawing and draw a long thin rectangle (the edge view of a

plate).

62 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

2 Draw a second rectangle, above the first, having the same width (the top

view).

3 Right-click anywhere in the browser, and select New ➤ Component.

4 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new component name <COMP1>: Press ENTER

Enter new view name <Top>: Press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Select the larger rectangle and press ENTER

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the rectangle

Note that the Mechanical Browser now displays the component COMP1:1
and that it contains the component view; Top, below it.

To add a new view to a component

1 In the browser, right-click COMP1:1 and select New ➤ Component

View.

2 Accept the default name for the component view.

3 Select the smaller rectangle and press ENTER.

4 To specify a base point, click the lower left corner of the rectangle. Note

that the new component view, Front, was added to the component
COMP1:1

Creating Part Components | 63

Creating Assembly Components

You now have two component views; Front and Top, and they are grouped
together in the browser by COMP1:1. In the next exercise, you insert another
instance of COMP1 and assemble the two components (parts) in an “L” shape.

To insert a new instance of a component

1 In the browser, right-click a vacant area, and select Insert ➤ Component.

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter component name or [?] <?>: Enter COMP1 and press ENTER

Enter component view name or [?] <Top>: Enter Front and press ENTER

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View]:

Pick point 1, the top left corner of the larger rectangle

Specify rotation angle <0>: Press ENTER

64 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

3 In the browser, right-click COMP1:2 and select Insert ➤ Component

View ➤ Top.

4 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View]:

Pick point 2, the lower left corner of the front view of COMP1:1

Specify rotation angle <0>: Press ENTER.

To assemble components

1 Right-click anywhere In the browser, and select New ➤ Component.

Creating Assembly Components | 65

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new component name <COMP2>: Enter ASSY and press ENTER

Enter new view name <Top>: Enter Front and press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Select COMP1:1 (Front) and COMP1:2 (Top) and press ENTER

To select a component view instead of the geometry, continue clicking
the geometry until you see the component view name in the tooltip
window. If you accidentally select the wrong view, you can cancel the
selection by selecting the view again with the SHIFT key pressed.

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the combined view.

The Component Restructure dialog box is displayed.

3 In the Destination Components list, right-click a vacant area, and select

Create New View.

4 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new view name <Top>: Press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Select COMP1:1 (Top) and COMP1:2 (Front), press ENTER

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the combined view

66 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

Modifying Assembly Components

As you work, you can continue to add views as needed. To demonstrate this,
in the next exercise, you add a side view of this assembly.

To add a component view

1 Draw a rectangle representing the side view of the first instance of COMP1.

2 In the browser, right-click ASSY:1 and select New ➤ Component View.

3 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Enter new view name <Right>: Enter Side and press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Don’t pick anything, press ENTER

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the rectangle

4 In the browser, right-click COMP1:1 and select New ➤ Component

View.

5 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new view name <Right>: Enter Side, press ENTER

Specify parent view or [?] <Front>: Enter Side, press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Pick the rectangle and press ENTER

Modifying Assembly Components | 67

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the rectangle

6 In the browser, right-click COMP1:2 and select Insert ➤ Component

View ➤ Side.

7 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Specify parent view or [?] <Front>: Enter Side, press ENTER

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View]:

Enter R, press ENTER

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View]:

Pick a place close to the other view

Specify rotation angle <90>: Press ENTER

8 Move the view into the correct position.

68 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

In the next exercise, you add a component to the assembly to demonstrate
the ability to add a component after the assembly is created.

To add a component

1 Draw a circle on the top view of the assembly.

2 In the browser, right-click ASSY:1(Top) and select New ➤ Component.

3 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new component name <COMP2>: Press ENTER

Enter new view name <Top>: Press ENTER

Select objects for new component view: Select the circle, press ENTER

Specify base point: Click the center of the circle

Modifying Assembly Components | 69

4 Draw a rectangle representing the projected view in the front view of the

assembly

5 Right-click COMP2:1 and select New ➤ Component View.

6 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new view name <Front>: Enter Side, press ENTER

Specify parent view or [?] <Front>: Press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Select the rectangle, press ENTER

Specify base point: Pick the midpoint of the lower edge of the rectangle

70 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

7 In the browser, right-click COMP2:1 and select Insert ➤ Component

View ➤ Side.

