DESIGN DRAFTING

Manual drafting — drawing by hand using pencils, technical pens, drawing boards, T-squares, set squares, and drafting machines — was the universal method for producing engineering drawings before CAD software became mainstream in the 1980s and 1990s. While manual drafting has been almost entirely replaced by computer-aided design (CAD) in professional engineering and construction practice, understanding its tools, techniques, and conventions remains relevant: many of the conventions used in manual drafting (line weights, symbol libraries, dimensioning rules) were directly inherited by CAD standards including AS/NZS 1100.

Manual Drafting Equipment and Supplies

Manual vs CAD Drafting: Key Differences

When Is Manual Drafting Still Used?

Manual drafting is effectively obsolete in professional engineering and construction in Australia. The last significant professional use was in the early-to-mid 1990s, when AutoCAD and MicroStation displaced drawing boards across most firms. Today, manual drafting techniques appear in:

• Engineering and architecture education — first-year students often learn hand drafting to understand the underlying conventions before moving to CAD
• Conceptual sketching — designers still sketch by hand to explore ideas quickly before committing to CAD
• Remote site marking up — annotating printed drawings on site when a laptop isn’t available
• Heritage documentation — drawing existing historic buildings or structures from physical measurement
• Emergency/field conditions — sketching dimensions of components for urgent replacement ordering

Manual Drafting Conventions Inherited by CAD

CAD software didn’t invent its drawing conventions — it automated the conventions that manual drafters spent decades developing. All of the following originated in manual practice and are now codified in AS/NZS 1100:

• Line weights — thick lines for visible edges (0.5mm), thin lines for dimensions and hidden lines (0.25mm), chain lines for centrelines
• First/third angle projection — the arrangement of orthographic views on a drawing sheet
• Title block layout — drawing number, revision, scale, projection symbol in the bottom-right corner
• Dimensioning rules — extension lines, arrowheads, dimension text above the line, chained vs baseline dimensioning
• Hatch patterns — 45° diagonal lines at specific spacing to indicate cut surfaces in section views
• Symbol libraries — weld symbols, surface finish marks, GD&T feature control frames

Converting Manual/Paper Drawings to CAD

Many Australian manufacturers, mining companies, and infrastructure operators hold large archives of historical manual drawings — often on vellum or polyester film — that need to be digitised. This process, called CAD conversion, involves:

1. Scanning — high-resolution scanning of the original drawing
2. PDF clean-up — removing fold marks, stains, and degradation artefacts
3. CAD redrafting — redrawing the geometry in AutoCAD or other software, either manually from the scan or using PDF-to-DWG conversion tools with human QA
4. Dimensioning and annotation — verifying and adding dimensions, notes, and title block data
5. QA check — comparing the CAD output against the original scan for accuracy

ASTCAD provides paper-to-CAD and PDF-to-DWG conversion services across all disciplines — mechanical, structural, architectural, and civil. All output is delivered in DWG format to Australian Standards (AS/NZS 1100).

Related reading: how to produce construction drawings step by step.

Professional perspective

A drafting professional is more than a CAD operator. There is a significant difference between an individual trained in the theories, principles, standards, and requirements of the career field and a true professional. Being a professional is more than holding a credential. A certificate or diploma is only an indication of knowledge in the area you have chosen to study. Many recently educated people search for a large salary, but they generally have only a moderate understanding of their career field and little or no training as a true professional.

The facts are simple. When employed, you typically sign an agreement indicating job requirements, work times, vacations, sick days, insurance provisions, and employer expectations.

Many employers have a dress code, a code of ethics, and other provisions you must follow. As an employee, you are an adult who is being paid to make things happen. You are a part of a working machine, but you are not the main wheel that makes it turn. Do your job, do it well, and keep the wheels turning, which is your primary function in an entry-level position.

