AutoCAD 2014: The Fillet Command

by John Flanagan

Introduction: 

The Fillet Tool rounds and fillets the edges of objects. You can access the Fillet command from the modify panel on the AutoCAD Ribbon.

Fig 1: Fillet Tool Location (Ribbon Home Tab / Modify Panel)

Using the Fillet Tool

In the example below (fig 2) the dashed line on the left has been selected. If you hover the pick box over the line on the right a green x will appear indicating the point of intersection when the line is selected with a left mouse click. The diagram on the right shows the result when a fillet radius of 0 is chosen.

Fig 2: Fillet – Sharp Corner (Radius = 0)

If you want a curved corner instead of a sharp corner you must change the fillet radius to the desired size. Select the radius option from the command line (fig 3) and type in 100. Follow the same procedure as above by selecting both lines and press enter. The result is shown in fig 4 below.

Fig 3: Change Radius

Fig 4: Fillet – Curved Corner (Radius = 100)

Tip: Fillet – Trim Mode Option

When you select the fillet tool make sure that the trim option is set to trim, otherwise when you click on the lines nothing will appear to happen or you will get a gap. You can select the trim option from by clicking on the word trim that appears in the command prompts once the fillet tool is selected.

Fig 5: Fillet – Setting the Trim Mode Option

Conclusion: 

You can fillet arcs, circles, ellipses, elliptical arcs, lines, polylines, rays, splines, and xlines. Experiment with the listed geometry and you will soon appreciate the full versatility of AutoCAD’s Fillet command. Remember to keep looking at you command prompts for guidance.