Working with Solid Models and Weldments - Autodesk Inventor 2010: No Experience Required - page 196

In just a few minutes, you've managed to place drawing views that could take
an hour or more using a traditional 2D tool. In the next exercises, you'll add
dimensions and detail to these views to make this a more complete drawing.
Detailing Tools
As much as I appreciate the ease with which Inventor places drawing views, I
think I like the detailing tools even more. These tools make fi nishing the detail
drawing a snap.
More than just dimensions, detail drawings need special annotation charac-
ters to do the job completely. The detailing tools are located on the Annotate
tab. They're organized in a logical fashion, as you've already seen with other
tabs and panels.
You won't complete the drawing, and you'll likely create some redundant anno-
tations. Just be patient, and keep in mind that the goal isn't to create a great draw-
ing, but for you to learn the tools to make a great drawing of your own products.
You'll start with the basics by placing a few center marks.
The Center Mark Tool
It doesn't seem like this would logically be the fi rst detail tool to learn, but cen-
ter marks and their variations are an important detailing item in mechanical
drafting. I think you'll appreciate how easy it is to place these items.
When you look at the Center Mark tool in the Symbols panel of the Annotation
tab, you'll see that it has three other icons around it. The other icons are for
Centerline and Centerline Bisector, which we'll also explore, and Centered
Pattern, which is a powerful tool but also easily learned.
Placing a Center Mark in a View
In this exercise, you'll create center marks the slow way:
1. Zoom in on the view of the back of the assembly on the right.
2. Click the Center Mark tool in the Symbols panel.
3. Move over one of the holes in the view. As you near a hole, it high-
lights. When this happens, click the mouse; the center mark is placed.
4. Place center marks on the fi ve holes in the view.
5. Press the Esc key to fi nish the tool, and compare your work to
Figure 4.46.
6. Right-click the center mark at upper left.