In becoming a true professional, you need to keep in mind that with the availability of the Internet and other media, that your potential employer can check up on you and in many cases find out more than you want them to know. Facebook, MySpace, blogs, and other social networking areas on the Internet can be very damaging to your career if misused. As with your professional attitude, you need to keep some things private.

Professional network

You do need a professional network, and there are many of them such as LinkedIn or Plaxo that can help you network on a professional level. Now is the time to exhibit responsibilities to yourself and your employer.

In my current role, I am in constant contact with the leaders of the industry, representing some of the most prestigious manufacturing, engineering, architectural, and industrial firms in the world. When discussing the employment of future drafters and designers, I often request information on the reasons one individual is chosen over another when they are equally qualified. The answer is consistent; they employ those who reflect professionalism in all aspects of their individuality and areas of training.

Professional facts

1. You must understand that your education begins after you have achieved your Your credentials only expose you to the knowledge and skills needed to perform the job. Real learning comes from day-to-day experience over many years.
2. Consider the interview process, the interviewer, and the type of company when seeking to Investigate the company and determine what they do, their geographic area, and who owns the company. The company mission and employee expectations should match your goals and objectives.
3. If you are seeking a career, do not take a job just to be Dissatisfaction may show in your work and performance, and it may result in you seeking new employment or being terminated. Employment changes can make it difficult to becoming reemployed. You should always keep a position for two or more years.
4. Leave your attitude at You should show gratitude for your employment. Be proud that this company thinks you have the potential to be a part of its working family. Keep in mind that you are not the owner.
5. Keep your opinion to yourself, focus on your job, and shape your This will bring you more attention and give you more excellent opportunities. Share improvement ideas with your supervisor. Ask if your work is acceptable and if there is anything that you can do better. Accept criticism with modesty.
6. Many co-workers will do anything to advance, which is an unethical fact of survival in This activity can lead to discontent. Remember, you work for your supervisor, your job is to improve the product, produce a product, and increase company profits. Negative actions toward you by co-workers reflect their own inability to carry out their duties.
7. Acting professional is a big part of your new You hold credentials, and with them comes a code of ethics that professionals follow. Here are some guidelines: (1) Be at your workstation, the computer turned on, chair adjusted, and ready to work a few minutes before work time. (2) Take your breaks at the designated. This is when you typically go to the restroom, get a coffee refill, or eat a snack. Work time is for production. (3) Your scheduled lunchtime includes You may find it more convenient to eat at work and have time to relax or do personal things. (4) Quitting time can be exciting, but do not stop early just to be out the door at 5 P.M. sharp. Complete a project and then deliver it to your supervisor if it takes a few minutes. You will have a head start on tomorrow and your career.
8. Dress well for your interview and on the job, providing a professional Men should wear a shirt and tie, jacket, dress pants, and polished leather shoes with laces. Women should wear professional style clothing, fitting to the employment atmosphere. Women should avoid wearing dresses for the interview. Women should wear dress pants or a skirt, blouse, and matching jacket, or a pants suit, and avoid necklines more than four fingers below the high point of your sternum. Patent leather or athletic shoes should not be worn by either sex. Shoes should coordinate with your clothing and should be flats or low heels. Avoid noisy shoes. Wear professional colour such as navy, black, or grey. Do not wear a white, yellow, or chartreuse jacket. Your shirt or blouse should be white, light blue, or a pastel colour. Men should wear a tie that coordinates with the jacket and pants and wear a belt that matches shoe colour. In today’s liberal workforce, unisex clothing is readily available, and some of it looks sharp. However, in the interview process, make sure your clothing is cut to fit your body style. Accessories should be moderate, with no visible necklaces or dangling earrings. Cologne and perfume should be very subdued. For men and women, exposed body piercings in your nose, lips, and tongues and multiple sets of earrings should not be worn at the interview.
9. Personal choices should be used on personal time or when found to be acceptable. Otherwise, you could jeopardize your employment opportunity. Keep in mind, you are applying for a job, and you do not know the preference of the company or the interviewer. The company makes the rules. Do not try to change policy if you want to keep your place. Observe the company dress code, so you know how to dress when you are employed.As a new hire, you should dress conservatively even if you see others are wearing jeans and polo shirts. If every- one wears shirts and ties, you do the same and make sure you have a jacket. Having a jacket or sport coat is good in case you need to attend a meeting. If the job requires you to go to manufacturing or to the field, you should have an appropriate change of clothes or cover-up. Finally, regardless of the dress code, keep a change of clothes in your car and be ready for an emergency dress up or dress down in a few minutes.
10. Self-improvement is a good investment in the job. Research on work, processes, clients, and another project-related issue while on your own time. This can improve your production, broaden your mind, discover new project ideas, find software solutions and production methods, or network with other professionals.
11. Most employment communication is proprietary and should not be discussed with anyone other than your supervisor or involved co-workers. Do not take information from work to home, unless approved by your supervisor.
12. Write personal e-mails and make personal phone calls after work or on your personal cell phone outside the of- fice during break or at lunch. Using company equipment and company time is only for company business.
13. After employment, you need to start preparing for you next move up the career ladder. Your employer may offer educational benefits. If you have access to the Internet at home, you can do webinars and take online training and technical training or expand your formal education. Your new knowledge, ability to speak on the technical subjects, and performance at work indicate your improvement without bragging. Provide information about your expanded learning during your annual reviews.
14. Completion of your education is only one step in the overall progression of your career track. You should seek industry certification with a professional organisation. Certification is based on industry standards and required knowledge at a specific level in the profession, and it is offered by industry organisations who are experts in the field. Certification competencies provide minimum performance and knowledge levels to your employer. Certifications can be related to software, codes, standards, technical writing, and other subjects. Additional training reinforces your abilities and your employability.
15. Keep a work journal as an organisational tool and to improve your growth as a professional. Include specific assignment information, assignment performance, individuals involved, specific times and places related to the assignment, when you go to lunch, change projects, talk to a co-worker about a previous project, or attend a meeting about a new project. Entries made by time and date will stand firm in a challenge. The more you document, the better.
16. While in school and after, you should be a member of any professional organisation that relates to your profession. ADDA and Skills USA offer student memberships for the drafting profession. By being involved in professional associations, you will find a network of professionals who can assist you in every phase of your career path and offer opportunities, advice, and guidance you cannot receive anywhere else. As you leave your school and enter the workforce, you should retain your membership in the professional organisation and become as active as possible.