8 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Specify parent view or [?] <Front>: Enter Side, press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Select the rectangle, press ENTER

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate
90/select next View]: Pick the midpoint of the lower rectangle in the Side

view of ASSY1

Using Folders with Component Views

When folders are used in conjunction with component views, you can do
several useful things. This section shows two examples.

You can use folders to contain drawing items that would otherwise not be
accounted for with a default component view folder.

In the following example, a folder, Groove:1, was created to contain the upper
groove and arrayed to create the others. Because the groove is implemented
as a folder, it does not have an impact on the BOM. Modifying one of the
grooves results in all grooves being updated.

Using Folders with Component Views | 71

In the following example, a folder, Profile:1, was created to contain the
upper-wheel profile. Profile:2 is another instance of this folder, created by
mirroring Profile:1. Changing one profile automatically updates the other.
The wheel component was created after the Profile folders. The design intent
is captured and organized with these folders.

Mechanical Browser Display Options

The Mechanical Browser shows the hierarchical organization of components
within a drawing. In this section, you use browser options to show data in
different ways to get a better understanding of components and component
views.

The default view of the Mechanical Browser shows the hierarchical organization
of components as well as indicates which component owns a given component
view.

72 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

To show the View Tree and Component Tree

1 Right-click the root node of the Mechanical Browser and select Browser

Options.

2 In the View Tree section, select the Display Tree check box.

3 In the Component Tree section, clear the Component Views check box.

4 Click OK.

5 Right-click a vacant area in the Mechanical Browser and select Expand

All.

In this view, the hierarchy of components as well as views are shown.

Mechanical Browser Display Options | 73

To show both default and expandable assembly views

1 Right-click the root node of the Mechanical Browser and select Browser

Options.

2 In the Component Tree section, select the Component Views check box.

3 Click OK.

In this view, the Mechanical Browser shows the hierarchy of components,
component views as well as indicates which component owns a given
component view. In practice, you can work with the view settings that makes
most sense to you.

Mechanical Browser and BOMs

Components not only group component views, they hold bills of material
(BOM) attributes as well. In the next exercise, you insert a parts list and in the
process, explore the BOM of the simple assembly you created.

74 | Chapter 4 Using Mechanical Structure

To insert a parts list

1 On the command line, enter AMBOM.

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Specify BOM to create or set current [Main/?] <MAIN>: Press ENTER

3 In the BOM dialog box, click the plus sign (+) in the first column to

expand ASSY.

4 Click the Insert Parts list button on the toolbar of the BOM dialog box.

5 In the Parts List dialog box, click OK and click inside the drawing to

indicate where to insert the parts list.

6 In the BOM dialog box, click OK.

Mechanical Browser and BOMs | 75

By associating views through a single component, the BOM is managed
accurately and semi-automatically. You can manage component attributes
through the BOM editor or directly on the component from the
Mechanical Browser.

Browser Restructure and Ghost Components

In the next exercise you restructure COMP1:1 and COMP2:1 to be parts of an
assembly named SUB-ASSY. To do this, you must create SUB-ASSY first.

To create a component

1 Right-click a vacant area in the Mechanical Browser and choose New ➤

Component.

2 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Enter new component name <COMP3>: Enter SUB-ASSY, press ENTER

Enter new view name <Top>: Press ENTER

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Select objects for new component view:

Select COMP1:1 (Top) and COMP2:1 (Top), press ENTER

To select a component view instead of the geometry, continue clicking
the geometry until you see the component view name in the tooltip
window. If you accidentally select the wrong view, you can cancel the
selection by selecting the view again with the SHIFT key pressed.

Specify base point: Pick the lower left corner of the combined view

The Component Restructure dialog box is displayed.

