ASME Y14.2 dimension and text height

[ronw06770]

According to ASME Y14.52<1996 text height for dimensions and notes within the drawing should be .12" (3mm). For some time we have been setting our standard height to .156". This is for making D size drawings that are reduced to a printable B (11 x 17) drawing. Is this common for any one else or what are your thoughts?

 

[PeterStock]

I would agree that the .156 text hight is better for reduced size printing. As most prints are done at a reduced size, I would not have a problem with the larger text height. I would suggest that your company standards state the standard text fonts and heights for your drawings.

Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services

http://www.infotechpr.net

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=30064526&trk=tab_pro

 

[looslib]

We used .125 for C-size and smaller and .156 for D-size and larger. Most CAd systems only have 1 setting for text height, so I would go with the larger size.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[KENAT]

We set up .15 as standard, and allow .12 to be used on B size if need be.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[drawoh]

ronw06770,

Read the standard carefully. The table on page 11 is titled Minimum Letter Heights (Millimeter).

My Machinery's Handbook 21st Edition specified that fonts should be 1/8" high on drawings up to C_size (17"x22"), and 5/32" high on_D and E_sized drawings. This has disappeared on my 26th edition, but I find it a good system. 5/32" lettering printed 1:1, is readable from a distance of 6ft. This is good for E_sized drawings hung on a wall. The 5/32" letters are very readable on a D_sized drawing printed on 11"x17" paper. The 1/8" letters are readable on a C_sized drawing printed on 8.5"x11".

JHG

 

[SDETERS]

All of Our sheets get .156.

 

[ptruitt]

I had some time on my hands about ten years ago and photocopied and re-photocopied and re-re-photocopied... (you get the idea) ...various fonts to see which ones reproduced the best. The ISO OCR-B medium stood out as being easy to read and very tolerant of photocopying and faxing. The characters are also rather narrow, allowing you to get more dimensions is a small area on a drawing. Various fonts bundled with CAD packages comply.(Solidworks SWIsop1, for example.)So font selection may be as important or even more important than letter height, in my opinion.

Peter Truitt

 

[fcsuper]

ANSI used to require a bunch of different letter sizes based on drawing sizes. If I remember correctly (I don't have the standard in front of me) that idea was dumped many years ago in favor of one size for all drawings for a particular type of element.

Matt Lorono, CSWP
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
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[ronw06770]

Thank you to all for your helpful comments!
Next maybe we can discuss a standard inch and mm tolerance block?