Most organisations provide you with professionally rewarding volunteer opportunities on committees and groups to assist the profession. As you gain experience, you will see yourself working on projects with little assistance, moving up the corporate steps, being given more responsibility and increased compensation, and having opportunities you hoped for when you were first employed.

Summery

The following summarizes our profession:

Drafting is the foundation and stepping-stone of any aspiring architect and engineer. It is a tedious profession, with days filled with non- stop drawing and making models of designs. It is through this process that one is able to learn to develop new skills and be introduced to styles that can be used as inspiration for personal design preferences in the future. Drafting moulds the builders and designers of the future. Drafting is the profession of the hardworking and the persevering, the patient and the creative, the ambitious and the proud.

Drafting Professional

Australian Design & Drafting Services provide excellent service for CAD Design and  Drafting. Contact Us for more info

Reusability in CADD offers essential benefits. By using CADD, it’s necessary to draw anything more than once. Developing a CADD symbols library enhances the ability to reuse all the content. It built a part of the library for reusability with increased productivity. It decreases the development costs and sets the highest standards for Measurement Documentation.

The parts of the library can reuse 3D isometric parts to create the CADD illustrator. It is saved as symbols in a parts library directory. By pathing the named symbols back into the library directory, the symbol can be accessible to any directory along with drawing file. It allows the CADD illustrator to insert library symbols into the drawing by choosing named symbols from the directory.

