Draw a circle centered in a rectangle

[Ellen Finkelstein's Blog]

It’s common to need to place a circle in the middle of a rectangle, especially in mechanical drawings. It’s easy to do using object snap tracking.

Object snap tracking tracks the coordinates on object snaps and for this task, you need to track the midpoint of the rectangle’s sides. Here are the steps:

1. Make sure that the Object Snap Tracking button on the status bar is on, or press F11.
2. Make sure the midpoint object snap is on or press F3.
3. Right-click the Object Snap button on the status bar and choose Midpoint, if it isn’t already highlighted.  This sets a running object snap for midpoints.
4. Draw a rectangle (RECTANG command).
5. Start the CIRCLE command.
6. At the Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]: prompt, pass the cursor over one midpoint of a rectangle side until you see it marked. This is called acquiring the object snap.
7. Move the cursor toward the center of the rectangle and then pass the cursor over a rectangle side that is perpendicular to the first side, to acquire that sides midpoint.
8. Move the cursor toward the center of the rectangle until you see the tracking lines from both midpoints cross each other at the rectangle’s center.
9. Click to specify the circle’s center.
10. At the Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:  prompt, specify the circle’s radius.

Watch the video to see how it’s done!

One of our  readers, Andrew, mentions another good method, using Mid between 2 points Osnap, to achieve the same thing:

1. Draw your rectangle.
2. Start the circle command.
3. + right click.
4. Choose Mid between 2 Points.
5. Turn on osnap if it is not already on. (need either mid point snap or end point)
6. Choose the mid point on two opposite sides or two of the opposite corners.

How do you use object snap tracking?

The post Draw a circle centered in a rectangle appeared first on AutoCAD Tips Blog.

View the full article