Archive for the ‘Drafting / Technical Drawing’ Category

Solidworks has a wrap feature. This feature wraps a sketch onto a planar or nonplanar face. You can create a planar face from cylindrical, conical, or extruded models. You can also select a planar profile to add multiple, closed spline sketches.

The wrap feature supports contour selection and sketch reuse. You can project a wrap feature onto multiple faces. The sketch plane must be tangent to the face, allowing the face normal and the sketch normal to be parallel at the closest point.

While the the Split Line tool projects an entity (sketch, solid, surface, face, plane, or surface spline) to surfaces, or curved or planar faces. It divides a selected face into multiple separate faces. You can split curves on multiple bodies with one command.

Have you ever encountered a surface in solidworks that is deformed or not smooth enough? This usually happen when converting it into a different file format. Well I have a sample that needed some work because some faces are not the way they should be.

(See fig .1)

1. First we should identify what causes the surface to deform, like the tangency of the curves.

Fig. 1

2. After knowing the problem which is the tangency of the curve use before, we should now create a new curve.

As you can see in (fig. 2.1) the difference between the new curves form the old. You could use any of the “curves command” like composite curve or curve through points. After creating the curve you can now delete the surface to be replaced by using the command “Delete Face”.

3. Now that the curves are all done we can now create a new face. We can now do the other faces

4. You could do it in the half part so we could just mirror it and knit it.

• All done!

One of the feature of Solid works is the Photo View 360 the visualization and rendering solution, it is easy and lot of fun to work in rendering design parts to make it more realistic with greater accuracy and appeal than ever before that can used for client presentation. It’s a highly interactive environment for viewing designs as well as for creating photorealistic renderings that can use for showcasing designs. It’s as easy as applying the appearances and scenes just drag and drop it onto that part. To change the color, pick on the parts and go to the advanced tab of the material and pick the color in the color options quickly to get some great looking and very appealing images of the design.

Assembly drawings, or mechanical assembly drawings, are “drawings detailing an engineering perspective view on a mechanism or physical, real-world-built object that is comprised of more than one part.” Assembly drawings are very useful for engineers who are dealing with complex mechanical devices. Creating assembly drawings have become improved with the recent improvements in 2D CAD drafting and detailing software. It is very vital that designs are visualized accurately and precisely so that the manufacturing stage will become successful and safer and the maintenance stage will become easier.

2D drafting and detailing is “an important aspect of any CAD tool.” The speed of creating 2D CAD drawings is a matter of great importance especially for projects that have 2D drawing end-results (aside from the fact that 2D CAD drawings are far easier to handle than paper design models). Detailing is an important part of any project, and it must be handled by professionals. Detailing and drafting services are very important in a potpourri of industries, and it is very important that drawings are easily understood by people who will use them. An improperly made drawing results to an increase in unnecessary overhead expenses.

If you are in a company that needs 2D drawings for your projects, it is better if you outsource your works to a company that is very competent in the expertise that you need. In that way, you can work harder for your specialty because other professionals are there to take care of your other needs. The technologies that they use are frequently being updated to improve the quality of their works. The resources it takes to manage your employees are lessened. This shows that outsourcing is a profitable economical solution. An outsourcing company that has demonstrated years of experience and has produced output of the finest quality in a timely manner is the best option for a client that values reliability, high quality, and time. Such outsourcing company has the capability to produce designs efficiently and without errors. A carefully planned and analyzed design prevents unnecessary costs to the people who will use it. As a conclusion, entrusting your detailing and drafting projects to professionals who have the capabilities to do them competently reduces your cost and improves your productivity despite tough economic conditions.

References

• “2D Drafting & Detailing.” TurboCAD. IMSI/Design, 2011. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.
• “Architectural Drafting and Detailing (CAD) Services.” Supremus Group. Supremus Group, 2006. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• “Assembly Drawings Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Services Datasheets.” GlobalSpec. GlobalSpec, 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• Drafting Simplified. “Structural Drafting and Detailing Services for Timber, Steel, Concrete and Prefabricated Materials.” ActiveRain. ActiveRain, 8 Sept. 2008. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• Ketan Poojara. “CAD Outsource Services, Structural 2D Drafting & Steel Detailing Services, Structural Engineering Services.” ArticlesBase. ArticlesBase, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• “Outsource Architectural Drafting & Architectural Detailing (CAD).” Flatworld Solutions. Flatworld Solutions, 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• “Piping Design & Drafting.” Detail Drafting and Design. Detail Drafting and Design, 2011. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• “Post-Tension Concrete Drafting, Post Tensioned Design Detailing in CAD.” PRBD. PRBD, 14 July 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• PrimeDesign Corporation. PrimeDesign Corporation, 2009. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• “Structural Drafting – Structural Engineering Services.” Outsource Structural Drafting. Outsource Structural Drafting, 2010. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.
• “When Your Business Is Running 24X7, You Need Optimum Means to Maximize Your Productivity and Profits.” RAD Solutions. RAD Solutions, 2006. Web. 18 Jan. 2011.

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What is Technical Drawing?