The example adds new parts to the library as a disassembled and illustrated product. The part available in the number is later used as its symbol name in the library. Originally, the CADD drawings were merged with the text on the desktop by publishing software and creating technical publications.

The CADD drawings added to the document files are primarily specialised in the technical-publishing software. Also, the entire parts of the library can be used by both CADD and technical-publication software users. We understand the viewpoint of cost management, the parts library that can save hundreds of working hours. From the illustrator’s view, the parts library supports improves productivity and frees time for complex projects.

Reusability in CADD: Design Reuse In Solidworks

For example, “I know that part is here somewhere, also, I think I have saved it in the XXX project folder, oh last year, we designed a similar project. If you’ve come across the same situation and have spent time hunting for previous designs or recreating the same content several times, you’re not alone here. Fortunately, we help you offer powerful capabilities that can minimise the pain and support getting the job done quickly.

Design Library

It includes the box standard using mechanical design content. It uses a windows folder structure to organise and share with co-workers easily. It can easily add content using drawing notes, purchased parts, feature sets, company logos, welding symbols, assemblies, etc.

SOLIDWORKS Toolbox

We have a professional and premium design team. We use thousands of standard hardware components, including washers, gears, o-rings, nuts, bolts, bearings, pins etc. Get fully configured components with all standard sizes and lengths. It can auto-size corresponding features that add BOM details and custom components by using the “Configure Toolbox” wizard.

Integrated SOLIDWORKS Search

Setup all index locations.

Tools > Options > System Options > File Locations placed> Search Paths

Now use, set up options to index and show 3DCC results

Tools > Options > System Options > Search

Use the keyboard shortcut to activate the search

Get free online resources. Use thousands of vendors with configurable and downloadable 3D files. It uses tons of user-uploaded content previews 3D files right in the browser. It uses an integrated SOLIDWORKS search that can drop right into SOLIDWORKS. It comes with mate references that add any part or assembly that can reuse and snap into the position. It adds a circular edge between a cylindrical and planar face to add concentric and coincident mates.

We add references that add name the mate reference and get it to find mating components easily. Use the same name for the mate preference in the mating part. Put into an assembly, and they will snap together like magic.

Smart Components

It allows inserting parts, features, or both. Think about mounting holes and hardware. It uses features that include entire tolerances with simply set-up assembly. It creates an intelligent component by editing the part in the context of the setup assembly. It uses Tools to Make Smart components.

Use helps to insert and position the part in your assembly. Later it can click the smart component icon in the graphics by Inserting Smart Features. Choose what to include in it as we are an excellent ASTCAD company to offer CAD Design and Drafting. Contact Us for more information.

What are Australian drafting standards?

Australian drafting standards exist because industries, schools, and companies establish standards using guidelines and specifying drawing requirements, appearance, techniques, operating procedures, and record-keeping methods.

We, as the best Australian Standards provider company, defines the standard as a set of technical definitions and guidelines. It also includes how-to instructions for designers, manufacturers, and users. Additionally, the standards promote safety, reliability, efficiency and productivity in almost every industry that relies on engineered components or equipment. The standards can be as short as a few paragraphs or hundreds of pages long. Additionally, the experts write them with knowledge and expertise in a particular field that sits on many committees. The Australian Drafting Standards is one or more governmental bodies that adapt and have the force of law.

Drafting standards

The Drafting Standard is considered voluntary because they serve as guidelines. The standards become mandatory when a business contract or regulations incorporate them. It’s crucial for engineering communication as they use a common language, defining quality and establishing safety criteria.

The costs are lower, and the training is simplified, whereas the procedures are standardised. Interchangeability is a critical reason for standardisation. It’s a part manufactured in one location that fits with a mating part manufactured in another location.

The Drawing standards apply primarily used in settings and procedures, including:

CADD file storage, file templates, and other files contain standard file settings and objects for use in new files. Additionally, it covers Units of layout, borders and title, symbols, layers, text, table, dimension, and other drafting styles and plotting.