3 Observe the Mechanical Browser.

Browser Restructure and Ghost Components | 77

Note that the component SUB-ASSY is already created (1) and COMP1:1
and COMP2:1 are components of it. Also, the COMP1:1 and COMP2:1
continue to exist as components of ASSY1 (2), but the icon changed. This
icon indicates that the component is a Ghost Component. Ghost
components are containers of the views of components that are in an
intermediate state of restructure.

To learn how to resolve ghost components, you must stop creating
SUB-ASSY at this point.

4 Click OK. You now have two ghost components in the Mechanical

Browser.

Before you start resolving ghost components, you must add two
component views to the component SUB-ASSY.

5 In the Mechanical Browser, right-click SUB-ASSY:1 and select New ➤

Component View.

6 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Enter new view name <Front>: Press ENTER

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Select objects for new component view:

Don’t pick anything, press ENTER

Specify base point:

Pick the lower left corner of the large rectangle in the lower left of the drawing

7 In the Mechanical Browser, right-click SUB-ASSY:1 and select New ➤

Component View again.

8 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new view name <Right>: Enter Side, press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Don’t pick anything, press ENTER

Specify base point:

Pick the lower left corner of the assembly displayed in the lower right of the
drawing

Browser Restructure and Ghost Components | 79

To resolve ghost components

1 In the Mechanical Browser, click the ghost component COMP1:1, press

the CTRL key and click COMP2:1. Both components are selected.

2 Drag to SUB-ASSY1. The Component Restructure dialog box is displayed.

3 In the Source Component Views list, with the CTRL key pressed select

COMP1:1(Front) and COMP2:1(Side).

4 Drag to SUB-ASSY1(Front). The views move from the Source Component

Views list to the Destination Component Views list.

5 Drag the remaining views in the Source Component Views list to

SUB-ASSY1:(Side) in the Destination Component Views list.

6 Click OK.

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The ghost components disappear and COMP1:1 and COMP2:1 are now parts
of SUB-ASSY1.

In the final exercise of browser restructure, you restructure SUB-ASSY1 to be
a subassembly of ASSY1.

To restructure components

1 In the Mechanical Browser, drag SUB-ASSY:1 ➤ Front to ASSY:1 ➤

Front. The Restructure components dialog box is displayed.

2 Drag SUB-ASSY:1 (Top) to ASSY:1 (Top) and SUB-ASSY:1 (Side) to ASSY:1

(Side).

3 Click OK. SUB-ASSY1 is restructured as a subassembly of ASSY:1

Browser Restructure and Ghost Components | 81

External Reference Components

In AutoCAD Mechanical, you can save individual parts and subassemblies in
external files and share them between designs. When a part is modified, the
changes are propagated to all instances, ensuring that assembly drawings are
always synchronized with their related part drawings.

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Inserting External Components

In this exercise, you insert a Gripper on to a Gripper Plate drawing.

1 Open the file Tut_Gripper_Plate.dwg in the tutorials folder. On the

command line, enter OPEN.

NOTE The path to the tutorials folder is;

■ Windows Vista

2009\Acadm\Tutorial

■ Windows

Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2009\Acadm\Tutorial

The drawing contains two views of a gripper plate and contains two
construction lines.

2 To keep the original file intact, save the file as Gripper.dwg

3 Display the Structure Catalog. On the command line, enter AMSCATALOG.

4 In the Files tab, navigate to the tutorials folder and select Tut_Gripper.dwg.

NOTE The path to the tutorials folder is;

■ Windows Vista: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Autodesk\ACADM

2009\Acadm\Tutorial

™

:C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Autodesk\ACADM

®

XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared

■ Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Shared

Documents\Autodesk\ACADM 2009\Acadm\Tutorial

The structure panel shows the mechanical structure components in the
drawing and the preview panel shows a preview of the drawing.

5 In the structure panel, drag GRIPPER ➤ Front to model space.

6 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View]:

Pick the upper left corner of the smaller rectangle

Specify rotation angle <0>: Press ENTER

Note the Mechanical Browser. The external reference (xref) component
is indicated by a blue colored marker.

