Basic Engineering Drawing and Communication Part - 1: Communication
Basic Engineering Drawing and Communication Part - 1: Communication
Basic Engineering Drawing and Communication Part - 1: Communication
Part – 1: COMMUNICATION
Definition: Communication is defined as, “the act of communicating, that is, passing on news,
information, feelings etc.” (Oxford Students’ Dictionary of Current English –
1985)
The two main forms of communication are through audio and visual means. Audio means
rely on sound signals that are perceived by ears. Sound producing/receiving devices are used for
this purpose. Visual means on the other hand, depend on light signals (images) that are perceived
by eyes. Image producing/receiving devices are used for this purpose. This may include things
like text, drawings, figures, photographs, video images, TV images, images of real objects etc.
Other human senses are sometimes used for communication (e.g. a touch to attract attention,
braille text for the blind, etc).
1.2.1 Standardization
Definition: “Standardization is the process of formulating and applying rules for an orderly
approach to a specific activity for the benefit and with the cooperation of all
concerned, and in particular for the promotion of optimum overall economy
taking due account of functional conditions and safety requirements.”
(ISO – International Organization for Standardization)
Standards are set at different levels. There are local standards, national standards, regional standards
and international standards. Some of the International Standards are:
It is always desirable to adhere to international standards, particularly the ISO standards that
employ SI units.
1.2.2 Technical Report Writing
Reports are written in accordance to accepted standards (formats). There are some minimum
requirements, which the report has to satisfy for it to be accepted. In any report, a minimum
number of words – which sufficiently presents the message accurately and precisely – is needed.
Requirements for different reports vary. For instance, educational reports (e.g. laboratory
practical reports), reports for seminars and workshops, research reports, research findings for
publication in reputed scientific Journals, etc. Despite the many variations in the formats of
reports, almost always a technical report consists of the following parts; Abstract, Introduction,
Literature Review, Materials and Methods, Experimental Setup, Results, Discussion (often times,
the results are combined with discussions), Conclusions and Recommendations, References and
Appendices. It must be noted that this is only a general guideline and not a “strict biblical
command”. In real life, there is likely to be some minor (or even major) variations. As a rule of
thumb, any technical report must be styled and detailed to focus on the intended reader(s). For
instance, a report intended for a village meeting will differ significantly in style and level of
detail from a research paper intended for publication in a scientific Journal.
Abstract
Introduction
Literature Review
Materials and Methods (Methodology)
Results and Discussion
Conclusions and/or Recommendations
References
Appendices
Pictorial communication includes drawings and photographs. Drawings and photographs, where
appropriate, convey the message more accurately than a passage of words. Photographs are
more accurate and sometimes the true colors of the object are displayed. However, photographs
are expensive, less informative and their magnification is limited in terms of clarity. On the
other hand, drawings are cheap, clearer and easy to understand. They are therefore, in most cases,
more preferred than photographs.
Part – 2: ENGINEERING DRAWING
Why Engineering Drawing?
As an engineer, you will certainly be required to communicate with different people for different
reasons. In some situations, communications will be sufficiently taken care of by use of plain text.
However in other situations, text alone may not suffice and a more specialized form of
communication (technical/engineering drawing) may prove irreplaceably useful.
Drawing (just like photography) is one of the basic forms of visual communication. Drawing is used
to record objects and actions of everyday life in an easily recognizable manner. There are two major
types of drawings: artistic drawings and technical drawings.
Artistic Drawings
These are a form of freehand representation that makes use of pictures to provide a general
impression of the object being drawn. There are no hard rules or standards in the preparation of
artistic drawings. They are simply drawn by artists, based more or less on one’s talent and skills.
Although these drawings are often very attractive, they find very limited use in the world of science.
Technical Drawings
These are detailed drawings drawn accurately and precisely. They are pictures that have been
prepared with the aid of mathematical instruments in order to record and transmit technical
information. They provide an exact and complete description of things that are to be built or
manufactured.
o Technical drawings do not portray the objects the way they directly appear to the eye
o They make use of many specialized symbols and conventions in order to transmit
technical information clearly and exactly.
o To understand and correctly interpret technical drawings, one needs to acquaint oneself
with the fundamentals of technical drawing – hence the purpose of this course.
These are drawings in which the object is drawn in three dimensions (3-D), i.e. three sides of the
object appear in one drawing. Normally only one drawing is prepared/used.
Diametric Projection
In diametric projection, all dimensions along two axes are drawn to TRUE SIZE. The dimensions
along the third axis are HALVED. This projection is preferred when one view of the object is to be
emphasized than the other two views (i.e. when that one view is of more interest than the other
views).
