AutoCAD Title Block: Put a Base Plate on an A3 Sheet Ready to Print

AutoCAD layout and title block commands

How to make a title block in AutoCAD, step by step

1. Draw the base plate at full size in model space

   In model space, draw the plate with REC from 0,0 to 150,100. Type CHA, set both distances to 10, choose Polyline and pick the rectangle: the four corners are chamfered at once. Draw the four Ø14 holes 20 mm from the edges, which puts them 110 apart along the length and 60 apart across, and the 50 x 20 window centered on the plate. Add the edge view, 150 x 10, above the plate, and dimension both views.

   

2. Set up the A3 layout

   Click the Layout1 tab. Type PAGESETUP, select the layout and click Modify. Choose the DWG To PDF.pc3 plotter, the ISO full bleed A3 (420.00 x 297.00 MM) paper, landscape orientation, Layout as the plot area and a scale of 1:1. Click OK and close. Delete the default viewport that AutoCAD created: you will make your own.

   From now on, one unit in the layout is one millimeter of paper.

3. Draw the border and the title block

   Draw the border 10 mm inside the edge of the sheet with REC from 10,10 to 410,287. The title block of this bootcamp is 180 x 36 mm in the bottom right corner: REC from 230,10 to 410,46. Divide it into three rows 12 mm high with lines at y = 22 and y = 34, and split the two lower rows into three columns 60 mm wide with lines at x = 290 and x = 350.

   Put all of it on a BORDER layer with a thick lineweight, so it prints like the outlines of the part.

4. Fill in the title block fields

   The top row holds the name of the part, Base plate, in text 5 mm high, and the projection symbol at its right end. Each cell of the lower rows has a small label, 2.2 mm high, at its top left and the value, 3.5 mm high, below it: SCALE 1:1, UNITS mm, DWG NO. SL-011-A in the middle row; MATERIAL S235JR and PROJECTION FIRST ANGLE in the bottom row, with the site name in the last cell.

   The note for general tolerances goes at the bottom left, outside the title block: General tolerances ISO 2768-m. Dimensions in mm. It covers every dimension without its own tolerance.

5. Create the viewport and set its scale

   Type MV and draw a rectangular viewport inside the border, above the title block. The part appears in it at some scale. Click inside the viewport to activate it, then choose 1:1 in the viewport scale list on the status bar: 150 mm of plate now measure 150 mm on paper. Pan to center the views, click outside the viewport and lock it with the padlock on the status bar, so the scale cannot change by accident.

   Put the viewport on a layer that does not plot, so its frame does not print.

   

6. Save the template and plot to PDF

   Delete the plate from model space and save the drawing with Save As and the AutoCAD Drawing Template (*.dwt) file type, under a name such as A3-ISO-solidtorial. Every new drawing started from it comes with the layers, the layout, the border and the title block ready; only the fields change.

   To print, open the plate drawing again, press Ctrl+P or type PLOT, check that the page setup is the one you made and click OK to create the PDF.

Common AutoCAD title block mistakes

• Drawing the part at the scale of the sheet. The part is always drawn at full size in model space. The scale belongs to the viewport, not to the geometry.
• An unlocked viewport. One turn of the mouse wheel inside it changes the scale shown in the title block into a lie. Lock it.
• The viewport frame printed. Put viewports on a non-plotting layer.
• Title block text too small. Values under 2.5 mm are hard to read on a printed A3. Keep labels at about 2 mm and values at 3.5 mm or more.
• A title block that disagrees with the drawing. Scale, units and projection must match what is on the sheet. Check them every time you reuse the template.

AutoCAD title block questions