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 February 2011

Adding Batt Insulation to Walls

One of my customers asked me the other day how to add batt insulation to the drawing, and I promised her I would have it in an upcoming article.

As it turns out, the batt insulation can be easily added as a linetype.

How to Add Batt Insulation to Walls

1. Create a new layer for the insulation line - CT_Insulation in this example - then, under Linetype, click 'CONTINUOUS' to open the Select Linetype dialog box.

2. Click Load, then scroll down the list of linetypes and click 'BATTING', then OK.

3. In the Select Linetype dialog box, select the Batting linetype, then click OK to assign that linetype to the layer.

4. Be sure to set your insulation layer current, then close the Layer Properties Manager.

   Note 1: Many default settings - text size, dimension scale, and linetype scale - are just fine if you're going to be drawing something no bigger than… a laser jet printer. But for larger drawings, many of the defaults need to be increased.

   I did a quick test, and as it turns out, if the LTSCALE value is 1, the batt insulation fits very nicely inside a 1″ thick wall. Read on…

5. Zoom to the wall in which you want to add the insulation, then set the LTSCALE variable to the width of the wall into which it will be added. In this illustration, I'll set it to 5″.

   Note 2: There is a very real possibility that the Ltscale factor (which is global, affecting all non-continuous linetypes) may need to be set to a different value. If so, you may want to take a look at the Odd Spot from August 2003 - Lyin' Type Scale.

6. Launch the Line or Polyline command.

7. To place the center of the linetype in the center of the wall, you may want to use the M2P feature, especially at the corners. When prompted for each point of the line, enter M2P, then (using Endpoint snap), accurately pick the corners of the wall, as shown by the red dots in the figure shown here. For more on M2P, take a look at the Power Tool in Michael's Corner, June 2008 (or p. 39 in your copy of The AutoCAD Workbench).

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