Start, End, Angle

Unlike the previous methods we have discussed so far, the arc will start on one point and the following is the end point (see Fig. 6) but the measurement of the arc will depend on the included angle. Again go back to the menu and choose Draw>Arc>Start, End, Angle. Then pick your first point on the screen then AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify end point of arc: Then after picking your end point AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify center point of arc or [Angle/Direction/Radius]: _a Specify included angle: In this sample, I used 90 degrees. Either you can type 90 on the command prompt or place your cursor on top of the first point which is 90 degrees on the polar angle. As you can see on the bottom right corner of the drawing below, the polar angle is illustrated. From the right quadrant going counter clockwise, the measurement is from zero, 90, 180, 270, 360 degrees.

Fig. 6

Start, End, Direction

To start making this arc, go to menu and choose Draw>Arc>Start, End, Direction. Then pick your first point on the screen then AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify end point of arc: Then after picking your end point AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify center point of arc or [Angle/Direction/Radius]: _d Specify tangent direction for the start point of arc: again AutoCAD is asking the direction, which is, the angular direction of the line from the first point of the arc. The sample drawing is approximately 45 degrees ( See Fig. 7 ).

Fig. 7

Start, End, Radius

Again to start making this one, this is very similar to the previous one but this time it is asking for the size of the radius. Go to menu and choose Draw>Arc>Start, End, Radius. Then pick your first point on the screen then AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify end point of arc: Then after picking your end point AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify center point of arc or [Angle/Direction/Radius]: _r Specify radius of arc: which means AutoCAD is asking for the radius length ( Fig. 8 ). You can either drag your cursor to specify for the radius length or type it in the command prompt.

Fig. 8

So this is the end of part 2 so I’ll not bore you. I’ll discuss the rest in part 3.

Fig.1

So how to draw an ARC using AutoCAD? There are many options of drawing an ARC in AutoCAD but in the real world drafting you usually use 2 or 3 of them telling from my experience. But I’m not sure in other discipline of AutoCAD users. My drafting job is usually mechanical just for the info. In version 200, there are 11 ways to draw an Arc namely:

• 3 points
• Start, Center, End
• Start, Center, Angle
• Start, Center, Length
• Start, End, Angle
• Start, End, Direction
• Start, End, Radius
• Center Start, End
• Center Start, Angle
• Center Start, Length
• Continue

The 3 Point ARC

To draw a 3 point arc, you just need to select in the menu Draw>Arc>3 Points then pick a point on your screen for the first point of your arc (See Fig. 2 - The little circle on the arc is just an illustration to see which point are the 3 points in the ARC. You will not see it while making the drawing. ). Then the command prompt will say: Specify second point of arc or [CEnter/ENd]: which means you have to pick a second point to draw the ARC. After picking a point on the screen, the command prompt will tell you again to: specify end point of arc: obviously, AutoCAD is asking you to pick the third point of the arc. After clicking then you have drawn your first ARC ( Hurray!)

Fig. 2

Start, Center, End

Again go back to the menu and choose Draw>Arc>Start, Center, End. This time the method is different from 3 points because you need to specify a radius of the arc then afterwards the arc will depend on how you want to make your arc on the last command. So to start making the ARC and after you selected the menu I mentioned above, pick a point on the screen by clicking your mouse. Then AutoCAD will prompt: Specify second point of arc or [CEnter/ENd]: _c Specify center point of arc: (See Fig. 3). The second point is actually the radius of the arc and you can specify a dimension. But this is optional in this tutorial and you can pick the second point on any part of the black screen. If you want to draw ab object with the exact dimension, then you can specify a radius. After picking the second point, you will notice that you can drag the arc by making a circular movement. Then AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify end point of arc or [Angle/chord Length]: then it’s up to you where to pick the point or how long you want your arc to be.

