Snapping a line to a circle

[kilik693]

I was trying to snap a line to a circle, but the only options to do it are either snapping to the center, a quadrant point or tangent.  I want to set it so that the endpoint of the line is coincident with the circle, and set the other constraints on it myself.  How can I do this?  

[pendean]

Post a DWG and show us your intent (fake it so to speak, NEArest and start your line there for example).

[kilik693]

On the right there is a circle, with the line going up near to it.  I want it to stay vertical and attached to the horizontal line at the bottom, but I would like to know how to get it to connect to the circle.  Currently its got a height constraint on it, which I added.  I know it will have to be removed to get it to connect.

[kilik693]

Also, I guess, Is there any way to make the endpoint of a line lie on another line in general while placing it?  Because going back through and constraining it after has caused me a few issues with it moving the line, rather than stretching it to make intersection work.

[Anonymous]

Is this something you could use the EXTEND tool on? or make the line go further, then trim it lol

[Anonymous]

I use Acad 2014 and would probably do this by specifying the point on the circle desired with construction lines; then draw your line with those constraints.

[kasperwuyts]

A circle is just a collection of points that are the same distance from a center. Therefore, you can substitute the circle easily using a line with one fixed end point (the center of the circle) and a fixed length (the radius of the circle). This will give you want you want - mechanically at least. From there you can go and visualise it correctly with a circle.

To constrain a line endpoint on the body of another line while placing it with 'Infer constraints enabled' you can use the 'nearest' snap. Ofcourse, you'd almost never want the 'nearest' snap enabled in general, so just access it with shift+right click as you are drawing lines. And as I am experimenting with this, apparently this also works for the line and circle. So there you go, you can ignore my first paragraph. We've both learned something today.☺

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking what you're looking for may be a contraint to Object. Start a coincident constraint. Click the line so that the red circle is on the top of the line, then either type "object" or just press space bar before choosing the circle, then choose the circle. Essentially, it's just telling the line to be on the circle somewhere, but not necessarily in a given location.

It'd be more helpful though if we knew what your intentions were with this circle/line block. are you going to scale it? stretch it? change the diameter or just the line length? It would be helpful to know to tell you what kind of constraints to use where.

[steve216586]

Can you post the drawing, saved down to an earlier version, like 2007? I have 2012 and would like to take a look at what you are trying to accomplish. It sounds like a problem I had several weeks ago and I may have "a" solution.