Isometric Projection
In isometric projection, all dimensions along all the three axes are drawn to TRUE SIZE. The object's
vertical lines are drawn vertically, and the horizontal lines in the width and depth planes are shown at
30 degrees to the horizontal. Isometric projection is preferred when the three views of the object are
of equal importance for accurate representation of the object.
Any engineering drawing should show everything: a complete understanding of the object should
be possible from the drawing. If the isometric drawing can show all details and all dimensions on
one drawing, it is ideal. One can pack a great deal of information into an isometric drawing.
However, if the object in previous figure had a hole on the back side, it would not be visible using a
single isometric drawing. In order to get a more complete view of the object, an orthographic
projection may be used.
In orthographic/multiview projection, the views are seen in directions that make right angles (i.e. 90o)
with each other. The number of views needed should be sufficient to represent the object
completely and conveniently, but it should be kept to the minimum. Which views should one
choose for a multiview drawing? The views that reveal every detail about the object. Three views
are not always necessary; we need only as many views as are required to describe the object fully.
For example, some objects need only two views, while others need four. However, for most
purposes, three views are usually sufficient.
Engineering (Technical) drawings usually utilize orthographic views (OV) rather than pictorial
views
OV help to record the shapes of objects exactly and completely
OV is a two-dimensional (2-D) drawing.
A minimum of two OVs is required to show the three dimensions of any object and therefore
to describe its shape completely
Some features of the object that do not directly appear on viewing the object from any specific
direction (known as hidden details) are shown on the drawing as dotted lines.
Naming of Views
In orthographic projection, three views are normally drawn. The three chosen views may be any of
the six hypothetical faces of the object. These views are named as shown below.
The Front View – abbreviated as FV, is that view of utmost importance in representing the object
(normally the most complicated of all the views) as seen when the object is placed directly in front of
the viewer. This view generally serves to represent the object (e.g. a work piece) in the most
common position in which it is used. It is normally the first view to be drawn – other views
following thereafter. The Rear View – RV is directly opposite the FV at the back of the object. The
Right Hand Side View and the Left Hand Side View appear on the right and left sides of the object,
respectively. The Top and Bottom Views are at the top and bottom sides of the FV. As you must
have noted, these six views are at right angles to one another.
Standard Orthographic Projections
Two standards are commonly in use in orthographic projection of drawings; the First Angle
Projection (European projection) and the Third Angle Projection (American projection). It
should be noted that corresponding views are identical in both methods of projection except for
their relative positions on the drawing paper.
In here, the front view (A) is the basis (reference) and the other views are drawn as ‘shadows’ of
that view. That is, the left hand side view for instance is drawn on the right side of the front view.
Similarly
the top
view
(plan) is
drawn at
the
bottom
of the
front
view,
etc.
n
Third Angle Projection
In here, the front view is the basis (just as before) but the other views are drawn as ‘reflections’ of
that view. The left hand side view is drawn on the left hand side of the front view. Similarly, the top
view (plan) is drawn at the top of the front view.
2.2 Standards
Engineering drawings, being one of the many forms of technical communication, have to fulfill
some accepted standards. There are various national, multinational and international standards,
but the current trend in most countries is to adhere (adopt) the ISO standards. Thus for the
purpose of this course, we will adhere to the ISO standards.
The ISO most recommended paper sizes for technical drawings are known as A-FORMATS.
Other series, like the B-Series, are of lesser importance. In the A-Format series, the largest size is
A0. The size of an A1 paper is half the size of A0 while A2 is half the size of A1 and so forth. Note
that a higher order paper size (which is always smaller in size) is obtained by simply halving the
preceding size along its longer side. For technical drawings A4 is considered to be the smallest
paper size. Smaller-sized A- Format papers (i.e. A5, A6, etc) are very rarely used for technical
drawings.
Folding
Only format A4 is convenient for filling. Other formats (larger in size) exceed the size of the file
and thus must be folded before filing. Drawings which that do not need fastening are fold in a
logical way to give an A4 size. However, for those drawings that must be fastened, they must be
fold in a standardized way as follows.
2.2.2 Scales
The objects we encounter in our day-to-day life are usually either too large or too small to be drawn
to their true size. For instance a car or a building can be drawn to its true size if, and only if, we use
a piece of paper that is large enough to accommodate the true dimensions of that car or building.