Many references provide a lot of definitions for technical drawing. A technical drawing or drafting is the “academic discipline of creating standardized technical drawings by architects, interior designers, drafters, design engineers, and related professionals.” It is an “integral communication of technical or engineering drawings and is the industrial arts sub-discipline that underlies all involved technical endeavors.¹” It is a “means of clearly and concisely communicating all of the information necessary to transform an idea or a concept into reality.²” It is a “drawing plan, rendered to scale, used to communicate direction and specifics to a group of people creating something.³” It is a “formal and precise way of communicating information about the shape, size, features and precision of physical objects,” a “universal language of engineering used in the design process for solving problems, quickly and accurately visualizing objects, and conducting analysis,” and “a graphical representation of objects and structures.” It is also the “expression of bodies by lines.⁴” It is a “skill, a vocation.⁵” A good technical drawing is “one that properly and conveniently communicates all of the information needed to transform a design into a product that meets or exceeds customer expectations.²”

Technical drawings have many uses in many kinds of applications specially where there is a need for designs and conversion processes, such as those found in manufacturing, engineering, architecture, and construction. Because technical drawings have many uses, there is a need to regulate practices that are involved in creating these drawings. Drafters use standards of practice, of which the most widely used are practices of the US Department of Defense (DOD), the US Military (MIL), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).² Drafters use many geometric figures and symbols to specify the scope and details of a product because it is very important that technical drawings be accurate.³ Drafters create technical drawings using freehand, mechanical, or computer methods.⁴ Processes that are involved in drafting are sometimes time-consuming.¹ One thing that determines the ultimate quality of a product is the quality of its technical drawing. We know if a technical drawing is a good one when developers for a design should no longer need to consult designers or drafters of the drawing because all information that these developers need are already included in the drawing.² In essence, technical drawing is about linear projection.⁵

A Quick Summary of the History of Technical Drawing

Technical drawings are things that are not new. Even during the times of early Greek civilization, technical drawings existed. These drawings were scratched on the floor to guide workers while they were building. As time went on, people learned to use mechanical devices on drafting tables to draft. Nowadays, drafters or designers use computers to aid them in their design works.³ Computers lessened the effort needed by designers to accomplish their tasks. Before the widespread use of drafting software, drafters were required to have an extensive knowledge on the principles of descriptive geometry and to use tools such as t-square, compass, and drafting table. Now, descriptive geometry is no longer used very often because computers do much of the computations. With the use of computers and knowledge in linear algebra, data, such as coordinates of points and their projection on planes, are computed more easily, and designers can now bypass some rules or principles on how to draw correctly.⁵

Methods of Technical Drawing

The three methods in technical drawing are the following:¹

• Sketching
• Manual or by instrument
• Computer-aided design (CAD)

A sketch is a “quickly executed freehand drawing that is not intended as a finished work.” It is a “quick way to record an idea for later use.” Sketches serve as abstractions or summaries of complex patterns or design solutions. Because their purpose is to summarize, sketching results to an enhanced design process. In a way, these sketches aid in the design collaboration.¹

In manual drawing, it is very important to have an accurate drafting table and to give much attention to the positioning of drafting tools. Drafters use a wide array of mechanical instruments and tools, such as compasses and French curves. Drafters of manual drawings are skilled in geometry, trigonometry, and spatial comprehension. They have mastered the mechanics of drawing lines, arcs, and circles, and they are expected to be precise and accurate in giving technical details. One procedure in manual drafting involves using a drafting table with a paper over it, and sliding a T-square across the side of the table over the surface of the paper. Drafters run pencils or technical pens along the edge of the T-square to create parallel lines. Sometimes, the T-square is used to hold other smaller drawing tools, such as squares and triangles. With the use of these smaller drawing tools, drafters could draw lines from different angles. When tasks become repetitive already, drafters use templates, and these templates were made for some specific tasks. Templates are commercially available, but sometimes, drafters prefer to create their own.¹

Manual drawings must be redrawn from scratch when there is a need to modify them. This difficulty was removed by the use of CAD systems. A CAD system is either 2D or 3D. A 2D CAD system is “merely an electronic drawing board.” 2D CAD systems are capable of producing drawings of large projects such as plans for a building or an aircraft, but they do not have the capability to allow designers to test whether components and parts will fit together. These kinds of projects require designers to use 3D CAD software for the modeling, assembling, and checking of components before the actual release of technical drawings to manufacturers.¹

CAD systems, such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks, and Pro/ENGINEER, automate and accelerate the mechanics of drafting tasks. These systems support symbols for common components that are found in many disciplines, such as electrical, electronic, pneumatic, and fluidic. CAD designers follow standards such as those provided by BS and ISO, but, sometimes, it is up to designers to create drawings.¹

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• Tickoo, Sham. AutoCAD 2010: A Problem-solving Approach. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar/Cengage Learning, c2010.
• Spencer, Henry Cecil, John Thomas Dygdon, and James E. Novak. Basic Technical Drawing. 8th ed. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, c2004.
• Bielefeld, Bert, and Isabella Skiba. Basics Technical Drawing. Boston: Birkhauser-Publishers for Architecture, c2007.
• Gibbs, Carolyn. The Design Studio: Developing Technical and Creative Skills using AutoCAD and ADT. New York: Fairchild Books, c2008.
• Lamit, Louis Gary, and James Gee. Pro/Engineer Wildfire. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Brooks/Cole, c2004.
• Goetsch, David L, et al. Technical Drawing. 5th ed. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning, c2005.
• Giesecke, Frederick E., et al. Technical Drawing. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson Education, c2003.
• Giesecke, Frederick E., et al. Technical Drawing. 13th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, c2009.
• Smith, Douglas, and Antonio Ramirez. Technical Drawing 101 with AutoCAD 2008. London: Pearson Education, c2009.
• Smith, Douglas, and Antonio Ramirez. Technical Drawing 101 with Autocad(r): A Multidisciplinary Curriculum for the First Semester. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Prentice Hall, 2011.
• Goetsch, David L., William S. Chalk, and John A. Nelson. Technical Drawing and Engineering Communication. 6th ed. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2008.
• Chalk, William S., and David L. Goetsch. Technical Drawing and Engineering Communication Instructor’s Resource Guide. 6th ed. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2009.
• Thorne, Gary. Technical Drawing for Stage Design. Ramsbury: Crowood Press, 2009.