Basic Drafting

Compiled by:
Jonas Rey Gomonit
Benchsean Lord Serdon
Joven Baya
Laurence Glen Lambuson
Daryl John Tomon
O Drafting
O Is the primary method of communication between designer and clients,
architects and builders, engineers and production personnel and
between advertisers and customers. A drawing, when used to show the
materials dimension and shape of the product is known as technical
drawing.

Common Terms:
o Drawing – is considered as an international language of industry

o Free hand drawing or Sketching – is a graphic language with a

use of a pencil, eraser and paper only. A good freehand sketch
should not be drawn with rigidly straight line. The line should
have a certain freedom and variety.

o Mechanical Drawing – are used to express the graphic language

with the aid of precision drawing instrument like T-square,
triangles (45x90x30x36), compass, scale, drawing pencil, etc. It is
the next stage after the freehand sketch is drawn in preparing
working drawings.
O Orthographic Projection
Is a method of representing the exact shape of an object into two or more
views on plane generally at right angles of 90 degrees to each other by
extending perpendicular from the object to the plane.

Drafting Tools and Materials

Tools:
O Pencil – one of the draftsman’s most important tools. They come in
different grades of hardness indicated by numbers and letters.
O Grades of Pencil
O Soft – 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B (softest)
O Medium – 3H, 2H, H, F, HB, B
O Hard – 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H (hardest)
Grades of Pencil used for Genera Drafting (Drawing)
O HB – used for lettering
O 2H – used for line work
O 4H – used for general layout purposes

Minimum Requirement of drafting students

O 4H – for repenciling light finished lines (center lines, dimension lines,
and visible object lines)
O F or H – for all lettering and freehand work
O 6H – for light construction lines in layout work where accuracy is
required
O 2H – for visible object lines

O Triangles
Used for drawing vertical and oblique lines.
Common types of triangles:
O 30 x 60 degrees triangle
O 45 x 90 degrees triangle
Other Tools
O Protractor – used for measuring and laying of arcs of circle as
well as angles that cannot be measured by either of the
triangles.
O Triangle scale – used to reproduce the dimension of an object
full size / reduced / or enlarge to some regular proportion.
O French Curve – a curved ruler (called irregular curve) used to
draw curves except circle and arcs.
O Compass – used for drawing arcs and circle.
O T-square – used for drawing horizontal and serves as guide for
triangles when drawing other kinds of lines.
Types of T-square:
O Fixed head
O Adjustable head
O Removable head
GEOMETRIC FIGURES
O This is commonly used in drawing arc lines, angles, quadrilateral,
regular polygons, circle and arcs and solids.

O Line
is a set of points. A portion of the line between two distinct points is called
line segment.

O Straight line – is the shortest distance between two points.

O Parallel lines – are lines on the same plane w/c will not meet no
matter how long you extend them.
O Perpendicular lines – are two intersecting lines which form right
angles.
O ANGLE
is a figure formed by two rays with common end point.
 Straight angle – an angle whose measure is 180 degrees.
 Right angle – an angle whose measure is 90 degrees.
 Acute angle – an angle whose measure is less than 90 deg.
 Obtuse angle – an angle whose measure is more than 90 degrees
but less than 180 degrees.
 Complimentary angle – two angles whose sum measure 90 deg.
 Supplementary angle – two angles whose sum measures 180 deg.

Polygon
 is a closed figure formed by line segments intersecting at end
points. The line segments are called side of the polygon. Polygon
is classified according to the number of sides.
Triangle
is a three-sided polygon.

 Equilateral triangle – has all three sides equal.

 Isosceles triangle – has two of the sides equal.
 Scalene triangle – has three sides of unequal length.
 Right triangle – has one of the angles that is a right angle.

Quadrilateral - is a four-sided polygon.

 Parallelogram – is a quadrilateral with right angle.
 Rectangle – a parallelogram with right angle.
 Square – a rectangle with four equal sides.
 Rhombus a parallelogram whose adjacent sides are unequal and
whose angles are not right angles.
 Trapezoid – a quadrilateral with one pair of opposite sides are
parallel in which one of them is longer than the other.
  Isosceles trapezoid – is a trapezoid with it’s non-parallel sides
equal
 Trapezium – a quadrilateral with no parallel sides and no equal
angles.

