AutoCAD Newbie

[davis.sw]

Hey Guys,

Well I'm a 17 year old kid who just got a job at an engineering firm. I'll be doing drafting for an engineer who doesn't know how to use AutoCAD but does everything old school with paper and pencil. Basically, he gave me AutoCAD LT for Dummies and said go learn how.

I've made it pretty far and I can do all of his drafting that he needs. (They are all really simple rebar diagrams that all meet up at 90 degree angle).

However, I did have a question. Currently when I am drawing the rebar, I simply imply 5/8" rebar by drawing a single line. He seems to be happy with my results, but when I looked at what some other people have been doing (showing the rebar in 2D instead of 1D) I couldn't help but want to make the drawings a bit nicer looking.

Is there a simple way where I can make the rebar 2D. I already have it drawn up 1D off of point center. Is there a feature where I can expand to make it 5/8"? Also, in the future, what is the quickest way to go about this?

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

You could look at commands like -

._Mline
._OffSet
._Pline (with width -> use the Hide command -> but such a method introduces issues / problems)
._Rectang

Have a good one, Mike

[robert.1.hall72202]

Kudos to you, just for getting a drafting job at age 17, way to go!!
There were not many jobs around the town where I grew up........in fact
I ended up moving out to Detroit after graduating college as the job
market for engineering is really good.

[davis.sw]

Hey, thanks a bunch! I'm really exciting to have such a great oppurtunity. I'll be going to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year to study architecture. So I can't help but notice that my future is unfolding quite nicely for me. I'm really excited!

[mandrews]

Welcome to our community & you should find Augi a source of help & Knowledge.
In addition to Mikes advice I would add look at using layers & adding Lineweight to your lines for plotting.

Get a good book - dummies is a good start, take some ATP classes on the Augi site & ask questions on this forum when you get stuck.

Live, Learn & Prosper.