The company or school drawing standards follow appropriate national industry standards. It varies in content, where the most crucial aspect is used in standards and used by all design and drafting personnel. They follow drawing standards, where drawings are consistent and become more productive.

Australian Drafting Standards

We are an excellent professional engineering organisation for mechanical engineering that use standards Australia publishes. The documents sponsor technical conferences and educational programs, including professional development courses. We are an accredited standard developing organisation that meets the requirements of various codes. Along with this, our standard publishes numerous disciplines. Our drafting standards mainly focus on specific areas of engineering drawing related to practices received through designation.

For discipline-specific symbol conventions, see our guide to Australian electrical drawing symbols under AS/NZS 1102.

ISO Drafting Standards

CADD Skill Standards

The CADD (Computer-Aided Drafting and Design )skill standards help develop and cooperate with the National occupational skill standards. It summarizes CADD occupation skills generic with all CADD disciplines, software, and entry-level.

AS 1100

Taking about AS 1100, It’s an Australian Standard for technical drawing that includes mechanical and architectural designs. AS 1100 standard drawings support attributes that are universal around Australia. The drafting standard publishes them and helps till the last stage.

The standard consists of six parts,

• Part 101: General principles (1992)
• Part 201: Mechanical engineering drawing (1992)
• Part 301: Architectural drawing (2008)
• Part 401: Engineering survey and engineering survey design drawing (1984)
• Part 501: Structural engineering drawing (2002)

You cannot view these without purchasing a licence first.

Acronyms and Abbreviations in Engineering

Welding Symbols Chart

ASTCAD provide excellent service for CAD Design and  Drafting. Contact Us for more info.

Individuals with talent, wisdom, vision, and innovative ideas have influenced the history of engineering drawing. Major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport also greatly influenced the evolution of engineering drawing and had an overpowering effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Recently and more rapidly, computers have become a driving force in the way people create engineering drawings.

Early History of Engineering Drawing

prehistoric humans created images on cave walls and rocks as a form of communication for hunting and gathering societies, to provide ritual or spiritual meaning, and for decoration.

Prehistoric drawings and paintings, known as pictograms, and carvings, known as petroglyphs, show a variety of animals and human shapes. Pictograms and petroglyphs are not engineering drawings, but they do represent early graphic forms of communication. For thousands of years, designers of ancient structures and machines used sketches, drawings, and documents to represent inventions and architecture and help design and distribute information to workers. However, activities such as farming, craft making, and toolmaking, and construction generally followed established standards of the time without the use of formal drawings as a guide. Production was more like a form of art than engineering, and each item was unique.

Early engineering drawings representing machines and buildings appear in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. These drawings were generally in the form of pictorial sketches with written descriptions that helped workers understand the intent of the drawings for fabrication or building. Early engineering drawings served as a reference for craft workers to construct a building or manufacture a product. Craft workers viewed the drawings and written descriptions and made interpretations based on their own experience and knowledge of current standard practices. Specific dimensions were not necessary, because each building or machine was different. Early engineering drawings were also an art form used during presentations to the persons who requested the designs.

Engineering Drawing Pioneers

Most early creators of engineering drawings were artists and inventors. Some of the best-known early engineering drawings are the work of Italian Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo is well known for his art, such as The Last Supper in 1498 and the Mona Lisa in 1507. He was also an inventor who designed machines such as the glider shown in Figure and military equipment such as the giant crossbow. Leonardo’s drawings were those of an artist and were not in the form of engineering drawings. Leonardo’s drawings were pictorial and generally without dimensions. No multiview drawings of Leonardo’s designs are known to exist. Multiview drawings are 2-D drawings of objects organised in views.
Skilled tradespeople worked from the pictorial sketches and representations to construct models of many of Leonardo’s designs. Each machine or device was unique, and parts were not interchangeable. Leonardo was also an early mapmaker. In 1502, Leonardo created a map containing the town plan of Imola, Italy. Authorities commissioned Leonardo as the chief military engineer and architect because of this mapmaking. Arguably, this early work was more artistic than the beginning of engineering drawing, but this work holds a special place in history.