Inserting External Components | 83

Once one view of an xref component is inserted, the other views can be
inserted as normal.

To insert another view of the xref component

1 In the Mechanical Browser, right-click GRIPPER1 and select Insert from

Xref Drawing ➤ Component View ➤ Top.

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/Select nextView]:

Pick the upper left corner of the larger rectangle

Specify rotation angle <0>: Press ENTER

To insert more instances of the xref component

1 On the command line enter MIRROR and press ENTER.

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

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Select objects:

Ensure that the selection mode is set to TOP-DN and in model space, click both
xref views you inserted, press ENTER

Specify first point of mirror line:

Click anywhere on the vertical construction line

Specify second point of mirror line:

Click elsewhere on the vertical construction line

Erase source objects? [Yes/No] <N>: Enter N and press ENTER

3 In the last column of the Component View Instance Created dialog box,

select New.

A new instance of the component, GRIPPER:2 is created. You will now
mirror the top views of GRIPPER:1 and GRIPPER:2 to draw two more
grippers on the top view of the plate.

4 On the command line enter MIRROR and press ENTER.

5 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Select objects:

Ensure that the selection mode is set to TOP-DN and in model space, click the
top views of the two grippers, press ENTER

Specify first point of mirror line:

Click anywhere on the horizontal construction line

Inserting External Components | 85

Specify second point of mirror line:

Click elsewhere on the horizontal construction line

Erase source objects? [Yes/No] <N>: Enter N and press ENTER

Next, you assemble the components under an assembly, named GRIPPER
ASSEMBLY.

To assemble components

1 Right-click a vacant area in the Mechanical Browser, and select

New ➤ Component.

2 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new view name <Top>: Enter Front and press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Ensure that the selection mode is set to TOP-DN and window select the smaller
rectangle and the two grippers connected to it and press ENTER

Specify base point:

Pick the intersection of the construction line with the upper edge of the rectangle

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The Component Restructure dialog box is displayed.

3 In the Destination Components list, right-click a vacant area, and select

Create New View.

4 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Enter new view name <Top>: Press ENTER

Select objects for new component view:

Ensure that the selection mode is set to TOP-DN and window select the larger
rectangle and the four grippers connected to it and press ENTER

Specify base point: Pick the intersection of the two construction lines

5 Save the file as Gripper Assembly.dwg.

Editing External Components In-place

In AutoCAD Mechanical, you can edit xref components in-place. Although
this is very convenient, if you accidently modify a component, the mistake
effects all drawings that use this xref component. As a precaution, you must
do one of the following before you edit an xref component:

■ Release the R-LOCK status bar button.

■ Activate the xref component view or folder to be edited.

Editing External Components In-place | 87

In the next exercise, you modify the gripper lever using the activate method.

To edit an xref component in place

1 In the Mechanical Browser, double-click Gripper ➤ Front to activate it.

Notice that locks appear on all instances of the gripper in the Mechanical
Browser. This indicates that the source file containing the gripper is now
locked and no one else can modify it.

2 Start the Chamfer command. On the command line, enter AMCHAM2D.

3 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Select first object or [Polyline/Setup/Dimension]: <Setup>

Press ENTER

4 In the Chamfer dialog box, select 10 as the first and second chamfer

lengths, and click OK

5 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Select first object or [Polyline/Setup/Dimension]: <Setup>

Select the left vertical line of the gripper lever (1)

Select second object or <Return for polyline>:

Select the lower horizontal line of the gripper lever (2)

Select object to create original length: Press ESC

6 In the Mechanical Browser, double-click a vacant area to reset activation.

Note that although the xref component view is no longer the active edit
target, the gripper continues to be locked.

7 In the Mechanical Browser, right-click a vacant area, and select Purge All

Locks.

8 In the Purge Locks message box, click OK.

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To verify if the changes were written back to the source file

■ In the Mechanical Browser, right-click GRIPPER1 and select Open to Edit.

The Gripper source file opens.

Note that the component view Open Position has also been modified. How
did this happen?

Expand the component Lever1. Notice that it has two instances of the
component view Front. Another example of how mechanical structure can
eliminate repetitive tasks.

