Drafting table design point

I am considering incorporating a drafting table into a set of built in bookcases that I am getting ready to make. The first design question that popped into my head was an odd one. Is the lip at the bottom of the drafting table, the one that the triangles and such rest on, of any particular dimension? Does it need to be a particular height above the table or a particular thickness?

I have little experience with drafting tables, obviously, but I thought it might be nice to have. I just bought my wife a mat cutting system (from Lee Valley of course) for Christmas and thought it might be a good work surface as well as my using it for drawing plans. My last project really taught me the value of drawings of a project.

SteveP.

Reply to
Highland Pairos
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not get the top-of-the-line above with the special light attached to the drafting machine in a garage sale for around $100! Lots of those around - everyone converted to CAD years ago, so not much demand for tables and associated drawing devices. That motor operated table is so nice and drafting machine is sweet and smooth where once sold for perhaps over $4,000!

Reply to
impaid

The drafting tables I used to use had no rest for triangles and drawing instruments. One simply avoided setting down pens and pencils such that they would roll. The tables did have a 3/4 by 1-1/2 bar across the front edge, flush with the top surface, attached with spacers at each end to create a 1/4 slot for long paper to be fed down through.

Reply to
Chuck Taylor

LEAVE IT OFF. It is going to be very uncomfortable for you to rest your arms on. My drafting table had a level spot at the top to place the electric eraser, eraser pad, pencil sharpener, etc..

Reply to
Leon

I assumed that it was necessary for setting a triangle 90 deg to a t-square that is set along the edge.

Is this not so?

SteveP.

Reply to
Highland Pairos

You may be able to set the triangle on the t-square.

I actually preferred the parallel-arm board version, where you had a horizontal arm that moved up and down. That way you didn't have to worry about keeping the t-square tight against the side.

Chris

Reply to
Chris

| I assumed that it was necessary for setting a triangle 90 deg to a | t-square that is set along the edge.

In the time before CAD, drafting machines, and sliding parallel rule, the sides were the reference edges for T-square use. The T-square registered against the side of the table and triangles then rested against the T-square. The better tables were fitted with inlet steel channels for the head of the T-square to bear against.

As Leon points out, a pencil ledge at the bottom of the table is really uncomfortable; and after breaking enough pencil leads, one learns to put things down so they don't roll. For those who had learning disabilities, there were all kinds of anti-roll/anti-skid accessories that could be bought.

For the kind of work that might still be done manually, it might be worth DAGS for "taboretr" (I found ). These are small rolling carts that hold and store art paraphernalia. Building one of these little critters has been on my want-to-do list for a long time.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

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Reply to
Morris Dovey

You square the drawing paper to the T-Square. Then you set the triangle on the top edge of the T-square. Some drawing desks have this ledge to keep the drawing board from sliding off of the desk it the desk top angle is too steep.

Reply to
Leon

Yes, YOU DO SET the triangle on the top edge of the T-square.

Once you have been drawing for a while using a T-square you can see if it is not parallel to the lines on the paper. Really not a problem because you always hold the t-square in place pulling it up snug against the edge of the drawing board.

Reply to
Leon

Holding it on the t-square makes sense now that it is mentioned. Obviously that negates the need for relying on the squareness of the table.

SteveP.

Reply to
Highland Pairos

This all makes great sense. Thank you to one and all for your insights. I think I will leave off the ledge for comfort, and perhaps work in a better way to hold pencils etc.

Now the next challenge will be working out the folding mechanism. Probably not a big deal.

Thanks again,

SteveP.

Reply to
Highland Pairos

I like the sliding parallel rule. Although I do most all of my drafting on the computer, I still like to draft on real velum. At home I use a smaller folding table 30x42 with the parallel rule. In my office I have a large

43x72 power table with a track drafting machine. Now all it does is make a grate layout table for reviewing plans developed in AutoCAD.

The folding table gets little use but I would recommend a good drawing board cover. They will also work great when your wife uses it to cut mats on.

Dave

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Reply to
TeamCasa

A triangle is set on a T square. The T square is the reference, not any projection of the table.

Reply to
CW

My table had a trough at the bottom edge. It didn't project above the table surface so was not in the way.

Reply to
CW

Me too. I just had my K&E drafting machine rebuilt. You should have checked this guy out... too cool. A real German engineerey type. Had his workshop strewn with transits from back in the day they measured the height of Mount Everest... museum quality stuff. The rebuild cost me $175.00, and NO off-shore parts..*lol* which was WAY more than the table/machine combo when I bought it. But the way that rolls along those linear bearings and locks in place like a Ft Knox door...it's a treat to use. (I'm AutoCAD trained, 3 years at a local college, just for fun, not the same).

I like walking past the drawing and looking at it as the day goes by..making a change here and there...I would never launch CAD just to scroll around and find this and that detail to tweak and tune... Most of the stuff is actual size as well...

I agree, Dave... something organic happens.. it's almost as if the brain has more opportunity to be creative because it is less busy processing commands and stuff.... it's that 'one-cheek-on-the-stool' thing again.

Reply to
Robatoy

To answer your first question, there should not be a raised rail at the bottom of your table. It just gets in the way and cuts into your arms as you draw. A shallow tray routed in the base rail will work fine. As to the comments about CAD being so neat, I did drafting for over fifty years. My work was unmistakeable. While leafing through some old highway plans at the highway dept., a set that I had drawn up in the early fifties literally jumped out at me. The use of line weights and a distinctive lettering style made it stand out. When a car accident disabled me, I had to learn CAD. Although I still utilize the options for varying line weights, there is nothing to be said for the lettering fonts. My drawings no longer have any character. Everyone should learn at least basic drafting and lettering, if only to make preliminary sketches in the field. [rant turned off] Bugs

Reply to
Bugs

The triangles ride against the tee square or drafting machine blade, not the base of the table! Bugs

Reply to
Bugs

I seem to have fallen into a nest of old draftsmen/persons? like myself. Probably the last coven of a dying breed. We did some great things in our time. Drew up a coast-to-coast highway sytem, put men on the moon, designed a vast array of domestic gadgets, and advanced automation to a level that has replaced us. Too bad there isn't someone coming up to replace the thinking that went into those drawings. Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukah, etc. etc. Bugs

Reply to
Bugs

I am working on a table that folds down off the wall. The rear of the = table has dowels riding in a dadoe and a pair of staggered legs that = fold down at the front. When it is out of the way only 4" of my shop is = lost. =20

The only thing this drafting newbie has not figured out yet is:

is there a good/better/best angle of inclination at which to work.

--=20 PDQ

Reply to
PDQ

most commercial tables are adjustable because few people keep them at the same angle all the time. Depends on what you are doing and how. About 15 degrees would be my preference if I was making it non adjustable. I solved the problem some years ago. Gave away the drafting table and went completely CAD.

is there a good/better/best angle of inclination at which to work.

Reply to
CW

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