AutoCAD isometric exercise: a stepped block

Draw this stepped block in isometric, in millimetres: 60 long, 40 deep and 40 high, with a step 20 deep and 20 high along its front. Every edge runs along one of the isometric axes: 30° and 210° for the length, 150° and 330° for the depth, 90° and 270° for the height. MellowCAD does not have AutoCAD's isometric drafting yet, its isometric snap and isocircles, so the edges are lines typed with polar coordinates, a length and an angle.

• Exercise: Intermediate · Mechanical · Isometric
• Commands: LINE, DIMALIGNED
• In the editor: Open it with its drawing, dimensioned beside where you draw yours

The drawing

Step by step

The engine draws each step and writes its history as you would type it: the prompts in AutoCAD 2027's order, with the same option letters. After a command's first point, a typed point is measured from the last one, as dynamic input measures it, and the history writes it with @; # measures from the origin.

1. Draw the front of the step

On the Outline layer, LINE from 0,0, the bottom front corner: 60<30, 20<90, 60<210, then Close.

2. Draw the side

From 0,0 again, the left side: 40<150, 40<90, 20<330, 20<270 and 20<330. Enter ends the line on the step's front edge.

3. Draw the top

The rest starts at corners already drawn: type _END, the Endpoint object snap for one point, and pick the corner. From the front's top right corner: 20<150, 20<90, 20<150 and 60<210. Then two lines of 60<210, from the riser's foot and from its top.

4. Dimension it

On Dimensions, DIMALIGNED along the edges, each placed beside its own: 60 and 40 at the bottom, 40 up the left, 20 up the right.

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