By:James Monahan
Drafting is also known as technical drawing, it is the method of creating drawing for architectures and engineering. A person who is skilled in this field is more popularly known as a draftsman.
The fundamentals of drafting are easy. To be able to draft something, a draftsman places a piece of paper (or other drawing material) on any surface that has straight sides and right angle corners (drafting table).
Another tool needed for drafting is a t-square. A t-square is a ruler-like tool that slides on a straight edge, making it easier for a draftsman to move his/her tool on the drafting table.
The t-square enables its users to draw parallel lines by moving this tool and running your pencils edge along its straight edge line.
T-squares can also be used to hold other drafting devices like a set of squares or triangles. This way, the right angle of the t-square plus the angle of the triangle can create a perfect straight and angled line onto your paper.
Modern day drafting tables now come equipped with parallel ruler supported by both sides of the table. This ruler can also slide through your drafting table, assuring you that parallel lines that you draw are going to turn out parallel.
Other drafting tools are used to create circles and curves. A primary tool used in drafting is the compass. This instrument is used to create simple circles in your drawing.
A French curve on the other hand, is a plastic curved ruler that helps create simple and complex curves for your project. For more intricate curves, a spline is a drafting tool that is made of an articulated metal covered in rubber to enable users to bend this tool in different curves.
The simplest drafting system needs to pay full attention to the placement of tools and the accuracy of the table. The most common mistake in drafting is to let the triangle push the top of the t-square slightly down. When this happens, it will throw off all the proper angles in your drawing.
Another common problem in the area of drafting is the difficulty in drawing two angled lines and making them meet at a point. Because this was such a tedious task, the introduction of the "drafting machine" came into the light of possibility.
This machine makes it possible for the draftsman to have a precise angle wherever part of the paper he wishes to draw at. He does this with the help of the pantograph.
A pantograph is a special mechanical tool connected to the drafting table that when used to draw, it moves in a fixed relation to every other element of itself. Also, one major advantage of the drafting machine enables the ability to modify angles, thus eliminating the use of triangles.
Drafting must seem easy to most people, but to be able to draft something, it requires a certain knowledge in engineering.
For a time, drafting was a sought after profession in the United States, considering that the draftsman was a very skilled at his craft. But because of the creation of the drafting machine, drafting has become fully automated and largely accelerated using computer aided design or CAD.
An innovation of CAD is the less recognized CADD or computer aided design and drafting. Although this may be the case, skilled draftsmen may still be of use to some who need routine changes to their drawings.
Drafting is an art common to architects, engineers, or machinist. Some of the uses of drafting are for birds eye view, elevations, plan view, isometric projections, cross sections and the like.
Article Source: http://www.redsofts.com/articles/
James Monahan is the owner and Senior Editor of
DraftingBase.com and writes expert
articles about drafting.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Drafting A CAD model of a mechanical double seal
Main articles: Technical drawing and CNC
Drafting or technical drawing is the means by which mechanical engineers create instructions for manufacturing parts. A technical drawing can be a computer model or hand-drawn schematic showing all the dimensions necessary to manufacture a part, as well as assembly notes, a list of required materials, and other pertinent information. A U.S. mechanical engineer or skilled worker who creates technical drawings may be referred to as a drafter or draftsman. Drafting has historically been a two-dimensional process, but computer-aided design (CAD) programs now allow the designer to create in three dimensions.
Instructions for manufacturing a part must be fed to the necessary machinery, either manually, through programmed instructions, or through the use of a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) or combined CAD/CAM program. Optionally, an engineer may also manually manufacture a part using the technical drawings, but this is becoming an increasing rarity, with the advent of computer numerically controlled (CNC) manufacturing. Engineers primarily manually manufacture parts in the areas of applied spray coatings, finishes, and other processes that cannot economically or practically be done by a machine.
Drafting is used in nearly every subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, and by many other branches of engineering and architecture. Three-dimensional models created using CAD software are also commonly used in finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
[edit] Frontiers of research
Mechanical engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible in order to produce safer, cheaper, and more efficient machines and mechanical systems. Some technologies at the cutting edge of mechanical engineering are listed below (see also exploratory engineering).
