Drawing APPLICATIONS

DRAWING STANDARDS

Updated July 2018

Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

CAD or Pencil ?
In today’s world nearly everything is done on computer. CAD (Computer Aided Design)
is used by Architects, Engineers, Graphic Designers and almost every industry where
drawings are required.
Why then do we have to learn the manual old fashioned methods of Drawing?
Simple, to teach you the basic rules of Technical Drawing thereby making the move to
CAD easier. It is hard enough learning the CAD programme (AutoCad), let alone learning
the rules of Technical Drawing as well.

Speaking the Language

The rules of Technical Drawing have been developed over hundreds of years and can be
seen as an international language. The principals you will learn, can be read and
understood anywhere in the world, so you are actually learning a new language.

Why Technical Drawing?

The purpose of producing a Technical Drawing, is that someone can manufacture what you
have drawn. An Architect has drawings to assist in the creation of a building. Mechanical
Engineers have drawings to manufacture items in factories. Civil Engineers have drawings
for many applications, water pipe layouts, town and regional planning, road design and
other disciplines too vast to describe.

The purpose of a Technical Drawing therefore, is to allow

someone else to manufacture the item that has been designed.

If you have the wrong information on your drawing or are not

accurate with your data, then the person reading the drawing
will be confused and will not understand how it is made.

It is the same as speaking ‘Chinese’ to a ‘German’. The German

will not understand what is required of him.

If both the German and the Chinaman both learn the common
language of ‘Technical Drawing’ then they will both have a full
understanding of the task at hand.
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

An example of Technical Drawing

There are a few basic rules that need to be followed in all drawings. In this example we will
attempt to show you how to use your instuments, they are your tools and must be used.

We will start with a simple item as shown

Our task is to draw the item viewed from the front and side.
The front is viewed from the direction of the arrow shown.
With this information, a technician in the workshop will
have sufficient data to manufacture the item.

Not all the measurements are given on the

item, so we will have to calculate the others
°
45
or use our drawing skills instead.

All measurements are in millimetres.

nt
Fro

Drawing instruments
Your drawing board has a horizontal ruler called a ‘T Square’. On the top you will see a
long rectangular button. Pressing it down, unlocks the ruler, allowing you to move it vertically.
Releasing it will lock it once you have moved it. This ‘T Square’ is for drawing horizontal lines.
‘Set Squares’ are the triangles supplied in the kit, one 45°x45°x90° and the other 30°x60°x90°.
These are used for drawing set angles, 45°, 30° and 60°. Both can draw vertical lines (90°).
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

Using a Compass
Using a compass is much
like using a pencil, except
the lead follows a curved
path. Lean the compass
over just as you do with
a pencil and keep it leaning
whilst you are turning.
Practice makes perfect!
Keep the point sharp.
A Compass is usually used
for larger circles.

Circles Template
A circles template can be
used for smaller circles.
It has guide holes allowing
for accurate alignment

Construction lines
These lines are to assist you in the construction of the item. Think of them as the scaffolding
you see around buildings on a construction site.
A construction line is very light and hardly visible. It is not necessary to erase these lines.
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

Outlines
Now that you have all the basic lines available on your page, you need to decide which lines
are the outlines for the front of the item. Outlines are the darkest lines of the drawing.
Outlines

°
45

nt
Fro

Look at the side

from here.

Front
Hidden detail is
shown like this
You cannot
see this circle
from the side
(hidden detail)

Look at the side

Notice
Front Side extended
(only centre lines)
The centre of Centre lines are
a circle is shown shown like this
with this line

Look at the side

Construction Lines
Outlines
Hidden Detail

Centre Lines
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

Printing on Drawings
Information on drawings that cannot be represented graphically by lines may be
presented by lettered notes, titles and dimensions. It is extremely important that these
lettered items be exact, reliable, and entirely legible in order for the reader to have
confidence in them, and never have any doubt as to their meaning. This is especially
important when using modern copy methods where the drawing may be reduced in size.
Poor lettering ruins an otherwise good drawing!

since we will be using A3 sheets in Drawing 1

Our Title Block lettering should be 6mm.
Our Notes and Dimension lettering should be 3mm

What is a Title Block?

A Title block is an area on a drawing where the information about that drawing is shown.
There are many different styles of title blocks depending on the company you work for.

The basic information required is: Name of company,

Name of drawing (identifying the project)
Drawing Number
Date
Scale of drawing
Name of person who created the drawing
Information about changes made

Title Blocks always has the Drawing Number on the bottom right hand corner.

For our purposes we will show the information as follows:

1) Take your A3 sheet of paper and attach it to your drawing board.
2) Draw a border all the way around it 15mm in from the edge of the page.
3) On the bottom right hand corner, a Title-block needs to be created as follows:

Outline Dark Edge of

Page
70 15

NAME OF CAMPUS 6mm Lettering

8

Surname & initials: STUDENT NAME Guidelines

6mm apart
Student No: GROUP A
Scale of
Today’s Date 12/08/20?? SCALE 1:??? Drawing
NAME OF ASSIGNMENT
15

Edge of Page
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

Below are the Types of lines to be used in Drawing 1

HAIRLINE HARDLY
CONSTRUCTION LINES
AND GUIDE LINES VISIBLE

OUTLINES DARK LINE

HIDDEN DETAIL MEDIUM LINE

SECTION LINE MEDIUM LINE

CENTRELINE MEDIUM LINE

DIMENSION LINE MEDIUM LINE

Using a Pencil
Using one pencil you will have to practice pressing lightly for construction lines, a little harder
for dimension lines, hidden detail and centre lines - and very hard for outlines.
The best way to vary the darkness of the lines is to hold the pencil in different places as
shown in the diagrams below.

Dimension lines, Outlines

Construction Lines Hidden Detail
and guidelines & Centre lines

direction direction direction

Do Not Push your Pencil

Using Pencils in Drawing (Cont)

A bad habit with most students is to PUSH their pencils rather than PULLING them.
This action causes a chisel point in your pencil lead. Due to this flattening of the lead,
your lines eventually lose clarity and sharpness - finally you end up with an untidy drawing.
Another hint to keep your pencil sharp whilst drawing, is to spin the pencil slightly.
This acts as a pencil sharpener while you work.

D
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

A GOOD QUOTE: Good printing can improve a poor drawing,

but the best drawing will be ruined by poor printing!

1) Guidelines are important, but are useless unless used properly.

a) The guidelines must be drawn very lightly, almost invisible, as previously mentioned.
b) The top and bottom of each letter must touch the guideline.
c) If you don’t use these lines then don’t waste your time drawing them.

ABCDEFG 6mm ABCDEFG

2) About half the height of the letters should be allowed between each line of printing.
In this case 3mm. For Title Block lettering, therefore:

6mm ABCDEFG ABCDEFG

6mm ABCDEFG
3mm
ABCDEFG

3) Your style of handwriting does not count with Technical Drawing Printing.
The closer you can get to the lettering shown below, the more marks you are likely
to get in an assignment or Control Test.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 1234567890

Use only CAPITAL letters

Don't forget to wash your hands especially if you have just eaten.
Keep a cloth near to wipe your table and your instruments.
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Drawing APPLICATIONS Drawing Standards Compiled by M. Patrick ©

A
A B
C
B D
E
C F
G
D H
I
E J
K
F L
M
G N
O
H P
Q
I R
S
J T
U
K V
W
L X
Y
M Z

N
O
4) Complete each row
P by copying the letters
and numbers
Q
R
1
S 2
3
T 4
5
U 6
7
V 8
9
W 10

X
Y
Z