Discover the step-by-step process of creating an electrical switch drawing using AutoCAD geometry instead of text. Learn how to utilize the Ellipse tool, construction geometry and other features to create an accurate representation of an electrical switch.
Key Insights
- The article provides a detailed guide to create an electrical switch symbol using AutoCAD. The process involves using the Ellipse tool to create a flattened oval shape that forms the top and bottom halves of the 'S'-shaped symbol.
- Construction geometry is used to create the accurate 'S' shape from the two ellipses. The article explains how to use the Trim tool to cut the ellipses and create the desired shape.
- Throughout the creation process, constant saving and checking of work is emphasized to ensure accuracy and preserve work progress. The article also hints at the next steps, which involve using this created file to create a three-way switch.
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In this video we will draw the electrical switch. Let's go File, New.
Use our template. File, Save. And this is Switch.
And let's hit Save. Let's make our layer. E-SIMS.
The color is 61. Enter. And let's make this our active layer.
This switch seems to be a letter S with a vertical line, almost like a dollar sign. However, we are using some AutoCAD geometry for this drawing and not any text. We will be using the Ellipse tool and some construction geometry.
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To begin, let's draw our vertical line. And this is the same line that we used for our half-hot outlet. I will go to the Line tool.
Start at 0, 0. Enter. And I will go to 0, 0.5. Enter. Enter to say that I am done.
And Zoom Extents. The Ellipse tool can be found right here in the Draw panel. And we will be using Center and not either of these two options.
The Center creates an ellipse, similar to how we create a circle, but it will ask for two radius points. The radius points will be pointed in this case in the X direction and the Y direction to create a flattened oval shape using the Ellipse tool. So let's choose Ellipse Center.
And in this case, I want to draw this at the midpoint of the line. We know that's at 0, 0.25. But in this case, I will go Shift-Right-Click, Midpoint. Choose the midpoint.
And now I want to choose my radius. Now it asks for the endpoint of the axis, but really what we're doing here is the horizontal axis and then the vertical axis. In order to visualize this, I'll turn on Ortho and I'll show to the right 1 over 8. Enter.
Now we can easily visualize how tall our ellipse will be because Ortho is on. The distance to the other axis is half of 1 over 8, which is 1 over 16. Enter.
This creates a flat ellipse. Now we can see that there is an ellipse for the top half of the S and for the bottom half of the S. In this case, we will do a Move, then a Copy to create two objects. First, we need to move from the midpoint to this intersection.
So let's do that. Move the ellipse. Enter to say I'm done selecting objects.
I'll choose the Shift-Right-Click midpoint of the line and I'll move to the Shift-Right-Click intersection. Notice we are moving the ellipse out of the way, but it will leave a ghosted grayed line behind until we have finished our workflow. This allows us to snap to the original geometry in order to move it to a new location.
I can click the intersection and now the ellipse has moved up exactly 1 over 16 of an inch. Now we can copy the ellipse, select the ellipse, Enter to lock it in, and this time I'm going to go from the Shift-Right-Click quadrant at the top of the ellipse to the Shift-Right-Click quadrant at the bottom of the ellipse. Enter to say that I am done and I don't need to make any more copies.
We could have used midpoint and intersection again for that workflow, or we could have used the distance of 1 over 8, which is our full height of the ellipse. But remember, it will be up to you to find what you are most comfortable with. Now let's create some construction geometry to create an S-shape from these two ellipses.
In order to do that, I would like to cut the ellipses using the Trim tool. I want to trim these ellipses about halfway from the line to their furthest most point. That means offsetting my original line 1 over 16 to create some construction geometry.
I'm going to go to the Offset tool, check my command prompt, it says Specify Distance, 1 over 16, Enter, and I'll offset this line to the left, click to lock it in, and offset again to the right, click to lock it in. Enter to say that I am done. Now the shape we want is in there somewhere.
In order to find that shape, it might be easier to look at what we want to remove. We know that this section here will be removed, and this section here will be removed. So let's go to our Trim tool, and let's click on this section to make it go away, and this section to make it go away.
Now we can almost see our S-shape, and before I end the tool, I will click on this section, and this section. Enter to lock it in. Now our two vertical lines of construction geometry are no longer necessary, so we can pick them, 1 and 2, hit the Delete key, and Control-S to save.
In the next video, we will use this file to create the three-way switch.
