How to Fold an Engineering Drawing 1

[Cyb_N]

Following a previously closed thread

I've been searching for weeks if there are any ANSI/ASME standards to fold an engineering drawing. I have found non so far.

HOW TO FOLD A TECHNICAL DRAWING A0 A1 A2 A3

Drawing Folding is covered by

DIN 824 Technical drawings Folding to filing size

BS 1192-1:1984 - Construction drawing practice. Recommendations for general principles

 

[3DDave]

If they are trimmed to their nominal sizes, smaller B-D sizes can fold to 8.5 X 11. The larger, especially roll sizes, can mostly be be folded to the same size, but the bulk makes it tough to achieve.

Aside from being an obvious target, I don't recall hearing about a standard that dictated folding, and most often the paper was not trimmed to nominal size, so they could not be folded correctly anyway.

 

[cowski]

I don't know of a standard, but at one job the configuration manager had a sensible preferred method that resulted in the title block being clearly visible without unfolding the drawing.

 

[CheckerHater]

I remember working in a place that used blueprint-folding machine (Ah... the smell).
It would fold with total disregard to anything, especially for prints with wide protective margin.
All together folding sequence looks more like accepted practice rather than standard.
An example may be found in enclosed document.

https://files.engineering.com/getfi...-9dd7-51971136f7c2&file=Manual_Genium_3-3.pdf

"For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert"
Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the future

 

[MintJulep]

Like this.

https://www.archtoolbox.com/representation/graphic-symbols/foldlargedrawing.html

Why a standard would be required for something so apparently basic is beyond me.

Do we need a standard on how to fold a letter to fit in an envelope? How to click a ball-point pen?

 

[looslib]

We have this page in our drawing procedure manual.

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

Ben Loosli

 

[3DDave]

Mint Julep, perhaps I'm just unfortunate, but a surprising number of people are unable to grasp how fractions work and, even with the markers on the edge of the sheet, fold pages randomly so they won't fit into regular file cabinets. This is exacerbated by those who put the outer cut line as part of the drawing format and then add an inch to the paper all around for the plotter to avoid the unkempt appearance when they mis-cut. So that 11 X 17 that should fold to 8-1/2 X 11 is now 13 X 19 which no longer fits.

Folding standards are clearer for book-fold deliverable drawings. G-size for example.

 

[CheckerHater]

3DDave, I can feel your pain.
Unfortunately situation is muddled by existing of two parallel standards - "engineering" and "architectural".
Roughly, engineering starts with mailing/filing letter-sized document, so A size is 8.5 x 11 and goes up to E being 34 x 44
Architectural is starting with the roll of paper being 36" wide. So E is 36 x 48 and when folding it in half every time you eventually get to A being 9 x 12
(By the way, sheet on Mint Julep's illustration will fold to 9 x 12 and will not fit into envelop/file cabinet)
Arrival of computers confused things even more. Now "printers" would produce A and B sizes based on 8.5 x 11 and "plotters" would be loaded with 36 inch rolls.
To simplify things a little bit, everybody pretended that C size doesn't exist and now you have mix of 11 x 17 and 24 x 36 produced by the same company.
Today, with popularity of PDF going thru the roof, everybody cares even less.

"For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert"
Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the future

 

[Dave K]

If your A thru J drawing formats ahve the zone markers, it's pretty easy, fold using those, they are spaced every 4.25" or 5.5", so using every other one will give you an 8.5 x 11 when you are done. Make sure you start, so the title block is up, and it will be on the top when you are done.

I learned this many moons ago, when I started working for an aerospace company, and we ran blueprints. Now, everything is CAD,a nd not many people know the art. I had a couple younger guys ask me what I was doing, since they would just randomly fold the drawings. Once I finished, and set it on their desk, they "got it", but never adopted it, as they didn't see the purpose.

-Dave

NX 9, Teamcenter 10

 

[handleman]

The real trick... Folding to A size for use in a 3 ring binder - keeping the title block visible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeWWMEW4VZs

 

[3DDave]

That video shows what I mentioned before - the paper he is using is not D-Size. If it was, then the first fold would be in the middle, unless 2*11 no longer equals 22.

I am surprised at the number of other drawing folding videos that YouTube suggests. This seems to be a critical job skill that requires considerable training to master. I would not have expected that.

 

[handleman]

The video is probably Arch D, which is 36x24. That's the nice thing about that method... It allows for oversize. Arch sizes are handy if you work with a company that uses ISO sizes.