ProgeCAD LT 2006 Tutorial

ProgeCAD LT 2006 Tutorial ProgeCAD LT 2006 is a freeware CAD program that is “an easy replacement for AutoCAD® and AutoCAD LT®”. It reads and writes AutoCAD DWG files, uses industry standard AutoCAD commands, and has AutoCAD menu, script, and font compatibility. You can download the latest version from www.progecad.com.

1. Download and Install the program a. Copy the file PCADLT2006.EXE onto your

desktop. b. Run the file. c. You should get the message at right displayed on

your screen. Ignore it and click “finish.” You will then get the message at right. On the next window, click on “next.”

d. At this point, the license agreement will be displayed. ProgeCAD LT 2006 is freeware, but you are not allowed to sell it or modify it. Click on “I accept” and “Next” if you are okay with this.

e. Choose where you would like it installed and click on “Next”

f. On the next window, click on “Next” again to

begin the installation.

g. After the program is copied to your hard drive, the window at right will appear. Select “standard menu.” You will then be shown the “readme” file. Click on “okay”, and then “finish.”

2. Run the program. a. From the windows “start menu”, run

ProgeCAD LT 2006. b. You should get the window at right.

Select “Run progeCAD LT 2006” and click “Next.”

c. The program will begin by asking you to “Use a template”. Don’t do this – instead, select “Start from scratch” – the button with the blank white sheet at the top left. Click on “OK”

d. You will then see the window at right. Select “English” and click on “OK.” You will then be asked to donate money (which you may if you like) – click “close” if you want to move on.

e. Now you will be given some information about the libraries that are available. Click “OK”. You will be given the chance to select a library. Just pick one and click “OK”.

f. The window at right will appear. Just close it.

g. Now you are ready to begin!

3. Using the program. a. You should see the following (without the descriptive balloons!)

b. General Comments i. The command window is at the bottom of the screen. This is where you

can enter text commands. For example, to draw a line, enter “L”.

ii. Just above the “Command:” prompt is the history window. This shows a list of the previously entered commands.

iii. Make sure that you are in the “Model Space” work area. You can change this by clicking on the tab in the status bar at the bottom of the page.

iv. <esc> ends the current command.

You can customize the menu and toolbars at the top of the window. You can move and dock the toolbars to any location on your screen.

You can type commands in the command bar. To reposition the command bar, drag it to another location on your screen.

The status bar displays information such as the name or purpose of a tool, the current cursor coordinates, layer name, and mode settings. You can control the snapgrid from here.

You can draw using the cursor and your mouse, or with keyboard commands and coordinates.

v. To show or hide toolbars, either use “view\toolbars” from the menu, or right click on the toolbar area.

vi. Real Time Pan – hold down <ctrl>-<shift> and click the left mouse button to pan by moving the mouse.

vii. Real Time Zoom -- hold down <ctrl>-<shift> and click the right mouse button to zoom by moving the mouse. If your mouse has a scroll wheel, it will zoom the image.

c. Entering Coordinates: i. Absolute – enter the numbers separated by commas, i.e. x, y or x, y,

z for three dimensions. ii. Relative – enter an “@” before the coordinates, i.e. @x,y.

iii. Polar – you can also enter absolute or relative positions using polar coordinates, e.g. 12<45 (radius 12 at angle 45 deg above x axis)

d. Before you start i. Use View\Toolbars to select the following toolbars: Standard,

Draw2D, Entity Snaps, Dimensions, and Settings. Make sure the other choices are not selected.

ii. Change the size of the “pickbox” – the little white box that lets you select objects. Go to “Tools\Drawing\Coordinate Input” and select “Entity Selection” from the dropdown box. Make the pickbox size about 6.

iii. When I work, I like large crosshairs so that I can see if things are lined up. To change this, go to “Tools\Options…” and pick the “Crosshairs” tab. Change it to 100%.

