Friday, January 30, 2009

Announcing a NEW Online Drafting School

PCIM has just opened a drafting school which can be taken online at http://101info.org. Courses include Residential Architecture, Mechanical and Machine Drawing, and Remodeling. These courses were built by a fully trained drafter with over 30 years experience.

Courses Under Construction
* Sectional Drawings for Residential Architecture (Will be online by the end of February, 2009)
* Remodeling Drawings (Will be online by the end of February, 2009)
* Manual Drafting Tools and Their Uses (Will be online by the end of February, 2009)
* Patent Drawings 101 (Will be online by the end of February, 2009)
* Survey Drafting 101 (Will be online by the end of March, 2009)
* Drawing a Straw Bale House (Will be online by the end of April, 2009)

Future Courses by 2010
* Basic CAD Drafting
* Drafting History
* Architectural Design
* Historical and Archeological Reconstruction Drawings
* Automotive Drafting
* Electronic Drawings
* Plumbing and HVAC Drafting
* CSI ~ Crime Scene Reconstruction Drawings

Tuition is paid by donation. In other words, pay what you can. Proceeds will go to The Parsons Corner Internet Ministries which includes:
Food pantry, clothing locker, & furniture storage for those in need at their local office in Athens, Tennessee. Payment for Web Space and Advertisement for the Ministry and its support functions. Computer equipment for the continuing of the ministry over the internet. Love Offerings to various evangelists contributing to and supporting the cause of PCIM in the name of Christ Jesus. Make donations, tithes, and offerings to local charities, food drives, relief efforts, & our supporting Church body. Missionary support to various missionaries around the globe. This includes monetary as well as tech support for their web communication and site needs.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Letter from a "How to turn a barn into a home" reader

Tim,
I really like your book. (How to turn a barn into a home) It's well written and easy to understand. I feel it will be VERY helpful to me when I begin to develop my barn building. Yours was much more primitive so I feel like mine will be a bit easier.

It was only 1 yr old when I bought it and it's a large barn-shaped tin building which, I am told will be practically maintenance free....only needing a wash now and again. The downstairs area already has a full bathroom in working condition and wiring is in place. I am a weaver and have 3 floor looms so the downstairs area will be an open floor plan with no walls, maybe a fireplace and an area for tv and maybe a small section for a spare bedroom.

The back of the barn will remain as a workshop and storage. You know how much room there is down there from your own experience. Currently, I live in the loft which was finished off and enclosed as an apartment type living space of 800 sq ft. which suits me and my collie, Cool Hand Luke, just fine for now. This will be a big project for me but I look forward to it with enthusiasm. I was fortunate enough to find a contractor living down the road from me and he offers to do all, a piece at the time or just give me free advise if need be.

A lot of the worst part is done for me but I already see many answers to my questions in your ebook so thank you very much for writing it!
All the best,
Joy

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Received Text Ebooks Directory Question

Q. I'm on the page http://receivedtext.org/sub.htm where you allow free ebook submissions to be listed on your site. I'm wondering, I have several ebooks to submit. Most are free and some are for a minimal charge. Can I just email a list to you instead of submitting each one on your form?

A. Sure I have no problem with that. Just make sure that each one is list like as follows:

Ebook Name
Your Name
Short Ebook Description
Optional Long Ebook Description, max 300 Words
Ebook URL (Sales Page)
URL To Your Book Cover
Price Or Note If It's Free
Category Or Category Suggestion
Comments

Tim
http://receivedtext.org

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Drafting Lessons Conversation from 101 Info Dot Org Student Message Board

Student 1031
I took the drafting board lesson called Drawing a Simple Floor Plan on a Drafting Board and it was wonderful and made something difficult simple. I see that you have other lessons online for architecture. Do you have any other drafting courses?

Tim
Sure do. Matter of fact I have a mechanical drafting, a machine drafting course, a course on turning a barn into a home, and a course on industrial layout. These are all being combined into an online drafting school at http://101info.org.

Student 1031
Are you planning to make other drafting / drawing courses?

Tim
Yep! I have several classes in the works right now at that URL. The courses I have under construction are Patent Drawings 101 where I teach you to prepare illustrations necessary to apply for a patent, Survey Drafting 101 where I teach students how to draw plats and site plans, Drawing a Straw Bale House where I describe the elements of designing a home built with straw bales.

There are plans for classes where you can learn Drafting History, Architectural Design, Historical and Archeological Reconstruction Drawings, Automotive Drafting, Electronic Drawings, and Plumbing and HVAC Drafting. I'm also a police chaplain and just finished a course through the FBI on Crimes Scene Investigation where I learned to do Crime Scene Reconstruction Drawings. I'll be building a course on that.

Student 1031
Are you charging for each class individually?

Tim
No, all these classes will be under one tuition. I have it set at whatever the student can donate for all classes available in one package on the 101info.org site, but students will be able to continue to register for the individual courses.