But as we have noted above, the largest size of paper (under ISO standard) is A0 (841-mm X 1189-
mm), which is a lot smaller than these objects. The discrepancy between the actual sizes of objects
and the size of the papers we use for drawing necessitates us to prepare drawings that are either
smaller or bigger in size than the actual objects. This is only possible through the use of scales.
o A scale is simply the ratio of the linear dimension appearing on the drawing compared to the
corresponding linear dimension on the object
o A scale has no units as it is simply a ratio (i.e. dimension on drawing : dimension on
object)
o Scales are used either for enlargements or reductions
200:1 implies
The scale of 1:1 (read as one-to-one) 500:1 the1000:1
object has been drawn to true size. A scale of say
2:1 (read as two-to-one) implies that the object has been enlarged twice its true size. A scale of 1:2
(read as one-to-two) implies that the object has been reduced to its half size, etc.
Lines
In Engineering Drawing, we make use of different lines and line styles to convey the desired
message. These lines differ in (i) thickness and (ii) style. Typical uses of these lines are summarized
below.
Hidden Lines
The strokes of parallel hidden lines that are relatively close together should be staggered.
Lettering
Lettering used in engineering drawing is referred to as a Single Stroke, Commercial Gothic. The
main advantage of this font is that it is easy to read. This makes the information on engineering
drawing easy to understand. The letters can be made either freehand or by use of lettering devices.
The general construction of vertical gothic letters and numerals is shown below (next page).
Hints on Lettering
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
n o p q r s t u v w x y z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Title Block
In every engineering drawing, a Title Block is included at the bottom right-hand corner. The Title
Blocks are locally standardized but should be designed in such a way that it can be easily
understood. The information needed in any standard Title Block is normally:
Name of the draftsman (draughtsman) --- e.g. student name if it is a normal class exercise
Name of the person who checked the drawing
Remarks
The Title Block used at the then Faculty of Engineering (University of Dar es Salaam) is shown
below. For the purpose of this course, we will adopt the same.
Parts List
The Parts List is an essential component in any assembly drawing. It is usually drawn on top of the
Title Block. The Parts Lists usually have the same width as the Title Block, i.e. 180-mm. The height
depends on the number of items to be included. The following information is usually included in the
Parts List;
Usually engineering drawings (of real life objects) are prepared in three stages; sketches, hand
drafts and detail drawings. This sequence is not very binding but most workers find it very useful
to work in that order.
2.3.1 Sketches
Sketching is almost always the first step in the preparation of Engineering Drawings (ED). The
work piece (object) is carefully studied and all the necessary dimensions are measured. The views
that are necessary to completely describe the object are very roughly drawn (free hand). All
dimensions are indicated on the sketch as deemed necessary. In most situations, axonometric
views of the object are drawn. Sketches are never submitted anywhere. They are just drawn to
assist you at a later time when preparing standard drawings. That is, the only purpose of preparing
sketches is to enable you to transfer useful information from the spot to a convenient place where
you can actually prepare acceptable EDs. For this reason, there are no hard rules or general
guidelines with respect to sketches. Nevertheless, sketches should be drawn accurately so that they
may prove useful at a later stage.
Hand Drafts are actually proper ED drawn free hand. The similarity between a sketch and a hand
draft is that they are both drawn free hand. But unlike sketches, hand drafts are drawn following
all the rules and guidelines governing EDs. Hand drafts are drawn roughly to scale and all the
necessary dimensions are indicated. Only those views, which are necessary to completely describe
the object, are presented. The hand draft is then given to the draftsman who “copies” the same
into a proper ED. This ensures that the draftsman produces an ED in exactly the same way as
you want it to appear. In short, a hand draft saves you time and effort that you will otherwise need
to prepare a proper ED, hence enabling you to leave the later exercise to a draftsman.
Detail drawings (also known as working drawings) are EDs presenting single items
(object/machine component/work piece etc.). They are meant to enable the person in a
workshop to produce (by machining/casting/forging/fabricating etc.) the desired item. Such
details as dimensional tolerances, surface finish, special treatments, material to be used for the
component etc. are specified. The number of views to be presented depends on the complexity of
the item. In many situations, sectional views are included to show hidden details that could not
conveniently and explicitly appear in any external view. The scale used for the detail drawing
should allow a clear understanding of the drawing (i.e. use enlargements and/or reductions as
you find it appropriate). Sometimes just a small portion of the drawing is enlarged to show all
the details. Such partial enlargements are normally included in the same drawing. When the item is
drawn much enlarged, it is recommended to add a picture (drawing) to true size for more
information.
ASSEMBLY DRAWINGS
As the name indicates, assembly drawings are nothing more but a collection of detail drawings
(each of which forms part of that assembly) put together in a logical way. The drawing serves
someone who is to assemble the individual parts so as to get a single unit in its working condition.
NOTES