Approximately the same time as Leonardo da Vinci created his drawings, awareness developed that drawings require greater accuracy and dimensions. An early author of architecture and engineering was an Italian man, Leon Battista Alberti. Leon’s writing covered a wide range of subjects, from architecture to town planning and from engineering to the philosophy of beauty. In 1435 and 1436, Leon also wrote two works that explored the need to incorporate more geometry in drawings. Leon also proposed drawings with multiple views rather than the commonly used pictorial drawings. The importance of using multiview two-dimension drawings was also influenced by the development of descriptive geometry in the work of French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes (1596-1650) and the work of Frenchman Gaspard Monge (1746-1818). René was the inventor of the Cartesian coordinate system, and he founded analytic geometry, the link between algebra and geometry. The Cartesian coordinate system uses numerical coordinates to locate points in space according to distances measured in the same unit of length from three intersecting axes. The Cartesian coordinate system is the basis for establishing points when using CADD today.

Gaspard Monge created a large-scale plan of a town using his own methods of observation and instruments that he designed. As a result, authorities commissioned Gaspard as a drafter and pupil in the practical school of the military institution. Given a project to design a proposed fortress, Gaspard used his geometrical method to create the design quickly. Continuing his research, Gaspard arrived at a graphic method of the application of geometry to construction, now called descriptive geometry. Descriptive geometry is the system of graphic geometry that uses plane projections to describe and analyse their properties for engineering drafting applications.

Many early drafters had degrees in engineering and began to realise the importance of creating accurate and detailed engineering drawings. However, much of the drafting was in the form of line drawings, with watercolour paints used to high-light the drawings as shown in the architectural elevation of a home. Drawing continued to be basic line drawings with little dimensioning practice. An example is the early architectural floor plans shown in Figure used to construct a home. Craft workers also followed architectural details such as the gable design shown in Figure. There were few if any dimensions and standards, so each building was similar but different. This practice lasted until the early part of the twentieth century.

Into the late 1800s and early 1900s, inventors, engineers, and builders worked on each product on a one-of-a-kind basis. Manufactures produced parts from hand sketches or hand drawings on blackboards. American engineer and inventor Coleman Sellers, in the manufacture of fire engines, had blackboards with full-size drawings of parts. Blacksmiths formed parts and compared them to the shapes on the blackboards. Coleman Sellers son, George Sellers, recalls lying on his belly using his arms as a radius for curves as his father stood over him direct-ing changes in the sketches until the drawings were satisfactory. Most designs used through the 1800s began as a hand sketches of the objects to be built. Workers then converted the sketches into wooden models from which patterns were constructed. Some companies followed this practice well into the twentieth century. An example is Henry Ford and his famous blackboards. What was new, though, was that the blackboards were also the Henry Ford drafting tables. Henry would sketch cars and parts three-dimensionally and have pattern makers construct full-size wooden models.

The Influence of Interchangeability

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries when major changes took place in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport. The need for interchangeability in manufactured products became important during the Industrial Revolution. Interchangeability refers to parts manufactured identically within given tolerances. interchangeable parts are produced to specifications that make sure they are so nearly identical that they fit into any product for which they are designed. One part can replace another of the same part without custom fitting. Interchangeability allows easy assembly of new products and easier repair of exist- ing products while minimising the time and skill required for assembly and repair.

History of engineering drawing

The application of interchangeability started with the firearms industry. Before the eighteenth century, gunsmiths made guns one at a time, and each gun was unique. If one component of a firearm needed to be replaced, the entire weapon was sent back to the gunsmith for custom repairs or the firearm was discarded. The idea of replacing these methods with a system of interchangeable manufacture gradually developed during the eighteenth century. Interchangeability was not realised except in special examples until the development of the micrometre in the late 1800s; even then, interchangeability was not easy to achieve. Without the concept of interchangeability, accurate drawings were not necessary. After these advances, engineering drawing began to evolve more rapidly in the nineteenth century.

