Week 1

Tools and How to Use Them

Objective

• This lesson discusses the tools needed for manual drafting and how to select and use them

Introduction

• Drafting projects are best done with the proper equipment

• The advent of computer-aided drafting has made drafting as fine art largely unimportant

• Today’s board drafter can utilize a more streamlined set of tools the predecessors used

Introduction (cont’d.)

Figure 2.1 An assortment of tools is needed to draft.

The Basics

• Drafting Board• Chair or Stool• Lighting and Magnification• Parallel Bar• T Square

The Basics (cont’d.)

TriangleProtractorScalesWorking with Pencils and Leads

The Basics (cont’d.)

• Tape• Ames Lettering Guide• Compass• Dividers• Irregular and Flexible Curves

The Basics (cont’d.)

Technical PensTemplatesDrafting MediaConstruction Calculator

Drafting Board

• Minimum size of 2' x 3' with tilt and height adjustment and a replaceable vinyl cover

• Do not use a kitchen table or other makeshift surfaces

• A pencil needs the cushion of a quality vinyl cover that hard surfaces do not provide

Chair or Stool• Cushioned chair, with resilient casters and

height adjustment

Figure 2-2 This board with hydraulic height adjustment, lever for tilt adjustment, parallel bar, lamp, and cushioned chair are conducive to good drafting.

Lighting and Magnification

• Fluorescent, incandescent, or halogen lamps, or a combination

• Some lights have a built-in magnifying glass

• A light that clamps to the board and is adjustable in length is desirable

Parallel Bar• Long, straight tool used for drawing

horizontal lines, installed on the board

Figure 2-3 Properly drawn horizontal line. Note how the pencil glides directly on the parallel bar and is held perpendicular to the board.

T Square

• An alternative to the parallel bar for drawing horizontal lines

• Consists of a head and blade• Is not installed on the board• Head must be firmly held against the

board at all times to keep the bar straight

Triangle

Figure 2-5 Assorted triangles and T square. The adjustable triangle can be set to any right angle. The rest draw lines 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° to the horizontal.

Protractor

• Used for drawing angles• Has scales that run from left to right as

well as right to left so you can draw an angle on either side

• Measure an existing angle by aligning the protractor’s flat side with one line, placing the hole/crosshair at the vertex– The angle is where the other line intersects the

protractor’s curve

Scales• A tool that enables a drafter to draw large

objects small enough to fit on a small sheet of paper while keeping them proportionately accurate– An architect’s scale measures in units of

feet and inches– A metric scale is used for the same

purpose as an architect’s scale, but in metric units

– A proportional scale enables you to enlarge or reduce a picture by a specific amount

Working Pencils and Leads• A mechanical pencil is a multi-piece,

refillable tool: available in 0.3 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, 0.9 mm, and 2 mm sizes

• Wood drafting pencils: available in a 2.0 mm size

• Soft leads such as B and F draw dark easily smudged lines– HB: medium-weight lead that acts as soft lead

• Harder leads such as H, 2H, 3H, and 4H draw light, harder-to-smudge lines

Tape• Drafting tape resembles masking tape but

is less sticky and will not to damage paper when removed

• Plastic tape with printed patterns can be used to represent specific line types such as poché symbols

• Black tape is often used as layout tape to represent walls on presentation drawings or as a border

Ames Lettering Guide

Figure 2-29 Ames Lettering Guide. The #4 is aligned with the datum mark, which will create guidelines 1/8" tall separated by spacesapproximately 1/16" tall.

Compass• Used for drawing circles and arcs • Has a point at one end and a lead on the

other • A drafting compass also has

interchangeable points that hold pencils and pens and an extension bar for drawing large circles

• Placing tape at an often-used compass point location will help keep the paper from tearing at that spot

Dividers

Figure 2-32 Compass, dividers and attachments

Irregular and Flexible Curves

• Irregular curves, also called French curves, allow the drafter to hard-line arcs

• Flexible curve is a piece of rubber that can be shaped to any curve

Technical Pens• Minimum of four pen sizes is needed for

effective drafting• Renewable pens are multi-piece tools that

can be taken apart and filled with ink• Pen tips may be tungsten, jewel, or

stainless steel– Cost-wise, the last is the most practical

• Nonrenewable pens are glorified felt-tips

Templates

• Laser-cut pieces of plastic used for drawing the same item multiple times

• Hundreds of templates available for furniture, fixtures, circles, arrows, electrical symbols, and other images

• Can be bought in sets or individually• Large furniture and appliance companies

often have templates of their products at different scales

Drafting Media• Tracing paper is thin, semitransparent

paper used for sketching and designing– Available in yellow or white

• Vellum is a semi-opaque, high-quality cotton paper used for ink or pencil work

• Polyester drafting film and plastic sheets are used for ink or plastic lead work

• Presentation work is sometimes done on coldpress board – Porous surface that will take an ink line

Construction Calculator

• Standard math functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

• Convert numbers to various linear, square, and cubic formats– Including feet-and-inches format, decimal feet,

decimal inches, yards, meters, metric units, and board feet

• Manipulate fractions and convert the denominator to any desired accuracy

Storage and Care of Tools• Tools can be kept in anything that keeps

them organized and safe during transport• Drawings are best stored in flat files,

lateral files, round tubes, or portfolios• Keep your tools clean

– Dirt will rub off them onto the drawing media

• Use a “green” cleaner– Will not remove the painted lines from

instruments and templates and leave a film

Copying Processes• Reprographics shops have photocopiers

that make a digitized scan of the original and run black-line digital copies

• Multicolor offset prints– Drawing is transferred or “offset” from a plate

to a rubber blanket and then transferred to the paper

• Photocopies are not 100 percent accurate as lines become slightly stretched

Summary

• More tools than the ones discussed in this chapter exist– Only the essential ones are covered

• Browse through an online drafting supply store to learn about specialty products

• As you progress in your drafting, you will discover which tools serve you best