Drafting or technical drawing is the means by which mechanical engineers create instructions for manufacturing parts. A technical drawing can be a computer model or hand-drawn schematic showing all the dimensions necessary to manufacture a part, as well as assembly notes, a list of required materials, and other pertinent information. A U.S. mechanical engineer or skilled worker who creates technical drawings may be referred to as a drafter or draftsman. Drafting has historically been a two-dimensional process, but computer-aided design (CAD) programs now allow the designer to create in three dimensions.
Instructions for manufacturing a part must be fed to the necessary machinery, either manually, through programmed instructions, or through the use of a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) or combined CAD/CAM program. Optionally, an engineer may also manually manufacture a part using the technical drawings, but this is becoming an increasing rarity, with the advent of computer numerically controlled (CNC) manufacturing. Engineers primarily manually manufacture parts in the areas of applied spray coatings, finishes, and other processes that cannot economically or practically be done by a machine.
Drafting is used in nearly every subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, and by many other branches of engineering and architecture. Three-dimensional models created using CAD software are also commonly used in finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
[edit] Frontiers of research
Mechanical engineers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is physically possible in order to produce safer, cheaper, and more efficient machines and mechanical systems. Some technologies at the cutting edge of mechanical engineering are listed below (see also exploratory engineering).
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Importance of Technical Drawing to an Engineer
By Brad Painting, eHow Contributor
Image from advanced CAD program
Image from advanced CAD program
Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Jeremy Levine
Without technical drawings, engineering would be a discipline of enormous guesswork. Technical drawings allow engineers to create designs, calculate forces and stresses on structures, and work with manufacturers. The ability to understand and work with technical drawings will not make someone a good engineer, but it is a necessary skill on the way to becoming adept in the profession.
Creating Designs
1. Engineers often create original designs that must be presented to others. Even if you can make a drawing understandable to yourself, it will not be readable to others if it does not follow the conventions of technical drawing. Engineers may design machine parts, composite structures or circuits that will involve the collaboration of several people. It is fine to sketch your basic ideas by hand while creatively brainstorming, but the details of the design must eventually be cemented into a format that is mutually understood.
Reading Designs
2. Engineers may not actually create designs, but analyze or perform calculations on them. A common example involves the calculation of the maximum stress on a machine part. By gathering the materials, geometry, and forces on a part from an engineering drawing, the engineer runs calculations to determine whether it will fail due to internal shear, compressive or tensile stresses.
Modifying Designs
3. Designs are rarely perfect the first time around, and usually involve an iterative process of modifying several factors. An engineer may work with a team by modifying the dimensions, geometry, materials or couplings to meet goals for safety, value and functionality. As an example, an engineer might be given the task of reducing the weight of an object by 5 percent without detracting from its functionality. A technical drawing is the only way to show exactly how the design would change.
Manufacturing
4. A technical drawing can give machine operators information on how to manufacture an item. It is the engineer's responsibility to create the design in a way that does not call for excessively difficult or complex manufacturing processes. An engineering drawing should contain sufficient views and acceptable surface finishes, tolerances and geometries to be manufactured with the available equipment.
Computer Software
5. Technical drawings are created and modified through a number of computer-aided design programs, such as AutoCAD and SolidWorks. These programs have long moved past cutting-edge status and are now practically considered a standard part of an engineer's skill set. To use these programs effectively, one must understand the different line types, views, dimensions and information included in technical drawings.
FiberSIM 2010 Availablewww.vistagy.com
Capitalize on New Composite Materials and Processes
Chemical Engineeringwww.che.com
Online and print solutions for pros in CPI and related industries
Pipe Engineering Analysiswww.pipemill.com
Design a flange, support, loop or calculating loads ? Need data?
SolidWorks Trainingwww.myigetit.com/solidworks
Not just online videos i GET IT provides real training material.
Image from advanced CAD program
Image from advanced CAD program
Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Jeremy Levine
Without technical drawings, engineering would be a discipline of enormous guesswork. Technical drawings allow engineers to create designs, calculate forces and stresses on structures, and work with manufacturers. The ability to understand and work with technical drawings will not make someone a good engineer, but it is a necessary skill on the way to becoming adept in the profession.
