Creating Drafting Standards 3

[Halfrack]

I have been asked to create a drawing standards manual for my company. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to begin? Or are there any online resources that would help me get started?

 

[MadMango]

Why try to reinvent the wheel? Get copies of the standards listed in faq1103-1039 and refer to them. They should cover the basics of drafting standards (ASME at least).

As far as tailoring something for your company, you'll have to go through most of your exisiting drawings and list all of the standard notes that you use. You will find deviations. You'll have to pick the ones that make the most sense and publish them as "standard" for others to follow.

You should do the same for material call outs, finishes, etc.

You'll also have to determine when to use chain dimensioning, ordinate dimensioning, etc (according to the requirements of your components).

There are a ton of other things to determine when creating a drafting manual for internal use.

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Tunalover]

Halfrack-
I agree with MadMango. Why reinvent the wheel? Capitalize on the knowledge of others and on industry standards. Genium Publishing bought the rights to the General Electric Drafting Room Manual years ago and has been maintaining it ever since. This manual places strong emphasis on the basic ASME and ANSI standards that (in my opinion) are the fundamental underpinnings of any effective drafting function. I have brought it into several companies that I have worked for in the last ten years. It is a VERY THOROUGH and COMPREHENSIVE source of information on drafting and design. Do a Google on "GENIUM PUBLISHING" and you'll find it.
Regards,



Tunalover

 

[swertel]

Here's another list of drawing standards.
faq292-391

--Scott

For some pleasure reading, try FAQ731-376

 

[ctopher]

Halfrack, I applaud you for taking the time to standardize the company. Follow the others advise above and stick to it. A lot of comanies these days don't follow drafting standards or don't understand them. Good luck

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

 

[macduff]

Halfrack,
What you'll find is that at the end... you'll be writing CAD standards for the engineering group. That's what is really needed, because people go off in tangents with CAD.

Macduff
Meggitt Airdynamics Inc.
Senior Designer/Checker
Dell Precision 370
SW2005 Pro SP 1.1
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1300

 

[looslib]

Drafting standards are defined by industry groups. What you need are a set of references to the industry standards that your company wants to follow. If you are setting up a CAD system, then set the CAd program default settings to give you the drawing standards you are looking for.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
"Fixed in the next release" should replace "Product First" as the PTC slogan.

Ben Loosli
CAD/CAM System Analyst
Ingersoll-Rand

 

[ctopher]

looslib,
I have to say ... your name is fitting in this post!



Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

 

[tsboxman]

There are some good suggestions and locations of standards listed above.
Just make sure to include pertinent information to the standerds you choose to follow.
I am in packaging and it never seems to fail that packaging engineering schematics have a high rate of redundancy while failing to include things such as the view of the drawing or critical dimensions. The view is important in drawings that are not symetrical in order for the design to function properly or to match up to print. Many times we have to go back and get the information which in most cases is no big deal. However, sometimes its like pulling teeth from a tiger.

Do not re-invent the wheel but make sure the rim lines up with the lug nuts of your car.

 

[johnfalky]

Those referenced standards are confusing and have to be purchased. Y14.100-2000 is only a small pamphlet, gives numerous references to OTHER documents that you also have to buy, and is of little real help except to make you aware that SAE is grossly overcharging for what is little more than a reference INDEX. My recommendation is to go to the public domain, download a manual like the NASA Engineering standards drawing manual, and use it instead.

 

[McLeod]

I just finished writing a drafting standard for our company. The first step was to identify the problems being caused by over-reliance on tribal knowledge and general understanding of the ASME Y14 series. Next, I had to familiarize myself thoroughly with certain core standards (Y14.100, Y14.1, Y14.2M, Y14.5M, Y14.24, Y14.34M, Y14.35M) to understand their limits and any tailoring needs.

When I wrote the procedure, I referenced all of the applicable standards, and only discussed specific provisions where necessary to capture (or contradict) local historical practices. CAD issues were left out almost entirely, to be captured in a separate procedure.

The most valuable reference was Genium Publishing's online version of their Drafting Manual. It's based on ASME and other standards, but the actual ASME documents were also helpful.

Someone mentioned NASA's drafting standards - I found a few online:

Engineering Drawing Standards Manual
Goddard Space Flight Center

Engineering Drawing Practices Vol. 1
Kennedy Space Center

 

[Foxtrap]

I have also been asked to write the drafting standards for our company. Although the ASME/ANSI are good standards to allow a drawing to be passed from individual machine shop to another individual machine shop and still be in the same "drafting language" how detailed are anyone's standards for proper part description or naming or even file location. I am also having problems with people saving files with incorrect thumbnails to identify the part without opening the model. Our company is growing and trying to train new employees. Our right hand no longer knows what the left is up to. Besides a proper drawing what else is included in a drafting standard, maybe that the name is incorrect for what I am looking for, "Company Practices"

Does anyone have a good example they or their employeer uses to keep everyone on the same page?

 

[vooter]

Try...

https://tsc.wes.army.mil/products/standards/aec/aecstdweb.asp

US National CAD Standard is discussed - partly developed by SMCNA and others.

 

[McLeod]

Foxtrap,

CAD standards are a separate issue from drawing standards. As with your company, we've identified a need for standardization of CAD practices, but haven't implemented any such procedure yet. Every company's needs are going to be different and dependent on their software package(s), IT infrastructure, and external file-sharing needs.

We have some of the same issues that you've identified. I put together a list a while ago:

[ul]
[li]location of "released" models and drawings[/li]
[li]process for checking files in and out[/li]
[li]process for revising files (where-used, links, etc.)[/li]
[li]neutral formats for external users[/li]
[li]export parameters for stereolithography files[/li]
[li]model-drawing agreement[/li]
[li]file naming conventions[/li]
[li]file properties (meta-tags)[/li]
[li]modeling errors[/li]
[li]file previews[/li]
[li]model feature order guidelines[/li]
[li]fully constraining features[/li]
[li]model slop - short edges, sliver surfaces, voids,etc.[/li]
[li]part material properties, weight, CG, etc.[/li]
[li]standard parts[/li]
[li]units of measurement[/li]
[li]families of parts/assemblies[/li]
[li]nominal = mean[/li]
[/ul]

From what I've seen so far at medium-sized companies, the CAD process is dominated by entropy. Users tend to operate independently, with little thought for making their files usable by others. It's up to management to create a cooperative environment.

 

[MadMango]

At my company we had "drafting standards" to handle the format of the drawings and "best practices" to handle model creation and assembly structure. We had a different set of rules/guidelines for where & how CAD data was stored and managed.

With ISO9001, this has mostly been incorporated into procedures and work instructions.

[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?