Drafting Practices and Equipment

Early engineering drawings were often works of art and commonly made with ink. Drafters initially drew using a pencil, T-square, triangles, scales, irregular (French) curves, and drawing instruments such as compasses and dividers. Drafting textbooks as late as the fourth edition of this textbook spent pages describing how to sharpen, hold, and properly use pencils to draw quality uniform lines. Drafters often traced original pencil drawings onto cloth using pen and ink. Drafters always paid skilled attention to lettering quality on drawings. Engineering drafters would use a specific lettering style referred to as vertical uppercase Gothic. Architectural drafters used a more artistic style of lettering that defined their drawings as uniquely related to their discipline. Over the years, various templates and other devices were introduced that allowed drafters to produce consistent quality lettering, although most professional drafters preferred to make quality freehand lettering.

Drafters initially created drawings by hand on a drafting table referred to as aboard. An advance in drafting occurred with the introduction of the drafting machine, which replaced the T-square, triangles, scales and protractor for creating drawings. The drafting machine mounts to the table or board and has scales attached to an adjustable head that rotates for drawing angles. When locked in a zero position, the scales allow drawing horizontal and vertical lines and perpendicular lines at any angle orientation. There are arm and track drafting machines. The arm machine has arms attached to a mounting bracket at the top of the table. The arms control the movement of the head. The track machine has a traversing track that mounts to the table and a vertical track that moves along the horizontal track. The machine head traverses vertically on the track as shown in Figure.

Many architectural drafters used a device called a parallel bar, is a long horizontal drafting edge attached to each side of the table that moves up and down on the table. The parallel bar allows the drafter to draw horizontal lines, and triangles are used on the bar to draw angled lines. During the decades after World War II, drafting equipment suppliers introduced a variety of materials to improve the productivity of the drafting process.

Drawing Reproduction

About the same time as interchangeability became important and engineering drawings were evolving, preserving, and duplicating original drawings became important. There was a need to reproduce drawings easily for distribution to manufacturers or builders, so the blueprint process developed. A blueprint is a contact chemical-printing process of a drawing or other image copied on paper with white lines on a blue background. As drawing reproduction evolved, a diazo process that created blue line copies with a white background replaced the blueprint process. Until recently, all drawing reproductions were commonly referred to as blueprints. Today, offices use printers, plotters, and engineering copiers that use xerography to reproduce CADD drawings. The generic term print has replaced the term blueprint.

Computer-Aided Design and Drafting

During the 1980s and 1990s, CADD rapidly became a technology to take seriously. Companies began considering the power of CADD as computer systems and CADD software developed capabilities and features that made them useful in producing professional drawings. Drafters who had used manual drafting for their entire careers had to face the challenge of converting their artistic skill into drawings created using a computer. This was a difficult challenge for many drafters. Soon schools began teaching drafting technology using CADD. This gave the traditional manual drafters an opportunity to learn the new technology and for new trainees to develop CADD knowledge and skills at the entry-level.

In the 1980s, schools started teaching CADD in their curricula by adding a few computers into the traditional manual drafting program. Eventually, half of the typical classroom was equipped with traditional drafting tables and the other half was CADD workstations, or the school would open a separate CADD lab to teach courses. This plan closely paralleled what was happening in the industry for those companies that were taking CADD seriously. By the 1990s, many schools and companies were starting to make the complete transition to CADD by replacing manual drafting tables with CADD workstations. Today, CADD accounts for almost all design and drafting. The figure shows a 3-D model of an aeroplane engine, which demonstrates the power of CADD for designing products.

ASTCAD provide excellent service for CAD Design and  Drafting. Contact Us for more info.