Creating Designs
1. Engineers often create original designs that must be presented to others. Even if you can make a drawing understandable to yourself, it will not be readable to others if it does not follow the conventions of technical drawing. Engineers may design machine parts, composite structures or circuits that will involve the collaboration of several people. It is fine to sketch your basic ideas by hand while creatively brainstorming, but the details of the design must eventually be cemented into a format that is mutually understood.
Reading Designs
2. Engineers may not actually create designs, but analyze or perform calculations on them. A common example involves the calculation of the maximum stress on a machine part. By gathering the materials, geometry, and forces on a part from an engineering drawing, the engineer runs calculations to determine whether it will fail due to internal shear, compressive or tensile stresses.
Modifying Designs
3. Designs are rarely perfect the first time around, and usually involve an iterative process of modifying several factors. An engineer may work with a team by modifying the dimensions, geometry, materials or couplings to meet goals for safety, value and functionality. As an example, an engineer might be given the task of reducing the weight of an object by 5 percent without detracting from its functionality. A technical drawing is the only way to show exactly how the design would change.
Manufacturing
4. A technical drawing can give machine operators information on how to manufacture an item. It is the engineer's responsibility to create the design in a way that does not call for excessively difficult or complex manufacturing processes. An engineering drawing should contain sufficient views and acceptable surface finishes, tolerances and geometries to be manufactured with the available equipment.
Computer Software
5. Technical drawings are created and modified through a number of computer-aided design programs, such as AutoCAD and SolidWorks. These programs have long moved past cutting-edge status and are now practically considered a standard part of an engineer's skill set. To use these programs effectively, one must understand the different line types, views, dimensions and information included in technical drawings.
FiberSIM 2010 Availablewww.vistagy.com
Capitalize on New Composite Materials and Processes
Chemical Engineeringwww.che.com
Online and print solutions for pros in CPI and related industries
Pipe Engineering Analysiswww.pipemill.com
Design a flange, support, loop or calculating loads ? Need data?
SolidWorks Trainingwww.myigetit.com/solidworks
Not just online videos i GET IT provides real training material.
Professional Printing Quality For Technical Drawing
If you're a professional working with CAD and CAD related information and needing hard copy, you'll appreciate the need for top quality printing capabilities. Print quality equates to extreme accuracy in the print, as well as your specifications and patiently accumulated graphics. These are working documents, and they have to be good, as well as look good. Semi-legible plans aren't an option. CAD printing has to be done as well as the plans themselves.
CAD can help, but so can your printer
Fortunately, CAD is an almost self-explanatory drawing mode. You know the whole story of every line on the plan, line sizes, areas of text, etc. It's also helpful by nature because of its strongly regulated lines and coordinates, which is a very good printer-friendly setup by nature. A basic print dialog box will do most of the work, but with technical drawing you can add some failsafes and quality controls before you print.
The Draft and Text modes are particularly useful, because they use a minimum of ink. If there are any actual print problems, you'll see them on this type of print. If there are head or nozzle issues, the print will have gaps in lines, or blurry looking elements. Use the Advanced and Maintenance settings to clear up these issues.
Ink quality issues and getting the right setup
The dpi ratio is often the key to good line quality. Good quality printer inks, particularly those used for photo printing, are the best. You may find that photo quality technical drawings are more precise on your printer, because of the high quality ink applications to media.
If you're finding lines are looking variable, you can use imaging software to control DPI levels. Use a systematic increase or decrease in DPI to get the right settings. You don't need to waste ink, either, just do basic print maintenance tests with the new settings. Solid lines on tests mean you're ready to print.
A3 prints- quality before printing
Anyone who's ever wrestled with an A3 technical print knows the story. They're big, they're complicated, and there always seems to be something. They're also ink gluttons, if you let them get away with it.
The way to deal with these ink-hogging, line-sabotaging pests is with simple trickery. An A3 can be reduced down to an A5 easily. Simply test and do your quality controls on the A5. (A4 may use up a bit of ink, but you can try that for high detail, too.) You still have the level of detail, you can see problems, and you have some ink left.
