Engineering Drawing:
8 Principles and Tips to Improve Engineering Drawing Skills
What is Engineering Drawing?
An engineering drawing (also named as mechanical drawing, manufacturing blueprints,
drawings, dimensional prints, and more) refers to one of the technical drawings, which
helps to define engineering products’ requirements. Basically, this type of drawing aims
at clearly capturing all the geometric features of products and their components. This
will ensure that manufacturers can produce parts that meet specific needs.
The mechanical drawing includes a description of the manufacturing process. Thus, it
conveys engineering ideas for a design process. It may also provide records of already
existing components. Engineering drawing is not just an illustration. Rather, its intention
is to describe the shapes and sizes of components.
Such descriptions may also include specifications of acceptable variations, limits,
materials, and others. The drawings can be of various forms, ranging from oblique to
isometric. The drawings also include a series of projections that show various angles of
the components. All of these are aimed at getting the products to meet requirements.
The Purpose of an Engineering Drawing
As already mentions, this mechanical drawing includes every piece of information
needed for manufacturing components. The information may include dimensions, part
numbers and names, variations, tolerances, and more. Therefore, an engineer can start
the manufacturing process immediately after he gets the drawing.
How to Make an Engineering Drawing
In past years, all that was available were drawing boards, papers, rulers, calipers, and
others. While these instruments are still available today for manual drawings, such
drawings are not suitable for contemporary manufacturing.
This is because most CNC systems today can read the information right from the files.
Thus, they can easily produce a cutting program as required. Handmade drawings
would just make this more cumbersome for engineers.
The advent of computer-aided design (CAD) software has made things a lot easier. This
software comes with several advantages over manual drawings. You can use CAD to
make drawings from scratch. However, the easier option will be first to make a 3D
model. Then, you can create your drawings from there.
All you need to do, basically, is to include the dimension. The CAD program generates
views with just a few clicks. The 3D models will make it a lot easier to update drawings
for revisions
.
After you make great engineering drawings that show your special requirements, you
can upload them to the RapidDirect platform that provides professional prototyping
manufacturing services.
Basic Components of an Engineering Drawing
Creating drawings for optimum production will require a good understanding of technical
drawing basics. A single drawing consists of several elements with a few variations to
them. Let’s take a closer look at the components that make up an engineering drawing,
and then you would know how to read engineering drawings.
Types of Lines
Note all the lines you find on an engineering drawing are equal. There are various
options available, making it possible to show hidden and visible edges of parts.
The most common type of line is the continuous line. Many people refer to this as a
drawing line. It represents an object’s physical boundaries. That is, it is a type of line
used for drawing the object. The thickness of the line varies. Outer contours use thicker
lines, with inner contours using thinner ones.
The hidden line is another type of line used in mechanical drawing. It helps to show
points that would not be otherwise visible on the drawing. For example, the length of an
internal step of a part may be shown using hidden lines.
Centerlines show holes and symmetric properties of a part. Extension lines can
annotate an area that is being measured. On the other hand, break lines show a broken
view without taking too much space.
Different Types of Engineering Drawing Views
There are various types of views in an engineering drawing. Each of them serves
different purposes. Note that you should only include a view that contributes to a
design’s overall understanding.
Isometric View
Isometric drawings show a three-dimensional view of parts. Vertical lines remain
vertical, and parallel lines come at a 30-degree angle. The lines in this type of view are
in their true length. With this type of view, engineers stay true to the dimensions instead
of using optical illusions.
Orthographic View
This is one of the most preferred views in an engineering drawing. An orthographic
projection helps to represent a 3D object in 2D. This ensures the conveying of
everything needed for the production of components. Also, there is no distortion of the
length of any kind.
Cutout View
Cutouts help to reduce the different kinds of views we can have for a single drawing. It
is a great option for including every necessary dimension of a cutout.
Detail View
A detailed view shows a close-up of specific sections in a larger view. This is useful if
there are important dimensions in that small area. It is a good view of the readability of
measurements.
Auxiliary View
This type of view helps to represent planes that are not vertical or horizontal. It shows
inclined surfaces without distortions.
Dimensions
As already mentioned, new CNC machines can read dimensions right from the line.
Some crucial bits of information may be missing from CAD models. This may include
tolerancing GD&T and geometric dimensioning.
The right dimensions always guarantee a long lifetime of components with lesser
maintenance. You can fetch dimensions automatically via the measure button.
However, including engineering tolerances requires manual action.
Information Blocks
These are little boxes present at the bottom corner of the engineering drawing. The
block includes part name and number, author’s name, coating, quantity, scale, and
other information. These information blocks may also include the prices of materials.
Every component used in the assembly must also be included.
