Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published June 2010

How to Create and Insert a Block

A block is, essentially, a symbol. Something you want to repeat. The Block panel on the Home tab contains the Create tool which will open the Block Definition dialog box.

The following exercise take you through the block-making basics after creating the geometry for a data and communications symbol. If you have already drawn something you want to turn into a block, go straight to Step 9, below.

How to Create a Block for a Data/Communications Symbol

1. Create a new layer named Electrical, give it a color, then set it to be current.

2. Click Polygon [Home tabexpanded Draw panel].

3. For the number of sides, enter 3, then pick a point to specify the center of the polygon.

4. Press [Enter] to accept the default option for Inscribed <I>, then, with ORTHO On, move your cursor north, and enter 6 for the radius of the circle.

5. Click Line [Home tabDraw panel], then use Endpoint snap and pick the top of the triangle as the Start point.

6. Use Shift + right-click, then click Perpendicular and click the bottom line of the triangle, then press [Enter] to end the command.

   

7. Launch the Hatch command and set the Type to Solid.

8. Move into one half of the triangle, and when you see the preview, click to place the hatch. Press [Enter] to end the command.

9. Click Make Block to open the Block Definition dialog box.

   

10. Enter a name for the block. In this exercise, I'll name it DataComm.

11. Click Select Objects, then select the geometry for the block and press [Enter].

12. For the Base Point of the block, click Pick Point and specify a point on the block that will essentially be the ‘handle’ you will use to insert the block. In this exercise I'm using Endpoint snap to specify the top of the triangle.

    Note: Always ‘Allow Exploding’.

13. Click OK to complete the block-making procedure.

The Insert Command

Although the Tool Palette is the optimum feature for inserting blocks, using the Insert command [Insert tabBlock panel], you can insert a block that's already defined in the drawing.

Note: When inserting a block, make sure you have the proper layer current for it to ‘land’ on.

In the following exercise, you insert a sample drawing into a blank drawing.

How to Insert a Block

1. Click Insert [Insert tabBlock panel] to open the Insert dialog box.

2. If the name of the block is not displayed in the name field, click the dropdown arrow and select your block.

3. The default settings to specify the Insertion point and the Rotation on-screen is usually adequate for most procedures.

4. Click OK to close the Insert dialog box and you will be prompted for the insertion point and the rotation for the block.

Note: To insert a .DWG, click Browse, to open the Select File dialog box.

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