Double checks using software for quality control
Another good quality control option is element printing. That's easy with CAD, and it's quick. You can do elements of the design as test prints. In some technical drawing printing jobs you may need element prints anyway, so you can do both at the same time. It saves ink, and will find any printing issues instantly.
Cartridgemate.com.au offers a wide range of inkjet printer cartridges and laser toner supplies at seriously discounted prices. You can save up to 70% on inflated retail shop prices. For more information or to view our products, visit Ink Cartridges
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shane_Gooding
CAD can help, but so can your printer
Fortunately, CAD is an almost self-explanatory drawing mode. You know the whole story of every line on the plan, line sizes, areas of text, etc. It's also helpful by nature because of its strongly regulated lines and coordinates, which is a very good printer-friendly setup by nature. A basic print dialog box will do most of the work, but with technical drawing you can add some failsafes and quality controls before you print.
The Draft and Text modes are particularly useful, because they use a minimum of ink. If there are any actual print problems, you'll see them on this type of print. If there are head or nozzle issues, the print will have gaps in lines, or blurry looking elements. Use the Advanced and Maintenance settings to clear up these issues.
Ink quality issues and getting the right setup
The dpi ratio is often the key to good line quality. Good quality printer inks, particularly those used for photo printing, are the best. You may find that photo quality technical drawings are more precise on your printer, because of the high quality ink applications to media.
If you're finding lines are looking variable, you can use imaging software to control DPI levels. Use a systematic increase or decrease in DPI to get the right settings. You don't need to waste ink, either, just do basic print maintenance tests with the new settings. Solid lines on tests mean you're ready to print.
A3 prints- quality before printing
Anyone who's ever wrestled with an A3 technical print knows the story. They're big, they're complicated, and there always seems to be something. They're also ink gluttons, if you let them get away with it.
The way to deal with these ink-hogging, line-sabotaging pests is with simple trickery. An A3 can be reduced down to an A5 easily. Simply test and do your quality controls on the A5. (A4 may use up a bit of ink, but you can try that for high detail, too.) You still have the level of detail, you can see problems, and you have some ink left.
Double checks using software for quality control
Another good quality control option is element printing. That's easy with CAD, and it's quick. You can do elements of the design as test prints. In some technical drawing printing jobs you may need element prints anyway, so you can do both at the same time. It saves ink, and will find any printing issues instantly.
Cartridgemate.com.au offers a wide range of inkjet printer cartridges and laser toner supplies at seriously discounted prices. You can save up to 70% on inflated retail shop prices. For more information or to view our products, visit Ink Cartridges
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shane_Gooding
Monday, January 3, 2011
Drafting As An Art Of Technical Drawing
By:James Monahan
Drafting is also known as technical drawing, it is the method of creating drawing for architectures and engineering. A person who is skilled in this field is more popularly known as a draftsman.
The fundamentals of drafting are easy. To be able to draft something, a draftsman places a piece of paper (or other drawing material) on any surface that has straight sides and right angle corners (drafting table).
Another tool needed for drafting is a t-square. A t-square is a ruler-like tool that slides on a straight edge, making it easier for a draftsman to move his/her tool on the drafting table.
The t-square enables its users to draw parallel lines by moving this tool and running your pencils edge along its straight edge line.
T-squares can also be used to hold other drafting devices like a set of squares or triangles. This way, the right angle of the t-square plus the angle of the triangle can create a perfect straight and angled line onto your paper.
Modern day drafting tables now come equipped with parallel ruler supported by both sides of the table. This ruler can also slide through your drafting table, assuring you that parallel lines that you draw are going to turn out parallel.
Other drafting tools are used to create circles and curves. A primary tool used in drafting is the compass. This instrument is used to create simple circles in your drawing.
A French curve on the other hand, is a plastic curved ruler that helps create simple and complex curves for your project. For more intricate curves, a spline is a drafting tool that is made of an articulated metal covered in rubber to enable users to bend this tool in different curves.