iv. Turn on the scrollbars to make it easier to move around. To do this, click on “Tools\Options…” and pick the “Display” tab. Check “Show scroll bars”.

v. Turn on the snap grid and snap to it. To do this, pick “Format\Reference Grid” and “Format\Snap”. You could also click on these buttons on the setting toolbar: .

vi. Make the grid fill your screen by zooming in. Select “View\Zoom\All”.

vii. Try panning around by pressing <cntl>-<shift> and the right mouse button.

e. Now your screen should look like this

4. Lets draw! a. There are three ways you can draw: but selecting drawing objects from the

menu, by clicking on the toolbar, or by using text commands. Lets use the menu and toolbars first.

b. To draw a line, pick “Draw\Polyline” or click on . In the drawing area, click on the four corners of a square. When you finish the square, press <esc>. Because the snap grid is on, your points should always click to the nearest grip point.

c. To move your square, select it and draw it to where you like. To select the square, simply click on one of the lines of the square, or draw the cursor around it with the left mouse button pressed. This will make a “selection box”. When your square is selected, the lines will change to dotted lines. You can also use “Modify/Move” from the menu.

d. To copy your square, select it then pick “Modify\Copy”. Click on “Modify\Paste” to place the new copy.

e. Your screen should now look something like this:

f. To delete your squares, select them and press the <delete> key.

5. Your first real drawing – lets make the drawing below.

a. Notice that all of the dimensions are in units of 1/16 inch. Let’s change the grid to take advantage of this. Select “Tool\Drafting Settings” and click on “Coordinate Input” tab (or, right click on ‘SNAP” in the lower right corner). Change the grid values to 1/16 inch (0.0625).

b. Now, each point on the snap grid is separated by 1/16 inch. Using the same method as before, draw the top view.

c. Now, some of these lines need to be centerlines (dot-dash) and hidden lines (dashed). To fix these, first select “Format\Explore Linetypes”. Click on “Edit\New\Linetype”, and select “Choose from File.” Now pick “CENTER” and “DASHED”.

d. Right click on the center lines in the drawing, select “Properties”. Change the line type to “CENTER” and the linetype scale to 0.2.

e. You can make the object lines thicker by right clicking on them, selecting “properties” and changing the lineweight to 1.0 mm. You won’t see the difference on the screen, but it will show up when you print your drawing.

f. Now draw the circle. To do this, select either “Draw\Circle\Circle Radius” or click on . Then click in the center, and at the correct radius. Your screen should look like this:

g. Now let’s draw the side view. To do this, let’s use the command line. Enter the following commands, and see if you can understand what they do.

Command : l ENTER to use last point/Follow/<Start of line>: 1,1 Angle/Length/<End point>: @1.75,0 Angle/Length/Follow/Undo/<End point>: @0,.25 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @-1/4,0 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,3/8 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @1/4,0 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,1/4 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @-1.75,0 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,-1/4 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @1/4,0 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,-3/8 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @-1/4,0 Angle/Length/Follow/Close/Undo/<End point>: @0,-1/4

h. You might need to move the object you just drew up so that it is directly below

the top view. Add the hidden lines for the hole. It should now look like the picture below.

i. Now we need to add the dimensions. Before we can add them, however, we need to set up the sizes of the text and arrows. Click on “Format\Dimension Style” and click on the “Arrows” tab, or click on . Change the arrow size to 0.08. To change the text size, click on the “Text” tab. Change the text size to 0.06. Click on the “Units” tab and select “Fractional (stacked)”

j. Now add the dimensions using “Dimension/Linear” or click on the button. Place the dimensions where they

are needed – first click on the two points that you need to specify the distance between, then click on the position where you would like the dimension line. You might need to use “Dimension\Baseline” or “Dimension\Continue” to get multiple dimension lines.

k. When you finish, you can save your drawing, and print it out. The final, printed version should look like this:

6. For next class…

Draw an orthographic projection of the sketch at right. Be sure to use as many views as needed, and don’t forget to dimension your drawing.