Drawing a line tangential to two circles

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meduncan
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Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:03 pm

Drawing a line tangential to two circles

Post by meduncan » Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:56 pm

I have tried to do this using both menu commands and icons but with the same result: I click on the first circle and then the command line indicates to click on the 2nd circle or arc. Nothing appears to happen when I do this and the command line continues to show that I should click on the 2nd arc or circle.

I am running QCAD v2.2.2.0 in Windows XP. I have not done much with QCAD before now and shall be grateful for any advice.

Many thanks in advance.

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andrew
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Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Post by andrew » Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:09 pm

Please make sure that the second circle is not inside the first circle. If this is the case, no tangents are possible.

You might want to test the tool with a simple case in a new empty drawing:
- Draw two circles beside each other.
- Draw - Line - Tangent (C,C)
- Click the first circle anywhere along its visible circular line.
- Move mouse cursor along the visible circular line of the second circle. You should see a preview of all possible tangents, depending on where along the circular line you position the mouse cursor.

If the circles are beside each other (no intersection), there are four possible tangents. If the circles intersect, there are two possible tangents. If one circle is inside the other, no tangents are possible.

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