The simplest drafting system needs to pay full attention to the placement of tools and the accuracy of the table. The most common mistake in drafting is to let the triangle push the top of the t-square slightly down. When this happens, it will throw off all the proper angles in your drawing.
Another common problem in the area of drafting is the difficulty in drawing two angled lines and making them meet at a point. Because this was such a tedious task, the introduction of the "drafting machine" came into the light of possibility.
This machine makes it possible for the draftsman to have a precise angle wherever part of the paper he wishes to draw at. He does this with the help of the pantograph.
A pantograph is a special mechanical tool connected to the drafting table that when used to draw, it moves in a fixed relation to every other element of itself. Also, one major advantage of the drafting machine enables the ability to modify angles, thus eliminating the use of triangles.
Drafting must seem easy to most people, but to be able to draft something, it requires a certain knowledge in engineering.
For a time, drafting was a sought after profession in the United States, considering that the draftsman was a very skilled at his craft. But because of the creation of the drafting machine, drafting has become fully automated and largely accelerated using computer aided design or CAD.
An innovation of CAD is the less recognized CADD or computer aided design and drafting. Although this may be the case, skilled draftsmen may still be of use to some who need routine changes to their drawings.
Drafting is an art common to architects, engineers, or machinist. Some of the uses of drafting are for birds eye view, elevations, plan view, isometric projections, cross sections and the like.
Article Source: http://www.redsofts.com/articles/
Drafting is also known as technical drawing, it is the method of creating drawing for architectures and engineering. A person who is skilled in this field is more popularly known as a draftsman.
The fundamentals of drafting are easy. To be able to draft something, a draftsman places a piece of paper (or other drawing material) on any surface that has straight sides and right angle corners (drafting table).
Another tool needed for drafting is a t-square. A t-square is a ruler-like tool that slides on a straight edge, making it easier for a draftsman to move his/her tool on the drafting table.
The t-square enables its users to draw parallel lines by moving this tool and running your pencils edge along its straight edge line.
T-squares can also be used to hold other drafting devices like a set of squares or triangles. This way, the right angle of the t-square plus the angle of the triangle can create a perfect straight and angled line onto your paper.
Modern day drafting tables now come equipped with parallel ruler supported by both sides of the table. This ruler can also slide through your drafting table, assuring you that parallel lines that you draw are going to turn out parallel.
Other drafting tools are used to create circles and curves. A primary tool used in drafting is the compass. This instrument is used to create simple circles in your drawing.
A French curve on the other hand, is a plastic curved ruler that helps create simple and complex curves for your project. For more intricate curves, a spline is a drafting tool that is made of an articulated metal covered in rubber to enable users to bend this tool in different curves.
The simplest drafting system needs to pay full attention to the placement of tools and the accuracy of the table. The most common mistake in drafting is to let the triangle push the top of the t-square slightly down. When this happens, it will throw off all the proper angles in your drawing.
Another common problem in the area of drafting is the difficulty in drawing two angled lines and making them meet at a point. Because this was such a tedious task, the introduction of the "drafting machine" came into the light of possibility.
This machine makes it possible for the draftsman to have a precise angle wherever part of the paper he wishes to draw at. He does this with the help of the pantograph.
A pantograph is a special mechanical tool connected to the drafting table that when used to draw, it moves in a fixed relation to every other element of itself. Also, one major advantage of the drafting machine enables the ability to modify angles, thus eliminating the use of triangles.
Drafting must seem easy to most people, but to be able to draft something, it requires a certain knowledge in engineering.
For a time, drafting was a sought after profession in the United States, considering that the draftsman was a very skilled at his craft. But because of the creation of the drafting machine, drafting has become fully automated and largely accelerated using computer aided design or CAD.
An innovation of CAD is the less recognized CADD or computer aided design and drafting. Although this may be the case, skilled draftsmen may still be of use to some who need routine changes to their drawings.
Drafting is an art common to architects, engineers, or machinist. Some of the uses of drafting are for birds eye view, elevations, plan view, isometric projections, cross sections and the like.
Article Source: http://www.redsofts.com/articles/
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