Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Engineering Graphics & Drawing

Lab Manual # 1 (Introduction to AutoCAD)
Regd. #: Insert Registration Number here

Introduction:
This lab manual will introduce students to the CAD software, AutoCAD 2012, which will be used for
generating engineering drawings throughout this course. A brief overview of the software will be
followed by introduction and practicing of some basic commands. This initial lab manual one of the
most important manuals of this course because of the fact that the layout, and the environment of
AutoCAD will be described here. Failing to understand the basics of the software will pose major
problems for the students in future. It is once again emphasized that students should go through this
manual carefully and understand each and every command or instruction presented herein.

Equipment Required:
A PC/Laptop with AutoCAD 2012 installed on it.

CLO Covered:
CLO5: Use CAD tool to produce engineering drawings of moderate complexity.
Instructions:

1. Open AutoCAD 2012 by double clicking on its icon situated somewhere on the
desktop.
2. Change the view to AutoCAD Classic by choosing the appropriate option from the menu at
the Quick Access Toolbar.

3. The following figure shows the AutoCAD screen components

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Workspace is the area where a user can work. The workspace is nothing but an XY
Cartesian Plane. X-Axis (shown in Red) is the horizontal axis while Y-axis (shown in
Green) is the vertical axis. Any location on this plane may accessed using XY coordinates of
that location.
Application button displays commands for printing, saving, drawing utilities and other non-
drawing tools.
Quick Access Toolbar is for quick access to common commands like New, Open, Save, Plot
Status Bar allows to see and change different modes of drawing such as Ortho, OSNAPS,
Grid, OTRACK etc.
Menu Bar contains common commands organized into logical categories. Many, but not all
commands are accessible from the menu bar.
View Cube is used to show multiple views of a drawing such as left, right, top, bottom, Front
and Back.
Command Line (white) is the area where user can enter various new commands through a
keyboard. This command line can be used to access various tools, settings, preferences etc.
While, command history (grey) shows the history of previous commands.

4. Before starting any work certain settings should be checked and modified if necessary. The
settings include the Coordinate Entry Settings, Units to be used, Grid size, Object Snaps etc.

a. Coordinate Entry Settings: AutoCAD allows the user to enter coordinates in two
different ways. Absolute Coordinates are the coordinates relative to the WCS (World
Coordinate System). The origin of the WCS is always located at the intersection of X-
(Red) and Y-axis (Green). While, incremental coordinates are the coordinates relative
to UCS (User Coordinate System). When entering Incremental Coordinates, the
origin is always the last used point. Before moving on please change the Coordinate
Entry setting by following the steps lists.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Go to settings (Drafting Settings) as shown in the following figure.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Now in the Drafting Settings, go to Dynamic Input Tab and then click settings under
the Pointer Input section.

Make sure the settings are as shown in the following figure in the Pointer Input
Settings.

b. Units: User can select from a variety of units to be used in his/her engineering
drawing which he/she is going to produce using AutoCAD. In the Format menu, click

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Units to open ‘Drawing Units’ window.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

In the sections of Length and Angle, user can select the type of units and precision,
while from the section of the Insertion Scale appropriate units may be selected.
c. Grid Size: The size of the grid shown in the workspace may be changed as per need.
For this go to Drafting Settings and under the tab of Snap and Grid, a user may
change grid spacing under the Grid Spacing section.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

d. Object Snap: Object snap options are very useful when working on drawing. These
options are in fact aids for the user so that he/she can access certain points instantly.
For example if the user want to access the end-point of a certain line and want the
new line to start from this point, then he/she has to know exact coordinates of the
point otherwise it won’t be possible for him/her to select exactly the required point.
Object snap here helps the user by highlighting and attaching the cursor with the end-
point if ‘end-point snap’ in turned on. User may turn on and off various snaps

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

available from the tab of Object Snap in the drafting settings.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Along with the option of turning snaps on/off a symbol is also presented that will be
shown when the cursor has been snapped to a particular object.

5. Once aforementioned settings have been understood, the user can now start drawing. This lab
manual will include the introduction and use of the most basic commands that are used
frequently when working with AutoCAD. Various drawing tools are available in the ‘Draw’
Toolbar 

6. Line Command: The most basic tool is the Line Tool. User can activate this tool by
clicking on its icon in the ‘Draw’ Toolbar, or by selecting it from the ‘Draw’ menu or by
entering alphabet ‘l’ (ell) in the command line and pressing spacebar.

