Drafting Tips From a 1970s Drafter

Opinion

Stencil for drawing common shapes quickly

 

My father was a drafter for a time, so it was natural for me to take the one drafting class offered by my high school. On the first day, a dozen guys showed up. For our first homework assignment, we had to practice lettering. For me, having already been exposed to the neat lettering required for drawings, this was a natural.

Nevertheless, the assignment had its intended effect; the next class, just three of us showed up. The instructor wanted only those truly enthusiastic about drafting in his class. That was 1972. I began using CAD in 1985, which obviated the need for the following tips.

Hand drafting requires knowledge of technique; CAD does, too, but in a different way. Here are some of the techniques we used, back in the day.

Technical pens for drawing with ink

Keep Ink from Bleeding

We drew straight lines and curves with triangles, protractors, French curves, templates (see image above), and rulers. To keep ink from our drafting pens from leaking under the plastic pieces, we stuck pieces of masking tape on their undersides. This produced just enough of a gap to halt the capillary action, yet keep them close to the paper.

French curves for drawing non-circular curves

Keep Pencils Sharp

When drawing with a pencil, before Pentel invented the 0.5mm mechanical pencil, we twirled the pencil as we drew. This action stopped the lead in the pencil from forming a flat spot, keeping the pencil uniformly sharp and producing lines of consistent width.

 

Keep Orthogonal Lines Orthogonal

When drawing freehand, we were taught to first draw all horizontal lines at a time, then all vertical ones, and then all diagonal ones. The lines turn out straighter, than they would when switching repeatedly between the various directions.

 

Make Sketches Sparkle

Also when doing freehand drawing, make small gaps to the linework. This helps the drawing sparkle, look less dead.

 

 

Comments

[Mike DeKoning]

Another tip: Apply clear fingernail polish over the template labels to prevent them from wearing away from use.

[Ralph Grabowski]

I had not known about that one. 

I have been using transparent tape for protecting things like the signatures on the backs of credit cards. 

[RobiNZ]

Was at a Revit user group last night and somehow ended up talking about hand drawing and the slightly vomit smell of some plastic ellipse etc templates (esp Rotring orange) if stored in containers that don't let them 'breathe' :)

[Ralph Grabowski]

Must have been the off-gassing of the plastic used for drafting tools, which had to be somewhat flexible (not too brittle) or too stiff (not too floppy).

I still have those plastic triangles, rulers, and so on from the 1970s.

[Robin Capper]

Yes, the ellipse ones are thin and still have a slight vomit odour! (see photo link)

https://flic.kr/p/2qSZqEw