Localizing and Externalizing

To modify a part without effecting other drawings that use the part, you can
localize the xref component. By localizing you copy the definition of the xref
component to the current drawing and the link with the xref file is severed.

To localize an xref component

1 From the Window menu, switch to the Gripper Assembly drawing.

2 In the Mechanical Browser, right-click the GRIPPER assembly node and

select Localize.

3 In the Xref Info message box, click Yes.

The Gripper is no longer an xref component.

To detail a part without loosing associativity between the detail and assembly,
you can externalize the part to a file and detail it in that file. In the next
exercise you externalize the cylinder component.

To externalize a component

1 In the Mechanical Browser, expand one of the Gripper components and

right click CYLINDER:1.

2 Select Externalize.

3 In the New External File dialog box, accept the defaults and click Save.

Note that CYLINDER:1 is an xref component in all instances of the
GRIPPER component.

Localizing and Externalizing | 89

Annotation Views

In some cases, externalizing to detail may be considered excessive. Mechanical
Structure provides for creating Annotation Views, an associative view of a
component purely for the purpose of detailing. Annotation views have no
effect on the BOM.

In the next exercise, you create an annotation view for the LEVER component.

To create an annotation view

1 In the Mechanical Browser, expand one of the Gripper components and

right-click LEVER:1

2 Select New ➤ Annotation View.

3 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Enter annotation view name <LEVER(AV1)>: Press ENTER

Select placement location

[Modelspace/existing Layout/ New layout] <existing Layout>:

Press ENTER

Enter existing layout name <Layout1>: Press ENTER

Enter scale or [Calculate] <1:2>: Press ENTER

--- Switch to Paperspace ---

Restoring cached viewports - Regenerating layout.

Create labels for all subviews [Yes/No] <No>: Press ENTER

Specify base point:

Select a point at the center of the A3 paper for the annotation views

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View/Done] <Done>:

Select a point below and to the right of the point you clicked on previously

Specify rotation angle <0>: Press ENTER

Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate

90/select next View/Done] <Done>:

Use object tracking mode for alignment, select a point directly below the point
you clicked on previously.

Specify rotation angle <0>: Press ENTER

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Specify the insertion point or [change Base point/Rotate
90/select next View/Done] <Done>: Press ENTER

NOTE You can type AMSNEW at the command line to display the New dialog
box to create annotation views.

To annotate the geometry in the annotation view

1 Start the Automatic Dimension command. On the command line, enter

AMAUTODIM.

The Automatic Dimensioning dialog box is displayed.

2 In the Type drop-down list, select Chain and click OK.

3 Respond to the prompts as follows:

Select objects [Block]:

Window-select the larger of the two views in the annotation view

Select objects [Block]: Press ENTER

First extension line origin: Pick the upper left corner of the geometry

Specify dimension line location or [Options/Pickobj]:

Select a point to the left of the geometry

Starting point for next extension line: Press ENTER

Annotation Views | 91

4 Note the dimension of the chamfer section.

To modify the chamfer in the assembly

1 Switch to model space. In the Mechanical Browser, expand GRIPPER:1,

right-click LEVER:1 ➤ Front and select Zoom to.

2 Start the Power Edit command. On the command line, enter

AMPOWEREDIT.

3 Respond to the prompts as shown:

Select object: Select the Chamfer

4 In the Chamfer dialog box, select 2.5 as the First Chamfer Length and 5

as the Second Chamfer Length, and click OK.

5 Switch to layout1. In the Mechanical Browser, right click LEVER(AV1:1)

and select Zoom to.

Note that the Lever shape is changed and the dimensions are updated.

Associative Hide

Mechanical structure is all about reuse, especially reuse of components in an
assembly to show multiple instances of a component and reuse of component
views in the assembly and in the part detail. Component view instances are
often obscured in the assembly, sometimes the same view is even obscured
differently in different instances. This requires a mechanism to make a folder
or component view instance partially or fully hidden without effecting other
view instances. Use Associative hide (AMSHIDE) to do that.

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