Pentagon – is a five sided polygon. If all sides of the pentagon are

equal it s a regular pentagon the measure of each inclined angle is 180
deg.
Hexagon – is a polygon with six sides. If all the sides and angle are equal,
it is a regular hexagon. The measure of each inclined angle of a hexagon
is 120 deg.
Heptagon – is a polygon with seven sides. If all the sides and angles are
equal, it is a regular heptagon and the measure of each angle is
approximately equal to 128.56 deg.
Octagon – a polygon with eight sides. If all sides and angles are equal it
is a regular octagon and the measure of each angle is 135 deg.
Nonagon – is a polygon with nine sides. If all sides and angle are equal it
is a regular nonagon and the measure of each angle is 140 deg.
Decagon – it is a polygon with ten sides. If all sides and angle are
equal it is a regular decagon and the measure of each angle is 144
deg.

Circle – is a closed curve, all points are equidistant from the

center. An arc is a portion of the circumference of the circle. The
following are terms related to a circle or parts of a circle.
 Concentric circle – consist of two or more circles having common
center.
 Eccentric circle – are circle having no common center.
 Ellipse – an oblique circle with two axis, the minor and major axis.
 Radius – a line segment from the center to any point on the circle.
 Chord – a line segment whose endpoints lie on the circle.
 Diameter – a chord that passes through the center of the circle.
 Sector – is a portion of a circle bounded by an arc and a chord.
 Circumference – is the distance around the circle.
 Quadrant – is one fourth of the entire area of a circel.
Solid – is a three-dimensional figure. The three dimension are the
length, width, and height. The following are the different kinds of
solid.
 Sphere – is a three-dimensional figure whose points are located at
a constant distance away from the center.
 Prism – is a three-dimensional figure with polygon base and a
triangular lateral faces.
 Cube – is a prism whose face are congruent squares. An example
of a cube is a dice.
 Cylinder – is a solid figure with two circular bases in parallel plane
and parallel line segments connecting to these bases. An example
of a cylinder is a tin can.
 Cone – is a solid figure with a circular base and a surface formed
by line segments joining every point on the edge of the base
common point in a parallel plane.
 Tetrahedron – is a solid figure composed of four equilateral
triangles.
 Dodecahedron – is a solid figure bounded by twelve equal regular
pentagons.
  Icosahedron – is a solid figure bounded by twenty equilateral
triangles.

 MEASUREMENTS
 Measuring accurately is a skill that should be development. Inaccurate
measurements would mean waste of time, effort and materials. The
development of the skill starts with the ability to read measurements.

 Two system of measurement

O English System – originated in
England.
O Metric System or System International (SI) – originated
in France in the English system, the inch
is divided into 16 graduations
and the smallest graduation is read
1/16.
O Methods of Conversion
O System International (SI) to English
O SI or Metric System
O English System
O 1 meter
O 39.37 Inches
O 3.28083 Feet
O 0.3048 meter
O 1 foot
O 1 centimeter
O 0.3937 Inch
O 2.54 centimeters
O 1 Inch
O 1 millimeter
O 0.03937 Inch
O 1 kilometer
O 1093.61 yards
O Sample Guide to Conversion from Inch to Meter or vice
versa

Sample:
O To convert meter to feet, divided the length by 0.30 say
6.0 m ÷ 0.30 = 20 ft.
O To convert Feet to meter, multiply by 0.30 say 30 ft. x
0.30 = 9.0 meters
O To convert inches to meters, follow the conversion table
below:

O 1 inch
O 0.025 meter
O 2 inch
O 0.050 meter
O 3 inch
O 0.075 meter
O 4 inch
O 0.10 meter
O LETTERING

O Lettering is a fundamental part of drawing. It is

closely related to design. What is essential regardless
of style is ease in reading.

O THREE BASIC CLASSIFICATION OF DRAWING

1. ROMAN
2. GOTHIC
3. TEXT STYLES
Roman Letters – all letters having strokes “accented”
or made up of thick and thin elements.