7. Once the line tool has been activated, use cursor to select the first point for drawing a line or
specify the coordinates of the starting point in the command line.
For example: Entering 3,4 in the command line and pressing enter will specify the first point
as (3,4). Next point can be specified in a number of ways.

a. Move the cursor towards the direction in which you want to draw a line and enter
only the length of the line and press enter. A line of specified length will be drawn in
the direction of the cursor.
b. Specify the absolute coordinates of the next point, for example, 5,5 and press enter. A
line between (3,4) and (5,5) will be drawn.
c. Specify the incremental coordinates of the next point, for example, @4,0 and press
enter. A line having length of 4 in X-axis and 0 in Y-axis will be drawn starting from
(3,4).
d. Specify Polar coordinates of the line vector, for example, @4<45 and press enter. A
line of length 4 at the direction of 45 degrees will be drawn starting from (3,4).
Once you have reached the last point of the figure which you are trying to draw, type ‘c’ and
press enter to close the object and line tool. The object will be closed automatically by joining
the last point with the first point.

8. To delete any object/line the user may select it by clicking it and pressing delete. While no
tool is activated, if the user clicks in the workspace and moves the cursor towards bottom left,
a green selection box will appear. By clicking again the green selection box will disappear
and all objects/lines that touched the selection box will get selected. While if the user clicks in
the workspace and moves the cursor towards upper right corner, a blue selection box will
appear. By clicking again the selection box will disappear and objects/lines that were
completely under the selection box will only get selected.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

9. Rectangle Command: This tool may also be activated by clicking its icon on the ‘Draw’
tool or by selecting it from the ‘Draw’ menu or by entering keyboard shortcut ‘rec’ and
pressing spacebar. Once the tool is activated user can enter the coordinate of the first point
(lower left corner of the rectangle). End point may be entered as absolute coordinate or
incremental coordinate. The end result will be a rectangle polyline. Polyline is a type of line
that may have corners, arcs etc. in it but is treated as a single object.

10. Save a file in AutoCAD: The Save As dialog window in AutoCAD allows selecting
different drawing versions: Click the Save As button from the application button or on the
Quick Access Toolbar or type SAVEAS on the command line. Choose the appropriate file
format (.dwg) version from the Files of Type drop-down menu. Save the file at your desired
location.

Tasks:
Attempt the following tasks and insert only the required answer in the given field. Insert figures
wherever demanded.

Question # 1: List down the steps of generating a rectangle using a line command and incremental
coordinates. The rectangle should have the lower left corner at 5,5 location and length and width of 8
and 8 respectively.

Answer # 1: Write your answer here

Question # 2: List down the steps of generating a rectangle using a line command and absolute
coordinates. The rectangle should have the lower left corner at 6,6 location and length and width of 6
and 6 respectively.

Answer # 2: Write your answer here

Question # 3: List down the steps of generating a rectangle using a rectangle command and
incremental coordinates. The rectangle should have the lower left corner at 6,6 location and length
and width of 4 and 2 respectively.

Answer # 3: Write your answer here

Question # 4: List down the steps of generating a rectangle using a rectangle command and
absolute coordinates. The rectangle should have the lower left corner at 8,10 location and length and
width of 4 and 2 respectively.

Answer # 4: Write your answer here

Question # 5: Draw all four rectangles as instructed in previous questions on AutoCAD and insert the
screenshot in the provided space (You can take a screenshot by pressing ‘Print Screen’ (prt sc) button
and then select the following field of ‘Insert Figure here’ and press Ctrl+V to insert the screenshot.)

Answer # 5: Insert figure here

Question # 6: Summarize what you have learned in this Lab Manual.

Answer # 6: Write your answer here

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)
Lab Manual for Engineering Graphics & Drawing – Mechatronics & Control Engineering, UET, Lahore

Students are advised to fill the manual and email it before the upcoming lab. At the end of the
semester, a lab report will be demanded which should contain all lab manuals.
Kindly rename the file as ‘MCT-111_EGD_2020_LM1_XX’, where XX is your roll number. After filling
the file, email it to qa.masud@uet.edu.pk, having subject exactly same as the file name.

Prepared by: Muhammad Rzi Abbas (Lecturer MCE Dept., UET, Lahore)