ENGR 150 Enhanced Lab Manual
Introduction

The Laboratory portion of UVic Engineering's Engineering Graphics 150 teaches working proficiency in a highly sucessful Computer Aided Drafting program: AutoDesk's flagship product, AutoCAD . Co-op students with expertise in AutoCAD have a distinct advantage in today's job market over those without it, and when you have successfuly completed the six labs in this course you will be counted among the former. Labs 1 through 6 involve progressive theory and exercises that will provide you with an understanding of Engineering Graphics applications, as well as a working knowledge of the AutoCAD drafting software.

This online document is the ENGR 150 Enhanced Lab Manual: You will find this manual an invaluable guide to the theory and inner workings of the AutoCAD program, and it is required that you read through each lab thoroughly BEFORE attending your assigned lab section: This is a minimum amount of preparation, and will make the labs more enlightening and less tedious for you. Your laboratory Teaching Assistant will use this document as the basis for any lecturing that takes place during lab time, so things will make a lot more sense if you are prepared!

Lab Manual Organization

A short statement of what the lab's objectives are.

This section is dedicated to explaining why you need to master the topics covered in each lab. You will find it is hard to learn things without a reason: Read this section to understand how important the lab is.

CONCEPTS

A large part of the difficulty with learning AutoCAD is mastering its concepts. Frustrations and difficulties arise when students try to follow procedural instructions without understanding the underlying concepts. Read this section thoroughly before you try to tackle each lab: It will make the instructions in the Procedures section ten times more helpful
.

DELIVERABLES

To ensure there is no misunderstanding of what you are expected to do, this section provides a complete list of all work you must deliver to complete the lab succesfully. Bear in mind that your individual lab instructor may have additions to this list, so pay attention in the lab as well!

PROCEDURES

This section contains step-by-step instructions for many of the various AutoCAD operations you will need to do in each lab. Do not expect this section to be like a gas barbequeue assembly manual, though: You will not be able to get through by blindly following the steps listed here and hoping that the results are enough to please your Lab Instructor. You will find that many of the steps require an understanding of the lab's concepts and theory, so be sure to master the material in the Concepts section before attempting to follow these procedures.

Additional Sources of AutoCAD Information

Take note that this lab manual is only one of the many sources of AutoCAD information available to you: A number of AutoCAD reference manuals are available for use in the lab, and are valuable supplementary reading. In addition, you may find it wise to purchase a third party AutoCAD book at your local computer book store (Bolen Books in Hillside Mall is a great example): These books are well written and loaded with wisdom and techniques that will greatly enhance your learning of Computer Aided Drafting and Design (CAD).

Labs 1 to 6

Each lab in this course is designed to build on the knowledge gained from those before it: By following their sequence, a complete novice can learn enough techniques and theory to be an effective CAD technician. Nothing is a substitute for experience, of course: The lessons taught here are only meant to launch your Computer Aided Drafting abilities... It's up to you to develop them into career quality skills.

Lab 1: Introduction to AutoCAD

This lab introduces you to the AutoCAD software and has you learn some basic drawing commands. You will learn an awful lot in a short time, so be on the ball for this one!

Time to complete this lab:1 week

Lab 2: Orthographic Projection

This lab explains orthographic projection systems, and has you create an orthographic drawing complete with dimensioning. Also covered is the concept of the TitleBlock, a drafting convention used in all technical documents. Layers are introduced, along with layer management strategies.

Time to complete this lab:2 weeks

Lab 3: Assembly Drawings

This lab introduces assembly drawings and has you prepare one from predrawn AutoCAD objects called blocks. Block management commands are explained, and dimensioning techniques using leaders, balloons and a parts table are explained.

Time to complete this lab:1 week

Lab 4: Wireframe Modeling and Pictorial Representation

Your AutoCAD skills move into the 3D realm with this lab: Full 3D manipulation commands are introduced as you create a wireframe model in 3-Space. Complex concepts like ModelSpace and PaperSpace are elaborated upon, as well as layer, scale and block management strategies.