ABCDE Roman
abcdef
Gothic Letters – all letters composed of uniform width
elements.

ABCDE Gothic
abcdef
Single Stroke Gothic – recommended by ANSI
(American National Standards Institute) as it is easier
to read and letter than other styles of lettering.

HIJKLMNOPQRST
&123456789
Text Letters – this includes all styles of Old English text,
church text, etc. whose elements are made with style C
or D speedball pens.

ABCDE Text
abcdef
Italic letters – all slanting or inclined letters are
classified as italic style. They are made with style C or D
pens. The inclination of the guide line is an angle of 67
½ degrees with the horizontal guide line.

ABCDE Italic
abcdef
O PROPOTIONS OF LETTERS

O Normal Letters
O Extended Letters
O Compressed or Condensed
Letters
O Lightface and Boldface
Normal Letters – these are used when the space for
lettering is adequate. They are neither too narrow nor
too wide and have the same height.

RELATIVELY
RELaTIVELY RELATIVELY
REL ATIVE LY
Extended letters – are letters wider than normal letters
and are used when the space to be used is wider than
normal.
CONDENSED LETTERS
EXTENDED LETTERS

Compressed or Condensed Letters

- letters that are narrower than normal.

Used when space is limited.
 Lightface or Boldface

- Letters with very thin stems are called lightface, while

those having heavy stems are called boldface.

LIGHTFACE
BOLDFACE
 Uniform and Design in Lettering

- In any style of lettering, uniformity is essential.

Uniformity in height, proportion, inclination, strength
of line, spacing of letters and spacing of words
ensures a pleasing appearance.
 Stability in letters and numbers

- The upper portions of certain letters and numerals

are equal in width to the lower portions, the
characters appear top-heavy. To correct this, the
upper portions are reduced the size where possible,
thereby producing the effect of stability and a more
pleasing appearance.
Guidelines – extremely light horizontal lines are
necessary to regulate the height of letter. In addition,
light vertical or inclined lines are needed to keep the
letters uniformly vertical or inclined.

I ALWAYS USED GUIDELINES, i always used guidelines

Guide Lines
O Base line – a horizontal guide line where all the letters rest or
stand.
O Drop line – a horizontal guideline drawn for letters with strokes
that extend down as ascender.
O SKETCHING

O It is the most basic form of expression for

drafting beginners, for them to be able to
present their ideas and decision to those
whom they are communicating with in an
understandable manner.
O Uses of Sketching
O Sketches are used to present ideas in
either orthographic or pictorial form.
O As a problem arise and possible
solution consider, orthographic and
pictorial sketches follow one another.
O Sketch making continues up to the
preliminary design making.
O Uses of Sketching

O Sketches are liberally availed of in

presenting instructions to others.
O Sketches are used extensively to exchange
ideas during conference.
O Sketches are used most helpful from the
preparation of the preliminary design
drawing up to the making of the working
(shop) drawing.
O ALPHABET OF LINES

O Are lines used in drafting to identify the

types of lines thick, thin or medium. They
have the same relation to drawings as
letters do to words.
O ALPHABET OF LINES

1. Border line – visible line, cutting plane

line, short break line.
2. Medium line – hidden line
3. Thin line – long break line, section line,
center line, dimension line, extension line
and phantom line
O Meaning and Purpose of the Alphabet of lines
1. Visible line or Object line
– represents the visible edges of an
object.
1. Hidden line or Invisible line – used to
represent the hidden edges of an object. It is
made of short dashes.
2. Center line – is the largest or finest line in
drawing used to show the center of the object.
O Meaning and Purpose of the Alphabet of
lines
4. Dimension line – used to indicate the
measurement of objects.
5. Leader line – a fine broken line with an
arrowhead at one end used for indicating
the measurement and name of a part.
6. Reference line – an irregular fine curved
line with an arrowhead at one end used to
label the parts of an object.
O Meaning and Purpose of the Alphabet of
lines
7. Long break line – a limiting line used to limit
the length of an elongated object so that it
can be shown w/out changing the size of
its view.
8. Short break line – is similar in use with long
break line. It is commonly used to limit the
length of a cylindrical object.
9. Cutting plane line – consist of long and
short dashes used to indicate the cut-view
of objects.
SIX PRINCIPAL VIEWS
In the actual orthographic drawing
there are rarely ever an occasion where the
six views are required to be drawn. The most
combination are three views namely the TOP,
FRONT and RIGHT SIDE views. However it
requires a minimum of two orthographic
views to show the exact shape and size of an
object
PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS
To make an orthographic drawing,
there should be a given pictorial drawing
given pictorial drawing. A pictorial drawing is
one that:

a. Provides a general impression of the

shape and feature of an object.
b. Shows the width, height and depth of
object
The principal dimensions of an object are the
WIDTH, HEIGHT, DEPTH

WIDTH- Is a measurement of an object taken from

side to side of an object

HEIGHT- Is the measurement taken from top to

bottom of the object

DEPTH- is the measurement from front to rear of

an object
PRINCIPLES OF ORTHOGRAPHIC
DRAWING
Principles of orthographic projection
derived from the position of six views.

1. The top view is directly drawn above the

front view.
2. The side view is drawn horizontally in the
line with the front view
3. A line parallel to plane of projection will
show it’s true length on that plane.
4. A line inclined to a plane of a projection will
have a projection on that plane shorter than
it’s true length.
5. A surface parallel to a plane of projection is
shown I it’s true size.
6. A surface inclined to a plane of projection
is shown foreshortened on that plane.
MATERIALS NEEDED IN CONSTRUCTING AN
ORTHOGRAPHIC DRAWING
1. Drawing Paper
2. T-Square
3. Triangles (45x45x9degrees and
30x60x90degrees)
4. Mechanical Pen
5. Technical Pen
6. Eraser
ISOMETRIC DRAWING

Is a drawing wherein the object is

represented by three sides seen at one time.
It is made with a 30x60 degree triangle. It is
also a three dimensional drawing because
height, width and depth are all drawn in a
single plane.
PICTOTIAL DRAWINGS
Are drawings that show objects as they
would appear in a photograph. It is also a
drawing that shows more than one side of the
object.

PICTORIAL DRAWING IS DEVIDED INTO:

1. Axonometric Drawing
2. Oblique Drawing
3. Perspective Drawing
O Dimensioning

O BIS (Board of Indian Standards SP 46: 2003) defines

dimension as a numerical value expressed in appropriate
units of measurement and indicated graphically on
technical drawings with lines, symbols and notes.
O Units of Measurement: The most commonly used unit for
length is the millimetre. In civil engineering and
architectural drawing, inch or foot is often used as a unit
of length. Angles are shown in degrees.
O Symbols are incorporated to indicate specific geometry
wherever necessary.
O Notes are provided to give specification of a particular
feature or to give specific information necessary during
the manufacturing of the object.
 Example on drawing sheet
No dimension unit to be mentioned on the drawing
At the bottom sheet mention “All dimensions in ……”

DRAWING SHEET

50

MENTION UNIVERSAL DIMENSION

HERE
TITLE BLOCK

All dimensions are in mm

 Dimensioning
Providing information on a drawing about
 Distances (size or functional dimensions)
 Sizes and positions (location or datum dimensions) of holes,
grooves and other features.
 Details relating to manufacture etc.
Manufacturing detail
Location
Roughness 0.5
15

Location 15
30 Size,
functional

Hole f15 Size specification, f – symbol for

diameter
 Different lines in dimensioning
• Oultline - Forms the shape of the object in a view (drawn
dark and continuous)
• Extension line – An extension of an outline or centerline
(drawn light and continuous, used to indicate the entity
being dimensioned)
• Dimension line – Thin continuous line terminated by
arrowheads touching the outlines, extension lines or center
lines (used to specify end points of a dimension)
Dimension line Dimension Extension
50 line

Outline
 Leader lines and notes
Leader (or pointer) line – Thin continuous line connecting a note or dimension
figure with the feature to which it applies. One end of the leader terminates in an
arrowhead or dot.
The arrowhead touches the outline while the dot is placed within the object or on
the outline
The other end of a leader is terminated in a horizontal line underlining the note

