FEDERAL

TVET Institute
DEPARTMENT OF
CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

(Building Electrical Installation)

1
 Chapter 2:
Architect Scale Rulers
Introduction:
Architect scale rulers usually come in the form of a triangular ruler with different scales. The scales are
generally 1 to 1, 1 to 50, 1 to 500 etc. Often, scales are made in triangular form so that they can be marked
with different scale ratios. A triangular scale has 6 different ratios on it.

Drawing to Scale

Using a measuring device called a scale, we can

create accurate drawings of both very large objects
or very small objects and fit either on a standard size
piece of paper while still being able to easily refer to
the actual size of the object.
2.1 Scale for Small Object

Use the 1 to 1 side of the metric scales if you want to make a drawing that is at actual size.
What the 1 to 1 scaling means is that every mille meter on the drawing equals 1 mille meter
on the actual object.

Use the 1 to 2 side of the metric scales if you want to make a drawing that is at half actual
size. What the 1 to 2 scaling means is that every mille meter on the drawing equals 2 mille
meters on the actual object, in other words, the object is twice as big as the drawing.

Use the 1 to 4 side of the metric scales if you want to make a drawing that is at a quarter
actual size. What the 1 to 4 scaling means is that every mille meter on the drawing equals 4
mille meters on the actual object, in other words, the object is four times as big as the
drawing.

Use the 2 to 1 side of the metric scales if you want to make a drawing that is actually twice
as big as the actual object. What the 2 to 1 scaling means is that every two mille meters on
the drawing equals only 1 mille meter on the actual object, in other words, the object is
half as big as the drawing.
2.2. Scale for Big Object
These scales are all for large objects which would be drawn in meters. Let's start with
the scale at below labelled 1:200. Imagine that you lay this scale on your piece of paper
and draw a line from the 0 to the number 5. You just drew a line that is 5 meters long at
1:200, meaning that if you measured this line on the paper, every mille meter would be
equal to 200 mille meters on the original object you are drawing.

Now try the next scale, the one labelled 1:500. Imagine that you lay the scale on the
paper and draw a line from the 0 to 10m. (The m stands for meters) You just drew a line
representing 10 meters at 1:500 scale.
 …cont’d
Example 1: in the scale of 1:50
1 cm long in the drawing is equivalent to 50 cm long in the actual object.
(1 cm in drawing = 0.5m in actual size)

By using scale 1:50, the drawing in fig.1

indicates that the actual dimension of
Fig. 1 6 cm wide the object is equivalent to 5 m long and
3 m wide.

10 cm long

Example 2: in the scale of 1:100

1 cm long in the drawing is equivalent to 100 cm long in the actual object.
(1 cm in drawing = 1m in actual size)

By using scale 1:100, the drawing in fig.2

indicates that the actual dimension of
Fig. 2 6 cm wide the object is equivalent to 10 m long and
6 m wide.

10 cm long
 …cont’d
Example 3: in the scale of 1:200
1 cm long in the drawing is equivalent to 200 cm long in the actual object.
(1 cm in drawing = 2m in actual size)

By using scale 1:200, the drawing in fig.3

indicates that the actual dimension of
Fig. 3 6 cm wide the object is equivalent to 20 m long and
12 m wide.

10 cm long

Example 4: in the scale of 1:500

1 cm long in the drawing is equivalent to 500 cm long in the actual object.
(1 cm in drawing = 5m in actual size)

By using scale 1:500, the drawing in fig.4 indicates that

the actual dimension of the object is equivalent to 50 m
Fig. 4 6 cm wide long and 30 m wide.

Normally, scale 1:500 and up are used when the object

or area to be drawn are very large.
10 cm long