Discover the step-by-step process of creating an electrical power box symbol in AutoCAD. This article provides you with detailed instructions and tips on how to use various tools within AutoCAD to accomplish this.
Key Insights
- The process begins with creating a bounding box with dimensions of 1 eighth inch wide and 3 quarter inch tall, where 0,0 is the bottom left side.
- One complication during this process is that you cannot offset the shape as it is. To resolve this, you need to first explode the rectangle, and then offset the top and bottom lines.
- The tutorial ends with a demonstration on how to use the hatch tool to finish the symbol, and briefly mentions that the next article will cover creating a ceiling light symbol.
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In this video, we will work on the electrical power box symbol. Let’s go to File, New, use our template, then go to File, Save, and name this E-Power-Box.
Let’s hit Save, then create our new layer: go to Layer Properties, click New Layer, and name it E-SYMS. Set the color to 61, then make this our active layer.
If we look at the handout, this electrical power box is a large rectangle, but the left side line is slightly longer. The bounding box, or the largest dimensions of this object, are one-eighth inch wide and three-quarter inch tall.
An easy way to start is with the bounding box, where 0,0 is at the bottom-left corner, where the tallest line is.
We know where to start our bounding box and its size. Let’s go to Rectangle. The first point will be 0,0, and we’ll use dimensions for the other two.
Type D, press ENTER. The length is 1/8, press ENTER, and the width is 3/4, press ENTER.
Remember, it will ask for a quadrant, so I’ll click in the positive direction, then Zoom Extents, and press Control+S to save.
Now I can use Quick Measure to verify the dimensions—1/8 inch and 3/4 inch—and use IDPoint to confirm that this bottom endpoint is at 0,0,0.
You’ll notice that the rectangle is slightly smaller than the bounding box, but we can use the existing geometry to create the right shape.
In this case, we want to offset the top and bottom lines by 1/16 inch into the middle of the rectangle, but we cannot offset the shape as it is.
Let me show you why. If I go to the Offset tool and specify a distance of 1/16, press ENTER, this shape is a rectangle.
It will offset the entire shape, not just the top, bottom, or side lines.
Also, I can’t offset inward, because 1/16 inch is half of 1/8 inch, and I can’t offset the rectangle any further.
Instead, we need to first explode the rectangle, and then we can offset the top and bottom lines.
I’ll go to my Explode tool, select the rectangle, press ENTER to lock it in. Then, I’ll go to Offset, set the distance to 1/16, press ENTER, select the top line, move it down (this is just a preview until I click), and do the same for the bottom line, moving it up. Click to lock it in, and press ENTER to confirm I’m done.
In this case, the original top and bottom lines are construction geometry, so we can select them and press the Delete key.
We’re almost done.
The last thing we need to do is clean up the corners, which we can do using the Trim or Fillet tool.
In this case, let’s use Fillet. I’ll go to Fillet, make sure my radius is 0 (and it is), then choose this line, keeping the middle. This automatically ends the Fillet tool, so I’ll press ENTER to go back in, then select here and here.
All that’s left is our hatch. I’ll go to the Hatch tool, choose Solid, pick points, and pick inside the rectangle. Then, I’ll close the Hatch creation, Zoom Extents, and press Control+S to save.
In the next video, we’ll finish our electrical symbols with the ceiling light.