Time to complete this lab:3 weeks ( including reading break)

Lab 5: Solid Model Analysis & Bezier Curves

AutoCAD's inquiry commands are introduced and explained in this lab, as you are required to analyze a 3D solid model and create an accurate two dimensional drawing from the data. The concept of the Auxiliary view is also covered here.

Time to complete this lab:1 week

Lab 6: Sectional Views

This lab introduces sectional views and has you create a sectional drawing from object data provided. After labs 4 and 5 this should be a welcome change of pace! Time to complete:2 weeks

Using This Manual

You are the first group of students to have the Enhanced Lab Manual as a resource: Previous year students were expected to read several chapters of the AutoCAD reference manuals before each lab, and were given little or no conceptual information beyond these readings, so consider yourself fortunate to be taking this course in 1999!

Make a point of reading through each lab's concepts and motivations before beginning the lab procedures, and please be aware of the following issues:

Browser Requirements

The ENGR 150 Enhanced Lab Manual is designed to be viewed with at least Netscape Navigator 3.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0: These versions support Javascript 1.1, Frames and Secondary Windows, all of which are required features to browse this document properly while running AutoCAD.

Printing Out The Lab Manual

Page formatted versions of each of the labs in this manual will eventually be available in Adobe's Portable Document Format (pdf) for high quality printing. For now, the online html versions will have to suffice if you require hard copy. The page breaks and layout will not be perfect but should be good enough.

The Figure Menu and Specification Viewer

When you load each lab chapter of this manual, your browser will open a secondary window called the Specification Viewer, which contains any lab figures larger than 800 by 700 pixels in size.

For easy layout and printing, none of the figures in the lab manual exceed the size of 800 x 600 pixels: Most of the time you will find these illustrations adequate, but some of the detailed specification drawings you will consult during these labs are better viewed in higher resolutions than this. The Specification Viewer contains versions of the figures that are up to 1024 x 768 pixels in size, which are made for detailed examination. Besides giving you access to higer resolution figures, the Specification Viewer allows you to consult each lab's specifications without losing your place in the manual's text. When you are running your browser and AutoCAD simultaneously you will find this feature to be of great value, so get the hang of using <Alt> <Tab> to move between windows now so you can reap the benefits later.

Submitting Drawing Files Electronically

Here at UVic we have a magical helper called the submit program: This program allows you to copy your finished drawing file to a submissions directory where your lab TA can get access to it for marking purposes. Most people can figure out how this program works, but there always are a few who need complete instructions...

Go to a terminal window on your workstation's desktop.
Change to the directory containing your drawing file.
type in submit monster.dwgat the command line of the terminal window (assuming your drawing is called monster.dwg ).
Answer the questions that the submit program asks you such as your course, lab section, and lab number.

And that's all there is to it. for complete instructions on the submit program, click here.

If you have created your drawing file with any version of AutoCAD higher than 12 (such as a version of your home PC), you must save it as a release 12 drawing for your TA to be able to mark it! There should be a way to do this (try the Save As... pull down menu on your home version of AutoCAD). If this is not possible, you can still hand the lab in manually if your TA does not mind.

Do not Email your lab TA any of your AutoCAD files - This will not count as a submission

Submitting Drawing Files Manually

If your lab TA permits it, you can print hard copy of your lab and submit it manually on the due date when your lab section meets... This policy varies from lab to lab, so ASK first. When printing, you will have to specify that AutoCAD use the fit to page option in the print dialog box, otherwise you'll never be able to fit your A2 and A3 size drawings on a piece of letter size paper!

If you decide to hand in your lab work manually, it MUST be in by the beginning of class to avoid being marked late! Excuses about jammed laserprinters, printing errors, erased files or broken floppy disks will not be entertained: If you take the initiative to manually submit, those are your problems!

The due dates and times can be found here.

Viewing Your Lab Grades Online

The marked Labs will be posted electronically. Click here to browse the ENGR 150 Lab Marks webpage. Note that you will need to know your student ID to look up your mark, since names are not included here to protect the privacy of your fellow students.

Click on the Lab Manual Chapter you wish to view