Scale on drawings? 5

[JStructsteel]

Do you folks put scales onto your drawings?

A contractor is bewildered that we don’t want them scaling dimensions.

 

[driftLimiter]

LOL. We put scale on our drawing but we also always say. DO NOT SCALE DRAWINGS. The reality is, they are going to use scales in the field which is why we always strive to draw scaled plans and details. However in the event that there is a discrepancy with dimensions they must go off written dimensions on plan and submit an RFI.

 

[skeletron]

I draw to scale because it's almost harder not to in AutoCAD. I'll note the scale in the section title, but also include the DO NOT SCALE DRAWINGS note. Mainly this is because the builder should be referencing the Arch. drawings for dimensions, but also you never know how they are printing the drawings and whether there is a slight scale reduction at the printer.

 

[dik]

Not recently, but I've put a scale block on drawings... so if they are printed 11x17 you can still 'guess' the approximate dimension. It's easy to do, and the drawing scale factor automatically looks after it.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Do you feel any better?

-Dik

 

[JStructsteel]

Thanks,
I guess the contractor is old school. If they want to scale, they can use a known dimension from the drawing. (if printed right, should not take long to figure the scale out).

He almost seemed pissed it wasnt on there. I get it, if you are estimating, or something, but otherwise build from the drawings as dimensioned. I feel i over dimension drawings anyway.

 

[OldDawgNewTricks]

Yes, I put graphic scales on my drawings. My biggest client is a government agency that requires compliance with the U.S. National CAD standards that say "All drawings that may be reduced or enlarged should include numeric and graphic scales".

 

[JStructsteel]

@ OldDawg - Do you then not dimension everything, and let it be scaled?

Reply to contractor was that if specific dims are needed, to reach out and ask. Scaling drawings can be risky of mistakes. So far, no dimensions have been asked for.

 

[XR250]

It's fun to watch framers scale drawings with a 25 ft. fat max tape. 1" = 4 ft. What can go wrong?

 

[KootK]

I include the scale and also think that it's ridiculous not to. Sure, don't construct anything by scaling the drawings. However, feel free to do quantity take-offs and rough planning based on them if you wish. Heck, I do most of my design by scaling architectural drawings.

 

[OldDawgNewTricks]

JStructsteel: I still dimension everything that needs to be dimensioned and I add the customary note to not scale drawings to determine dimensions. Similar to KootK, don't construct anything by scaling the drawings but sometimes you just need an approximate dimension and scaling is sufficient.

 

[JStructsteel]

@ KootK, if they are printing the drawings to scale, then they should not have a huge issue figuring the scale. If they do a 11x17 or so, then they cant scale anyway. Seems a catch 22.

I guess I can add a scale, and a big not saying 'not to scale drawings' lol, the American way right??

 

[phamENG]

Some jurisdiction where I practice won't approve a drawing for permit unless it's drawn to scale and has the scale listed. Never heard of them mandating a graphic scale, but it is part of the National CAD standard and all federal work I've ever done has required graphic scales. One architect I worked with had all of the conceivable graphic scales in a ring around the title block, and then they just listed the scale at the detail or in the title block if one scale applied to the entire sheet.

While I won't go so far as to say it's unreasonable or ridiculous not to tell them what the scale is, it's certainly not what I would consider normal practice.

 

[human909]

I would normally avoid putting a scale on drawings and have NEVER used a graphical scale. My drawings would normally have no purpose being scaled. But I do mostly design and build things so our internal needs or our clients needs are different.

A quick look at drawings by others that I have available does indicate that many/most do include a scale and generally a printed paper size. But do not scale comments are the norm. I regularly scale off drawings using a PDF measure tool for rough estimation purposes. I normally rely set the scale factor off a known dimension rather than the paper nominated scale factor as often PDFs supplied don't match the nominated scale.

 

[le99]

You can remind the old-schooled contractor to use the old trick - make his own scale from the known dimensions on the drawing. Yes, it is not very user-friendly when working on a project site and trying to find/calculate the dimensions, especially from the elevation/section views.

 

[JStructsteel]

@ le99, It should not be hard to do, and again, these are structural drawings, nothing to be scaled, dims are there. If not ask. 2nd day, still no contact from contractor with request for dimensions he cant find.

 

[CANPRO]

As a contractor, I scale drawings all the time, for different reasons. It might be a rough quantity take off, sizing beams, planning erection sequence, etc... if the dimension is critical or there isn't necessarily a conservatives assumption (i.e. this beam scales at 25' but couldn't possibly be longer than 26', I'll design for 26') we'll send an RFI to confirm.

A graphic scale would be nice. The trend in my local market right now is for the structural drawings to be completely absent of dimensions. I wish I was joking but I'd say right now about 40-50% of the local structural drawings I'm seeing have nothing more than the grids dimensioned, if that.

 

[JStructsteel]

@ Canpro, thats weird about no dimensions. My thought when doing a detail or plan, is 'can they build this based on the dims' Granted one time it would have saved me not to dimension.

 

[canwesteng]

Always put a scale on the drawings, and always tell people not to scale from the drawings. But it is real useful with the powerful scaling tools now in pdf readers (or at least in pdf x change).

 

[phamENG]

For houses, I dimension the foundation plan and that's it. Everything else is based on the architect 100%. Steel, I dimension everything.

 

[le99]

At one place of my past service, the standard for placing dimension is to show it only once, unless absolutely necessary, over the whole set of drawings to avoid chances for any discrepancy. The important thing is one must draw to scale, so everybody can direct scale the dimension for quick reference. AS an engineer, I frequently need to scale drawings produced by others.