What do leader lines do in technical drawings?

Leader lines in technical drawings are used to connect a specific feature or element of the drawing to a note, dimension, or annotation. This connection helps clarify what the note or dimension refers to, ensuring that there is no ambiguity about which part of the drawing is being described or measured.

When a leader line is drawn, it typically has an arrowhead that points directly to the feature, making it intuitive for the viewer to follow the line and understand the relevant information. This practice enhances communication in engineering and manufacturing by clearly showing relationships between features and their corresponding annotations.

While dimensions, hidden features, and tolerances are important elements of technical drawings, they serve different purposes. Dimensions specify sizes or distances, hidden features denote parts of an object that are not observable in the chosen view, and tolerances indicate allowable variations in dimensions. However, leader lines specifically aid in connecting features to their explanations or measurements.