Understanding Drawings 26

[AndrewMech]

Hey,
I have diificulty reading drawings, my understanding is improving the more I look at them but I was wondering if anyone has any methods or tips that helped you when you started?

 

[desertfox]

Hi AndrewMech

What sort of drawings are you trying to understand?

desertfox

 

[AndrewMech]

It's mainly labyrinth seals and valves,
but help or tips on just general drawings would be greatly appriciated.

 

[desertfox]

Hi AndrewMech

Here is a site that might help you:-

http://www.roymech.co.uk/Useful_Tables/Drawing/Drawing.html

You could always ask at college about books or go to the libary.

desertfox

 

[Eltron]

I find that the way most people are able to grasp the nuances of drawing interpretation is by redrawing it. Sit down with a couple of drawings in your spare time in front of a computer and redraw the things. You will gain a wealth of knowledge.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[MadMango]

Or better yet, take some parts and try laying out the views required to machine it (hand sketches). Seems you have a hard time translating a flat drawing into a real object, so perhaps by doing the revers you will get a better feel for the drawings in the future.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[MintJulep]

Of course it may not be you.

It seems that the capability of producing a good drawing is a lost art.

 

[arunmrao]

Glad Andrewmech you asked a question. that is the first tip.When in doubt ask? Do not assume,for in your later career,you might commit grave errors by wrongly interpreting drawings. Also study the drawings,by placing them on a large table,brightly lit and a lens to go with. I have made some mistakes for not following these tips.

As you are concerned with valves,these are pretty simple have some old drawings and place them against the valve and start reading the drawing,slowly you will begin to understand the details. I too learnt the very hard way.

Learn the rules,so you know how to break them properly.
Dalai Lama

_____________________________________

 

[TheTick]

You are in a great position to learn to read drawings. I learned the same way, by having to make parts from drawings. Really helps when one is later in the position of making drawings.

[!]Practice! Practice! Practice![/!] Don't be too quick to jump to conclusions. Give the whole drawing a look before you start cutting. Start by getting the big picture (especially how views are related to one another) and work down to details.

Your efforts to learn will be hindered by drawings created by people who have less than a full clue about how to properly draft.

 

[BobMeister]

This is a can of worms! You didn't mention which side of the manufacturing process you are on.

You may be reading poorly drawn drawings. Today's manufacturers have little time allocated for proper drawings: the old 'draw it and get it out the door as fast as you can' mentality of apparant cost effectiveness creates ripples of confusion all the way down the manufacturer/installtion/application lines. Expert draghtsmen (women) are becoming a rarity, especially those with board experience.

You may have a spatial block on your thinking: can you visualize in 3D? Can you move, change, rotate your visualizations? Most people cannot; every expert designer and drafter can. In this case you might research improving your spatial skills, visualiztion and such.

It could just be experience: you have not had enough exposure to drawings and their real world results. If you have access to a shop, assembly plant or supplier plant then walk around (if allowed) and look at what the assemblers, fabricators or workers are producing from what drawings (examine both).

Modern schools of engineering place little emphasis on drawings yet they are the fundamental link between the mind of the designer and the the real world result. Overcomplicating drawings with useless information creates too many questions and so, confusion. Too little information has the same effect. Experience is the teacher here. If you have access to many drawings then start studying the older designs and their parts in hand (if available) and you will see the cause-effect at work (or not).

Good luck.

 

[mfgenggear]

Andrew

follow the advice of all these good suggestions.

Is there some one helping you?
do not try this alone,
Ask for help if not sure what the drawing is requiring.
there is no shame in asking. there will be if you make a mistake.

Look a previous made parts & review it with drawings.
this will help. It is hard even for some season machinist or sheet metal guys to under stand what has to be accomplished. so they ask for assistance.

It will take lots of Instruction from more experience persons & lots of patients. do not rush since you are an
apprentice.
Take Blue print reading & drafting classes this will help.
Having a mentor will make your training & Job much easier.

Take Care

 

[tomwalz]

Really great answers above.

My ruled of thumb is that spoken communication is maybe 25% effective. (The listener hears and understands about ¼ of what the speaker meant.) Communication with drawings properly done to a standard convention may hit 90%.

Also, if you are in a project and someone objects when you ask questions, get out of the project as soon as you can.

Happy Thanksgiving,

tom


Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[ajack1]

Many people struggle with reading drawings when they first start out.

An old trick taught to me many years ago was to cut out or trace the views from the drawings and transfer them to some thin card and make a model with the aid of some masking tape or even model it up out of a piece of plasticine, you can always add bits on that way. It soon becomes second nature to “see” what is going on.

 

[berkshire]

AndrewMech (Mechanical)
A simple learning tool you can make yourself, take a piece of 1" square bar stock cut it 2" long, cut one end off at 45 degrees, you will now have a piece 1"x 2" on one face, 1"x1" on the other and a sloping side on the other two faces. Paint every face and end a different color.
You can now use this to visualise different views as you would see them on a drawing.
B.E.

 

[plasgears]

Our organization required a 3-dimens miniature on dwgs to aid visualization. This was for details as well as assys. It would have helped you.

Taking a course in free hand sketching was one of my foundations in visualization. Spatial visualization is important to building engineering conceptions.

 

[AndrewMech]

Hey,

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the suggestions and im going to give as many of them as i can a go. Ive found this forum extreamly helpful and will hopefully be using it regularly.

Thanks again

Andrew

 

[kmosier]

Are you looking at plan view drawings as such as construction or blueprint drawings, or are you having difficulty with isometric/machine drawings?

Project Engineer

http://www.cognidyn.com/

 

[NomLaser]

Modern schools of engineering place little emphasis on drawings yet they are the fundamental link between the mind of the designer and the the real world result.

The reason is because the professors, mostly with little real world experience, expect draftsmen with a 2 year degree to be creating drawings from your designs. I was lucky enough to have people mentor me at my previous employers of the importance of a proper drawing. You learn quickly that red ink is your friend.

 

[KENAT]

To add to the mostly good stuff above...

There are 'industry standards' for drawings. Now while not everyone (anyone?;-)) sticks to them 100% many of the general ideas in them apply to all but the most poorly done drawings. If in the US you want to look at the ASME Y14.100 series of standards, 14.3 & 14.5 will probably be most useful, if your employer doesn't have them maybe the library or somewhere will. Even if the library doesn't have them it may have drafting books based on them.

They will lay out some of the fundamental rules/ideas behind projection of views etc, define common symbology and most other major drawing conventions.

So when I started, I asked lots of questions, I'd also spend time (much of it my own) looking at the drawing standards and one of my colleagues drafting books.

There are also some other forums on here that may be of more specific help such as:

forum1103
forum281

Posting guidelines faq731-376

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

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

 

[europipe]

Murphy's Law;
There are lots of dimensions on a drawing, except for the one You need.