Drafting machine?

[Denis M]

> Not the same thing at all. The corded bar provides a horizontal > reference,

Drafting/Technical school of that day would start you on a classroom drafting board about 18" X 24" and 36" X 24".

Those boards were only suitable for A, B, and C sizes drawing sheet (i.e.

8½" X 11", 11" X 17" and 17" X 22"). A 24 inches T and small squares were adequate enough.

(The one I have now is 36 inches long)

However the Ship building and Aircraft industries required layouts and assembly drawings larger than E size drawing (34"X 44"). At that time, corded parallel bar and T square were not adequate for an 8 foot long drafting table. Not to mention that most of the time piles of reference drawings were stacked at one end of the table.

[J. Clarke]

>>> Not the same thing at all. The corded bar provides a horizontal >> reference,

How did you get your horizontal reference?

[Denis M]

Yes, at $7.00 made in china is only worth what we paid for.

Heavy brass is much better but is no longer available.

I do not like the folding parallel rule but I still use them for small drawings and navigation.

See the following link:

days, I still carry navigation paper charts on board for back up and validation.

The chart table (24?X24?) on my sailboat is too small to accommodate regular size chart. We have to use the galley table. Instead I use GPS plotter integrated with all instruments. Most of the navigation is first done on a PC and transfer to the plotter and paper charts are use for back up when needed.

Sorry for getting a little off subject.

[Lew Hodgett]

I just used triangles.

The chart table (24"X24") on my sailboat is too small to accommodate regular

What do you sail and where?

Lew

[Denis M]

>>>>> Not the same thing at all. The corded bar provides a horizontal >>> reference,

The drafting tables were covered with light green grid paper similar to

grids on the paper cover were carefully aligned parallel to the top of the table

and the parallism validated with the heavy brass parallel bar. The drafting paper was translucent and the grid visible and used as references.

When no grid table cover was available the drafting paper/cotton/Mylar were pin or tape parallel and square to the table. This procedure was not the best but senior draftsmen had no problem with it. Subsequently the drafting sheets were made with a printed frame and logos. It became much easier to position the sheet square to the table. When the drafting machines became available it took much less time to produce drawings. Now with the CAD it like night and day.

[Lew Hodgett]

======================================= Still remember a guy on the next drafting board had to do a full size redraw of a wing strut detail drawing on cloth with ink for a Piper Cub type scout plane for the Air Force.

The strut was about 17-18 ft.

Definitely was not a job for a rookie which I was at the time.

I often worked on foundry automation, quarter size design layouts.

These layout drawings were usually at least 20-25 ft long, the drafting boards were home made using 4'x10' plywood and 2" pipe.

You would start at one end of the paper and work your way to the other, shifting the paper on the board as you went, keeping the unused paper rolled at the end(s) of the table.

Lew

[Denis M]

I now have a 34.5 overall length with a 30.5 water line sailboat. Last summer we were gone for one month cruising the Bay of Fundy and Coast of Nova Scotia.

[Lew Hodgett]

Never had the chance to get there, but understand, even though the season is short, the work to get there is worth the effort.

I'm on another sailing list with a guy from Annapolis who has cruised that area.

Lew

[Denis M]

Looks like you had the proper training. Many engineering firms had young graduated engineer working two years on the drafting board before having project of their own.

[Lew Hodgett]

I was fortunate enough to go to a co-op school.

All my board time was while I was going to school.

After graduation, my drafting tools just gathered dust until I started sailing.

Lew

[Martin H. Eastburn]

I used my engineering tri-scale to measure a drawing. It is in a special long drawer with a pull down door easy to get to. My triangles are in the same shoulder high door. Oh - my French curves are there as well :-)

And I only used them in High School - started with CAD on my 8080 - home brew and continued on through Cadence PCB / IC software in the end.

Mart> Denis M wrote:

[Martin H. Eastburn]

Landscape drawings also on E-size. I just de-commissioned my E-size or r= eally any size up to E - actually 36" x 150' long rolls. Shame, the mover brok= e it and refused to pay off.

Mart> news: [e-mail]...