Pro/DESKTOP can turn your 3D models into Orthographic working drawings. This sheet shows you a quick way of producing impressive looking technical drawings without getting too involved in the complexities of the program. Remember - this is just the start. Pro/DESKTOP can do much more!
We will try to turn a design like this:
into this:
Producing a suitable design as a starting point:
Either choose one of your existing Pro/DESKTOP designs or:
Open a new Design.
Draw the CD rack insert using the CD RACK worksheet.
Open a new Design.
Click on Workplane then New Sketch. Rename the sketch Support. Select the Lateral Workplane. (This is very important!)
Using what you have learned, draw a suitable support for the central module.
Save your work as CD Support.
Open a new Design.
Assembly the CD Rack with its supports. You may need to look at Pro/DESKTOP 5 for help with this.
If your support is not symmetrical you may need to turn one side through 180 degrees. To do this click on Select then Part; highlight the support and right click. Click on Transform and enter 180 into the dialogue box. Click on OK. You should have two supports correctly oriented.
Assemble the CD Rack and save your work.
Setting up the Drawing Page:
You will only have to do this the first time you open a drawing.
Open a new Drawing.
In the Drawing Sheet Properties dialogue box click on the Specify Format button.
click on the down arrow and enter ISO A4 from the drop down list.
Click on OK.
Importing the Design:
NB: Make sure that your chosen design or your assembled CD Rack is open.
Click on Drawing then Add Modeling View. In the dialogue box select frontal in the Workplane box and click OK. A front view of your design will appear. BUT it will almost certainly be too big!
Highlight the view and drag it centrally onto the page. Right click on the highlighted view and a menu will appear. Select Properties then tick the Scale box and type in 0.2 (or any suitable scale factor - 0.2 works for CD Racks as they are quite tall.) If you do not want the hidden detail to be shown then un check the relevant box.
Drag the view into position on the page.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 for the base and frontal workplane.
Position the three views relative to one another.
Save your work.
Adding Dimensions:
Click on Dimension then Linear. Click on the bottom line of your drawing to highlight it then click on the top line and drag away. Arrows and a dimension box should appear showing you the total height of your design.
Repeat this procedure until you have all the linear dimensions you want.
To add angular dimensions (for angles between lines, chamfers, etc.) click on Dimension then Angular. To add radial dimensions (for circular components, round-overs,etc.) click on Dimension then Radial.
Repeat this procedure until you have all the dimensions you want.
Save your work.
Importing a 3D view:
Click on Drawing then Add Modeling View.
Select the From Window button. Click on OK.
Highlight the view and drag it centrally onto the page. Right click on the highlighted view and a menu will appear. Select Properties then tick the Scale box and type in 0.2 or an appropriate scale factor.
Position the 3D view on the page.
Save your work.
Adding Notes:
Click on Dimension then Note or on the "A" icon on the left-hand menu.
Click and drag on the page. The word "Note" will appear with a line attached.
Double click on the word "Note".
Type your text into the dialogue box.
To add more than one line of text select Multi-line.
Check the True Type box if you wish to use a different font.
Click the Text tab and choose a height for your text. 8mm works well for titles and 4, 5, or 6mm for notes. Click on Thick then OK. Your text will appear on the page.
The text you have written still has a line attached to it. If you do not need it (e.g. it is a title rather than a label) then highlight the line and press the Delete key.
Repeat until your drawing is labelled.
Save your work.
© Jim Rowley 2002