Fig. 3

Start, Center, Angle

This is similar to the previous method Start, Center, End but this time you have to specify the included angle. I assume you already know the measurement of angles from zero degrees to 360 degrees. Again go back to the menu and choose Draw>Arc>Start, Center, Angle. Then pick your first point on the screen then AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify second point of arc or [CEnter/ENd]: _c Specify center point of arc: Then after picking your second point AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify end point of arc or [Angle/chord Length]: _a Specify included angle: Which means you have to specify your desired angle to make the arc (See Fig.1 for reference). You can type the angle you desire in the command prompt, let say 90, which means 90 degrees then press enter.

You can also draw it with out typing the degrees by just dragging the cursor but it seem not very useful so I’ll just omit it. But just for additional knowledge, maybe I’ll discuss it further. Notice when drag your cursor up and down or left to right, the ARC elongates and shrink? it only follows the cursors when you rotate it counter clock wise. Zero degrees starts from the right quadrant and when you rotate your cursor counter clockwise it begins to give the arc the degrees measurement (See Fig. 4).

Fig. 4

Start, Center, Length

Again this is very similar with the past two method of drawing an ARC which started from a point, then goes to the center( for the radius length). But this time it won’t ask for the included angle. It will ask for the chord length.

Again go back to the menu and choose Draw>Arc>Start, Center, Length. Then pick your first point on the screen then AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify second point of arc or [CEnter/ENd]: _c Specify center point of arc: Then after picking your second point AutoCAD will prompt again: Specify end point of arc or [Angle/chord Length]: _l Specify chord length: Which is asking you to specify the length of the chord to create the arc (See Fig. 5). You can drag your cursor and click any point in the screen. The white line you see that stretches and stick with the cursor on one end and to the first point you pick on the other end represent the length of the chord.

Fig. 5

So this is the end of part 1. Ill discuss part 2 on my next post. If there is something you want to know about AutoCAD, please make a comment so I can create a tutorial about it.

This post is just an introduction and I will show the details on my later post. Just to give you a brief explanation about capillaries and die bonding tools, capillaries are small needle-like tool (See fig. 2) that bonds or weld thin gold wires inside the IC (integrated circuit) chips. A good example is the CPU of your computer. Aside from the flip chip technology( The flip chip connection is generally formed one of two ways: using solder or using conductive adhesive. See Amkor Flip Chip Packaging Technology Solution for more details), the IC are connected by wires to the lead frame( See Fig. 1 below).

Fig. 1

and this is how a capillary looks like and usually made from ceramic:

Fig. 2

Fig. 3 - Standard Wire Bond IC Packaging

Fig. 4 - Flip Chip Technology

Die boding tools (See Fig. 6) on the other hand are tools for die bonding process. It usually starts with Wafer Processing (Everything starts with a thin slice of material, usually silicon, but sometimes also Gallium Arsenide, Quartz, Glass, Lithium Tantalate, Lithium Niobate , etc. called wafer.). Then it will go on to die picking, epoxy dispensing, die placing, epoxy curing and wire bonding. To see the clear picture, check this The Basic Die Bonding Process.

Fig.6

So on my next posts you will see how I draw those little critters.

The plugin I’m talking about is made by Alex King and it’s becoming popular right now and haven’t read anything about affecting search engine ranking like the one I read here ( WURFL killed my ranking ). So without much ado, just download the plugin here: WordPress Mobile Edition

How to install it:

1. Copy the wp-mobile.php file in your wp-content/plugins directory in your hosting using any FTP program.

2. Copy the wp-mobile directory in your wp-content/themes directory in your hosting using any FTP program.

3. Click the ‘Activate’ link for WordPress Mobile Edition on your Plugins page (in the WordPress admin interface)

Fig. 1 - Parts of an ellipse

By looking at the illustration above , you see the components of an ellipse. The Major Axis, Minor Axis and the distance which is half the Minor Axis. The ‘distance’ in the illustration is only half the measurement of the Minor axis and will only serve as a guide for drawing an ellipse using AutoCAD.

