Autodesk 057A1-09A111-1001 - AutoCAD LT 2009 User manual

AutoCAD Mechanical 2009
User’s Guide
January 2008

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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.
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.
1
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
[email protected] 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.
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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.
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■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