Roughness 0.5
Leader line
Material: mild steel

Leader line Hole f15 Note

 Rules for leader lines
 A leader line is never drawn horizontal, vertical or curved
 It is drawn at an angle not less than 30o to the line that it touches
 When pointing to a circle or arc, it is drawn radially

Material: mild steel

Roughness 0.5
Leader line
> 30o

Hole f15 Note

 Arrowheads and dimension line positioning
O A dimension line is placed at least 6-8 mm away from an outline and from each
other
O An extension line extends ~3mm beyond a dimension line
O Arrowhead – Placed at each end of a dimension line, its pointed end touches an
outline, extension line or a centerline. It is also placed at the end of a leader line
45o

Open Closed Closed and Oblique

w
filled stroke
Size of the arrowhead should be
proportional to the length of the
3w dimension line

~6-8mm
~3mm 50
Arrowhead
 Systems of Dimensioning

O Aligned System
O In the aligned system, dimensions are aligned with the entity
being measured. They are placed perpendicular to the
dimension line such that they may be read from the bottom or
right-hand side of the drawing sheet. Dimensions are placed at
the middle and on top of the dimension lines.

O Unidirectional System
O In the unidirectional system, dimensions are placed in such a
way that they can be read from the bottom edge of the drawing
sheet. Dimensions are inserted by breaking the dimension lines
at the middle.
 Dimensioning systems

Aligned system
Unidirectional system
(readable from bottom and right edge of
sheet) (visible from bottom edge)
 Dimensioning elements

O A line on the drawing whose length is to be

shown is called an object line. The object line
is essentially an outline representing the
feature(s) of the object. While showing an
angle, the two lines forming the angle will be
the object lines.
O Dimensioning is often done by a set of
elements, which includes extension lines,
dimension lines, leader lines, arrowheads and
dimensions. These are shown in the figure
below.
Within extension lines Outside extension lines With leader
Two kinds of Perspective
drawing
• SECTION
 Section is an imaginary cut taken through an object so
as to reveal a shape or interior construction. The cut is
usually lengthwise or crosswise, vertical or horizontal
although the section cut is sometimes at an angle.

 Sectional View is a method of drawing presentation

showing the interior part of the object especially when
the inner parts are complicated. The direction of the
cutting plane line is the major reference to consider in
determining the form to be drawn.
 Lines used in constructing
sectional views
O Visible edge- Is a heavy line that can be seen when viewing
an object.

O Cutting plane line- Is a thick short dash line representing

the imaginary line cut in the object.

O Section line- Is a thin solid line at 45 degrees representing

solid parts of the object is being cut.

O Short break line- Thick solid lines used for broken out
section.
O Section Lining sometimes referred to as cross-hatching
indicates the surface that been theoretically cut and
make it stand out clearly, thus helping the observer
understand the shape of the object. It may also indicate
the material from which object is to be made.
Symbols for Materials in
Section
Types of Section
O Revolved Section- This is made directly upon
a view of the drawing to show the true shape
of the cross section of some detail or special
portion of the object
O Removed or Detailed Section- Is used for the same
purpose as revolved section, except that is not shown
on the view of the object, but shifted to some adjacent
place on the paper. Advantages of this type of section
are the original view of the object is uncluttered and the
removed section maybe drawn to large scale to show
the detail and dimension clearly.

O Phantom Section or Hidden Section- This is used to

emphasize the interior construction of an object without
destroying the continuity of the exterior view by
crosshatching an imaginary cut surface with dotted
section lines.
 PATTERN DEVELOPMENT
O A pattern is a full size drawing of the various surfaces of
an object stretched in a flat surface.
O Pattern development is used only for flexible materials
such as plastic, sheet metal or anything that can be
folded.
O Sample Development Objects:
 Types of Pattern Development
O Parallel Development- refers to a drawn pattern of an
object whose measuring lines are parallel to one
another. Examples are cube, cylinder, and prism.
O Radial Development- refers to a drawn pattern
of an object whose measuring lines and
converge at a certain point. Example are
pyramids and cones.