So to start with, we will draw your first ellipse. First, point your cursor on the left side panel and select the ellipse icon. (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Then after clicking the icon, the command prompt will say: Specify axis endpoint of ellipse or [Arc/Center]: . AutoCAD is just asking you to pick a point on the screen as your starting point to create the first part of the ellipse which is the Major axis (See Fig 3). Then pick a point on a screen, for example, the lower part of the left screen. Then the command prompt will say: Specify other endpoint of axis: which means you have to drag your cursor upwards and click your left mouse button again(See Fig 3).

Fig. 3

After clicking you will notice a circle is created but once you drag your mouse or cursor, the circle begins to change its shape. The more you drag it, the shape becomes an ellipse with no exact shape(See Fig. 4). Then the command prompt will say: Specify distance to other axis or [Rotation]: Which AutoCAD is simply telling that you should choose the other axis to specify the distance. We started on the vertical axis, then after your select the second point, move your cursor on the horizontal axis. (See Fig. 5)

Fig. 4

After you moved your cursor on the horizontal axis, drag it left or right as you can see on the below drawing and click your mouse. (Whew!) That wasn’t hard isn’t it? now you have drawn an ellipse!

Fig. 5

There are more options on creating an ellipse but for of simplicity we will just use the default setting as you have done so when clicking the ellipse icon (See Fig. 2). The other option I’m talking about is in the menu bar by selecting:

Option#1: Draw >Ellipse>Center

Option#2: Draw >Ellipse>Axis,End

Option#3: Draw >Ellipse>Arc

Which we will explore on my coming posts.

Figure 1

After clicking the icon, the command prompt will say “_circle Specify center point for circle or [3P/2P/Ttr (tan tan radius)]:”. Although the message seems very long and doesn’t make sense, AutoCAD is just asking you to specify or to point your cursor to any place on the black screen. It will be the center point of the circle your are about to draw. The message in the bracket [] also have a meaning and will be used on drawing shapes or object (which I’ll discuss later) but for now just concentrate on how to draw a simple circle. After you picked a point in the center of the screen using your mouse and pointing your cursor, click the left mouse button. You will see on the screen a circle and as you drag the mouse up and down, the size of the circle changes (See Fig. 2 below). Then AutoCAD will ask you again as you see in the command prompt “Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:” which is only telling you to decide what dimension of the circle you wanted to draw. If you are not concerned about the accurate dimension and just wanted to draw a circle, just pick any point until you are satisfied of the size of your circle. Look at the figure below, the cross thing there is your cursor where you can just left click your mouse and you already have a circle. If you click it, the command will end and there you have it, a circle.

Figure 2

But, if you want to specify the size, lets say, 1 or 2 units, just repeat the steps above and type 1 or 2 on the command prompt “Specify radius of circle or [Diameter]:” (see Figure 2) and press enter on your keyboard. That isn’t hard, isn’t it?

Just remember, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

First let me introduce you to the basic commands needed to draw your first object. Those commands are actually drawing tools like a pen or a pencil for making your drawings. The only difference compared to a free hand and a CAD software is that the rulers, compass and protractors are already built-in in the drawing process. Only your CPU, monitor, keyboard and your mouse are the physical objects that makes the drawings. The rest are all software. With this tutorial, all the tools I’m going to mention will have an actual drawing not only defining each.

The first command I’m going to show you is the ‘LINE’ command. That is the most basic command to start using AutoCAD. First of all open your AutoCAD program (please use version 2000 if you have one because that is what I’m using). When something pops up saying “start from scratch” you can click the ‘OK’ button. Then a black screen will show up. Its the AutoCAD default you can change it later on what ever color suits you.

