=1= Folio 7 Line Weight Colors
Folio 7 uses colors to indicate the width of a line as shown in Table 1.0 below.
The purpose of changing pen weights to match colors is that drafters can easily detect the width of a line by its color on the drawing screen. To detect its width on the screen would be far more difficult if comparing widths of a line that is 0.09 to a line that is 0. 15 by studying its width as illustrated on the screen in actual size.
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Folio7 AutoCAD Pen Number and Colors Corresponding to Line Widths |
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| AutoCAD Pen Number | Pen Color | Pen Size (mm) | Vintage
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| 6 | Magenta | 0.09 | No. 000 Pen |
| 4 | Cyan | 0.15 | No. 00 Pen |
| 2 | Yellow | 0.25 | No. 0 Pen |
| 5 | Blue | 0.35 | No. 1 Pen |
| 7 | Black | 0.50 | No. 2 Pen |
| 1 | Red | 0.70 | No. 3 Pen |
| 3 | Green | 0.90 | No. 4 Pen |
=2= How to create a pen assignment table?
Two tutorials offer step by step instructions on how to:
-1- insert a 8.5 x 11 landscape template,
-2- create special paper size which no offsets,
-3- create a pen style table
-4- plot the drawing
To begin, download the landscape template and then review the two tutorials as you follow along in AutoCAD.
~1~ Download the 8.5 x 11 landscape template
~2~ Tutorial #1 How to create a paper size in AutoCAD for Windows
~3~ Tutorial #2 How to create a pen style table in AutoCAF for Windows
=3= What do pen weight looks like when Plotted/Printed?
The first illustration (4.1) shows the pen weights as showin in Autocad before the drawing is plotted/printed.
The second illustration (4.2) shows how the pen weights are displayed on sheet of paper when plotted.
=4= What about vintage pen sizes?
These pen weights configuration screens are little changed from Version 12 in the early 1990’s to the present when this article is being written.
The vintage drafting pen weights can be illustrated in the photo below from Wikipedia’s article on Technical Pens. Although the colors do not correspond to Folio7 colors, the width of line being draw in AutoCAD can be approximated and understood by studying the pen nibs, that is the tips of the rapiograph pens as manufactured by Rotring in Germany
The pen names listed in Table 1 are not longer made in the USA and are not used in the commercial description of pen to be purchased from Europe. However, the names of the pens (No. 1 Pen, No. 2 Pen, No. 3 Pen ….) are still used but are still used by American draftsman to discuss their work.
