Making drawings and plans

Try your local office supply store for isometric graph paper. I used it for years to do drawings of everything from bird houses to industrial piping systems. Once you get the hang of working in the 60º mode, you will find that you can do it freehand from plan and elevation drawings.

New Eagle, PA

snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 07:58:48 -0700, Tim Douglass

Learn perspective from a local library book on mechanical drawing/drafting, Tim. Titles from my library:

Mechanical drawing Book Publisher, Date: New York, McGraw-Hill 1974 - Edition: 8th ed. ISBN: 0070223106 - Description: 568 p. illus. 27 cm.

Audels mechanical drawing guide Book Author: Theo. Audel and Company. Publisher, Date: New York : The Company, c1947. Description: 126, (i.e. 156) p.

Essentials of drafting Book Author: Bethune, James D., 1941- Publisher, Date: Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1977. ISBN: 0132844303 - Description: xiii, 386 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.

Engineering drawing and design Book Author: Jensen, Cecil Howard, 1925- Publisher, Date: New York : Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill, c1979. - Edition: 2d ed. ISBN: 0070325162 - Description: x, 741 p. : ill. ; 29 cm.

Systems drafting : creative reprographics for architects and engineers Book Author: Stitt, Fred A. Publisher, Date: New York : McGraw-Hill, c1980. ISBN: 0070615500 - Description: ix, 245 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.

Basic drafting Book Author: Clifford, Martin, 1910- Publisher, Date: Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. : Tab Books, c1980. - Edition: 1st ed. ISBN: 0830699457 - Description: vi, 270 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

Technical drawing : an introduction Book Author: Stirling, Norman. Publisher, Date: New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, c1980. - Edition: Metric ed. ISBN: 0442231512 - Description: 370 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.

Drafting projects for the amateur. Book Publisher, Date: Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. : TAB Books, c1982. - Edition: 1st ed. ISBN: 0830613617 (pbk.) - Description: vii, 340 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

The complete handbook of drafting Book Author: Blandford, Percy W. Publisher, Date: Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. : TAB Books, c1982. - Edition: 1st ed. ISBN: 083061365X (pbk.) - Description: viii, 314 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

Technical drawing Book Publisher, Date: New York : Macmillan, c1986. - Edition: 8th ed. ISBN: 0023426004 - Description: ix, 964 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.

- The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier. ------------

Tim Douglass wrote: (...)

paper:

via google...

Tim Douglass

Perfect! Thanks for the list. I knew that there would be good recomendations from here. Now I just have to see if I can actually lean.

Tim Douglass

Sun, Jul 25, 2004, 7:58am (EDT-3) snipped-for-privacy@bendcable.com (Tim=A0Douglass) laments: I really need a 3/4 view to be able to see how the various pieces fit together

Well, if I was in a rush, I'd just go and look at something similar, from whatever angle, and just sketch it. But, seeing as my drawing tool is a pencil, and yours is a computer, that might not work for you.

JOAT Expensive tennis shoes won't cure a sore toe.

- Bazooka Joe THE NEW COPPERPLATE

it's not hard. I lean a lot. especially back. I really like a chair that lets me get real comfortable....

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 17:43:49 -0700, Tim Douglass vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

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You need to lean to reard before you start drawing though!

Tim Douglass

Tim, I had the same problem with turbo cad and then I found Delta Cad. Its watered down and easy to use. I thinks its about $40 and you can download a free demo copy. Their website is:

Hope that helps,

Chuck

My rearding is OK, it's my tying that is a problem. :-)

Tim Douglass

Actually my drawing tool of choice for shop drawings is a pencil, but since I never progressed beyond stick figures it's proving very hard (read that as impossible to date) to be able to draw anything in perspective. I've got some resources now so I'm going to see what I can teach myself. It isn't as easy as it seems (at least to me).

Tim Douglass

The plastic corners on my computer make nice marks on paper, thank you. ;-)

-- Mark

Mon, Jul 26, 2004, 11:13am (EDT-3) snipped-for-privacy@bendcable.com (Tim=A0Douglass) says: Actually my drawing tool of choice for shop drawings is a pencil, but since I never progressed beyond stick figures it's proving very hard (read that as impossible to date) to be able to draw anything in perspective.

Well, I can draw, alway could. Never dont a lot with perspective tho. So, I've found just sketch, using very light strokes, a LOT of them, and when a line looks good, darken it slightly. If you put in another line that looks better, erase the first darkened line, or make the other even darker. Eventually, not too long, you'll start getting something that looks like you want. Then keep darkenging lines until you do. Sometimes I get smething with so many lines, it gets hard to tell what I'm trying to do. So, white latex paint, on everything I want to keep. Let it dry, and start again. Sometime I wind up with 2-3 layers of paint. But, always works out. Usually then, when I get to the end, I go over everything I want, with a fine-tip magic marker. If I need more than one, photo copy time. No prob.

JOAT Expensive tennis shoes won't cure a sore toe.

- Bazooka Joe THE NEW COPPERPLATE

getting natural looking perspective views is an entirely mechanical process. it takes some skills, but no talent.

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:10:58 -0700, Tim Douglass vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Hehe!

rammed down our throats.

Dang! That's incredible! I printed some out from the graph paper program some else suggested and tried it. After reading a couple of the resources others suggested it made sense, so I did a quick sketch of a dresser design I had been playing with - not quite perfect, but I'm amazed that *I* was actually able to draw up something that I could really visualize in 3-D. Now I need to play around with it so that I can figure out how to do an odd angle and I'm in business.

Sorry if it seems like I'm going over the top on this, but I've struggled with trying to draw up usable working drawings for years. I've not got the time to get good with CAD and it wasn't until I had the need last week to try to draw up a sketch of a computer desk for the church office (that someone else will build to my design) that the need got to be great enough for me to seriously try to figure it out.

Thanks to all who provided input - it suddenly seems like something I can actually do!

Tim Douglass