There are two ways for your to draw a line:

1. One is you can type it directly on the command prompt on the bottom of the screen. You don’t have to point your mouse, just type it in your keyboard then press ‘enter’. (See Figure 1)

Figure 1

2. The second one is by clicking the icon on the upper left side panel of the interface.(See Figure 2)

Figure 2

After that the command prompt on the bottom of the screen will respond a message “Specify first point:”. The program is asking you to pick a point in a screen using your mouse and cursor (the little cross thing moving on the screen when you move your mouse - see Figure 4 below) as a starting point of your line. You can choose the center of your screen as the starting point. After picking a point by clicking the left mouse button, the command prompt will ask again “Specify next point or [undo]:”. AutoCAD is asking you to pick your next point to make a line. You just have to pick any area in the screen to make a line but for this task its better to make a horizontal line by clicking either on the left or right portion of the screen as shown below (you can toggle F10 if you want an automatic straight line called Polar Tracking) .(See Figure 3)

Figure 3

After picking the next point, just press the ESC key to terminate the line. Now there you have it! you have made your first line! hurray!(See Figure 4)

Figure 4

So if you ever need my CAD service, just email me here: webmaster@cadblog.net

Including a directory in a website was already a standard to many websites but there is non for blogs. But now, there is a Wordpress plug in I found that can automate the process. I have installed one myself, just click the link “directory” in the upper right corner of this page. Installation is a snap. Just follow the instruction in the downloadable zip file. However, there are some tweeks you have to do in your theme index.php if your theme is not compatible but most WP themes will work just fine. I’ll just post some tips here . Please exchange links with me after you install it or before installation you can submit your link in the directory page to try it out for demo.

This plugin provides all the features of a link directory.

# Creation of link categories, sub-categories with descriptions
You can create any number of categories with description in the directory, including sub-categories.

# Quick add of link from admin backend and visitor front-end
Your visitor will be able to click on this link “Insert your link here”, it will pop out a form below for submission. Clean and simple.

# Search engine for admin to find link
You can search for a particular link based on its title, domain name, email address, etc

# Easy integration to your Wordpress theme
You don’t have to worry about the template because this directory will use your Wordpress theme. You can easily modify styling using the external style sheet provided in the directory folder.

# Backlink cleansing for checking reciprocal links
Checks each reciprocal links and see if the site is linking back to you as it promised. A list of broken links will be listed and you can either remove them or do something else.

# Non-reciprocal link allowance
You can Allow non reciprocal links and then the link will not be checked when performing link cleansing check.

# Email notification templates
Plugin allows you to set a custom email template system for link notification and approval.

# SEO friendly url rewrite
SEO friendly URL rewrite feature, that re-writes all url to search engine friendly format.

Download Link#1: Official Download Site: Worpress Link Exchage Plug in

Download Link#2: If however, the site above is offline, you can download it here: Worpress Link Exchage Plug in

I have edited the code on the second download link to remove the error showing on the dashboard which I’ve encountered when I first install the plug in. Feel free to ask and post your questions below and will respond ASAP. Happy link exchanging!

Since I was also an RC model airplane hobbyist on my teen years, I was also interested on how to design airplanes. I wanted to try Design CAD because thats what I see in RC model airplane enthusiast magazines way back then ( Just for the info, if you are also interested in model airplanes, visit my site Model Aeronautics for Dodos ). I have a friend in college who knows how to use AutoCAD and keep asking him if Design CAD is O.K. What he said is AutoCAD is better because the software is widely used and has a wide application unlike the Design CAD that focused only in Model Airplanes. Since my only goal is to learn how to draw, and since I have to order the Design CAD software in the U.S. I contented myself on learning AutoCAD. It was version 11 and the installation disks are those 5-1/2″ floppy disks back then in 1993 with a 386 computer. I’m not aware of internet then (he he he). It’s a blessing in disguise because my knowledge in AutoCAD have became my bread and butter.

So what CAD software to use? today it’s even harder to decide because there are hundreds of CAD software in the internet unlike before. Since AutoCAD is a general purpose CAD software, I think it’s a good start but since it’s very expensive, you might as well purchase a cheaper one and very similar to AutoCAD. It’s the IntelliCAD. Check it out here