Callouts for Holes in Mechanical Drawing
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2024 1:26 pm
A very common element in mechanical drawings is a callout for the details of finishing a hole. The general way of doing this is shown here:
https://rathasochenda.com/wp-content/up ... llouts.pdf
A Leader that points to the center of the hole/circle with an arrowhead that terminates on the outside diameter of that hole/circle connects it to the descriptive text which is outside of the outline of the part. Here is an example of this in QCAD:
The problem is how to accomplish this in QCAD with as few steps as possible. I tried many methods and almost gave up with a method that required construction lines, layer switching, and which took much longer than doing it in my previous 2D CAD program. The big problem is having the Leader point directly at the center of the circle while touching the outside diameter: this is not trivial. The difficulty was that the Leader tool in the Dimensions menu was the only way of producing a line with an arrowhead while the best way of having the line point directly at the center of the circle was to lay it down to that center point. But then the Leaders produced apparently could not be edited to remove segments as the Break Out Segment tool or the Trim RM tool would do with other types of lines so you are stuck with the arrowhead inside the circle. I was in the process of reporting this as a needed feature when I finally stumbled on a method that worked and worked quickly.
First you do draw the Leader starting at the center of the circle. That guarantees that the line does point there.
Then the Leader is selected and the Stretch tool is used. Include the entire arrowhead in the selection box and use the center of the circle as the Reference Point and the intersection of the Leader and the circle as the Target Point.
And it is done.
Apparently the Leader can be stretched, but not chopped off. I hope this helps some other users/beginners.
Perhaps there is a better way. If so, please share.
https://rathasochenda.com/wp-content/up ... llouts.pdf
A Leader that points to the center of the hole/circle with an arrowhead that terminates on the outside diameter of that hole/circle connects it to the descriptive text which is outside of the outline of the part. Here is an example of this in QCAD:
- HoleCallout01.jpg (77.9 KiB) Viewed 46387 times
The problem is how to accomplish this in QCAD with as few steps as possible. I tried many methods and almost gave up with a method that required construction lines, layer switching, and which took much longer than doing it in my previous 2D CAD program. The big problem is having the Leader point directly at the center of the circle while touching the outside diameter: this is not trivial. The difficulty was that the Leader tool in the Dimensions menu was the only way of producing a line with an arrowhead while the best way of having the line point directly at the center of the circle was to lay it down to that center point. But then the Leaders produced apparently could not be edited to remove segments as the Break Out Segment tool or the Trim RM tool would do with other types of lines so you are stuck with the arrowhead inside the circle. I was in the process of reporting this as a needed feature when I finally stumbled on a method that worked and worked quickly.
First you do draw the Leader starting at the center of the circle. That guarantees that the line does point there.
- HoleCallout02.jpg (94.97 KiB) Viewed 46387 times
Then the Leader is selected and the Stretch tool is used. Include the entire arrowhead in the selection box and use the center of the circle as the Reference Point and the intersection of the Leader and the circle as the Target Point.
- HoleCallout03.jpg (153.33 KiB) Viewed 46387 times
- HoleCallout04.jpg (51.99 KiB) Viewed 46387 times
And it is done.
- HoleCallout05.jpg (93.76 KiB) Viewed 46387 times
Apparently the Leader can be stretched, but not chopped off. I hope this helps some other users/beginners.
Perhaps there is a better way. If so, please share.