layer set up for mehanical drawings

[MikeKovacik4928]

Hi Autocadders around the globe

A question on how you mechanical draughtspeople set up your layers.

Colleges and beginners in this part of the world (South Africa/Zimbabwe) tend to use METHOD 1

(different layers for different types of autocad entities ie outlines, hidden lines, centre lines,

hatching, viewports, etc but without separation of the individual parts within the assembly)

More experienced users, and users that are fluent with other mechanical softwares (like Inventor)

might use METHOD 2.

(No separation of the autocad entities, just separation of the parts within the assembly, separate layer

for each part, thus enabling separation of single components or groups of components using layer isolate

and layer states.)

I am curious to see what draughtspeople in other parts of the globe do

See jpeg below

Michael Kovacik
2d & 3d Autocad and Inventor designer/draughtsman
.
Draughting/Designing (Manufacturing) (31 yrs)
-Drawing Board (3 yrs)
--Cad (28 yrs)
---Cadkey (4 yrs)
---AutoCAD 2d & 3d (16 yrs)
---Inventor (4 yrs)
---Autocad and Inventor Simultaneously (4 years)
---(and recently Autocad/Inventor Customisation)
.
Authorised Autocad & Inventor Professional
Authorised Autodesk Trainer
.
Higher Diploma Mechanical Engineering
Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2018
Autocad 2018, Inventor Pro 2018
(personal licensed copy)
.
Johannesburg, South Africa
.
(Impossible only means you haven't
found the solution yet)

[cheryl.buck · Accepted solution]

Hi @MikeKovacik4928,

This is a great question, thank you for posing it. I can only speak from my experience on 3 jobs and what I saw other companies do. 

They all used a combination of methods 1 and 2. Generally, some AutoCAD entities had their own layers (viewports, hatches, title blocks, and blocks) as did parts and assemblies (fasteners/fastener stacks, brackets, and beams).

For the most part, it will depend on how you intend to use the layer controls in your organization. 

Maybe a few of the other members of the community that I believe have more experience then I can chime in on this as well? (@pendean, @gaurav.satalkar, @VinodBalasubramanian)

All the best, 

[MikeKovacik4928]

Thanks Cheryl

Sorry for delay in replying.

As you say, I suppose it would be dependent on the drawing office standards in the company (those that have; in my 34 years drawing office experience with 11 drawing offices-I have never yet seen one set of company drawing office standards!). It just makes sense to me to have a separate layer for each component, and then create layer states for different groups of components, so as to enable easy visual manipulation of objects in close proximity or on top of each other.

It would be interesting for some other drawing office managers or draughters or some of the people you mentioned to share their experiences too.

I originally posted this on the autocad forum, because I have never used AutoCAD Mechanical, only ever autocad for mechanical drawings and recently in the last 8 years Inventor.

But it was redirected by the Autodesk Moderators to this forum, which they thought would be more relevant

Mike

[designE9QKZ · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike, I transitioned from the board to acad exclusively by R13 and have worked for roughly 8 or so companies since then either directly or as a contractor. All of them use separate layers for centerlines, phantom lines, and hidden lines. Some also separate text, dimensions, and title blocks. Pretty much all of them assign a color as well as a linetype to the layer. None of them use viewports or paperspace, they all draw full scale and import the title block directly into modelspace, then scale the title block by the reciprocal of the intended drawing scale.

Object lines are typically layer 0 with color set to white. Most of the companies I worked at use blocks and about half of them assign a different layer for each part and assign a color to that layer (avoiding the colors for hidden , etc.). This is done so that when the blocks are placed on their corresponding layers, the layer 0 object lines take on the color of the layer making it easier to identify the individual components. It also allows you to isolate all three views of a given component via the layer. Only a couple of these companies actually plot in color.

All of this could very well be limited to my region. I should also say that this is all from the mechanical side. I have no idea what they do in architectural. 

My 2 cents, hope it is helpful,

Josh

[cheryl.buck]

Hi @MikeKovacik4928,

I can totally agree with you on the drafting standards. I think for theost part, a template has been set up at some point, and everyone uses it. I'm not all together certain that counts as a standard as such 🙂 but it has worked for them.

I like your mention of using layer states, I think it wasn't until my last job when I needed them for editing that I had ever even heard of anyone using them. I am 100% on board with them now.

One of my colleagues asked me if I had any input before moving your post, I also thought you mght get more relavent feedback. And I would also love to hear other's experiences with layer management. 

All the best, 

[MikeKovacik4928 · Accepted solution]

Thanks Josh for your input

All the 2 cents add up eventually!

We use blocks extensively, unfortunately not all from the same database, each with our own.

But it is quite common practice to do the blocks on layer 0 so they take on the properties of the layer they are inserted into. This is structural not mechanical though, which is where I am working at the moment.

In previous mechanical jobs, though I have done the same, kept blocks to layer 0, in order to use the layer management tools

Mike

[MikeKovacik4928]

Thanks cheryl

Hardly anyone uses layer states at the company where I am at the moment

(structural not mechanical)

However I have put them to good effect, and they are very powerful.

I have used them in a very similar manner in previous mechanical jobs.

What puts the other drafters off, is the large amount of layers I have in my drawings,

However you need a lot of layers to sort out your drawing effectively and that is exactly

what layer states and the layer manager is there for!

Mike