Equipment Drawings and thickness of lines

AI Thread Summary
Many professionals express frustration over the uniform line thickness in equipment drawings, making it difficult to distinguish between different types of lines such as dimension lines and part outlines. This issue seems prevalent among both small and reputable vendors, raising concerns about the decline of traditional drafting skills in the CAD era. The overcrowding of drawings and the tendency to dimension hidden features further complicate readability. There is a call for better drafting practices and standards, suggesting that CAD tools can be utilized more effectively to enhance clarity. Overall, the discussion emphasizes the need for a return to fundamental drafting principles to improve the quality of technical drawings.
rollingstein
Messages
644
Reaction score
16
Warning: Rant ahead

I get more and more drawings from vendors where all lines seem to be of the same thickness. Makes it awfully hard to tell if a line's a dimension line, a leader, a projection or a real part outline.

Do others share my annoyance? Is this an evil of the post-AutoCAD era? Or is this when they send me those as pdf's?

It's not just some iffy small vendor, but even reputable ones seem to send such uni-darkness line drawings.

Has the legacy of 2H, H, HB, B, 2B etc. been relegated to the trash can? Or am I unusually unlucky in encountering these moronic draftsmen?

Sigh.

/end rant
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
Its all too easy with 3d models. No one actually teaches good drafting anymore.

Also overcrowding of the page is my main irritation. I also hate when people dimension to hidden features. With cad systems it's just so much easier to create a new view.

People need to be forced to draw something on a board. Its a vital skill to plan the drawing in your head before you ever put pencil to paper.
 
Another thing I sorely miss, was the utility in paper drawings of projection lines between views. Merely by tracing down or horizontally one could often correlate features.

CAD has added liberty about placing views and made this so hard to decipher.

Anyways, asides of ranting, any constructive solutions to these problems? Surely CAD can be used in smarter ways? Have people seen CAD drawings that were exemplary or a pleasure to work with? I'd love some as examples to smack the next vendor on the head with when he shows up with one of their typical atrocities.
 

Thread 'Race car suspension Class'

Posted June 2024 - 15 years after starting this class. I have learned a whole lot. To get to the short course on making your stock car, late model, hobby stock E-mod handle, look at the index below. Read all posts on Roll Center, Jacking effect and Why does car drive straight to the wall when I gas it? Also read You really have two race cars. This will cover 90% of problems you have. Simply put, the car pushes going in and is loose coming out. You do not have enuff downforce on the right...
View full post »

Thread 'Cantilever help'

I'm trying to decide what size and type of galvanized steel I need for 2 cantilever extensions. The cantilever is 5 ft. The space between the two cantilever arms is a 17 ft Gap the center 7 ft of the 17 ft Gap we'll need to Bear approximately 17,000 lb spread evenly from the front of the cantilever to the back of the cantilever over 5 ft. I will put support beams across these cantilever arms to support the load evenly
View full post »
Thread 'What's the most likely cause for this carbon seal crack?'

Thread 'What's the most likely cause for this carbon seal crack?'

We have a molded carbon graphite seal that is used in an inline axial piston, variable displacement hydraulic pump. One of our customers reported that, when using the “A” parts in the past, they only needed to replace them due to normal wear. However, after switching to our parts, the replacement cycle seems to be much shorter due to “broken” or “cracked” failures. This issue was identified after hydraulic fluid leakage was observed. According to their records, the same problem has occurred...
View full post »

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top