The Nature and Uses of Mechanical Drafting.

Mechanical drafting or mechanical drawing is the art of making the conventional pictures representing something that has to be constructed which is used by engineers, architects, and inventors in working out and recording the details of their constructive designs, and the means by which ideas of the exact form or shape, dimension, and arrangement of parts in objects of a structural character are universally expressed and made easier to be understood by others.

Mechanical drafting aids constructive work of any kind to be carried on with accuracy and the least amount of time and material, and takes the place of a lengthy verbal description which would fail to express with clearness and exactness the definite information required by the workman.

Certain general peculiarities of the form and structure of an object may be understood from an ordinary pictorial representation, but that it cannot show the exact form, size, and relation of all the lines and surfaces; so the necessity for mechanical drawings which show all hidden as well as visible parts of an object as they are and not as they would appear to the eye.

So then mechanical drafting is the graphic language of the constructive or mechanic arts, and the ability to read and comprehend mechanical drawings is of as great importance to the workman, builder, and manufacturer as the ability to make such representations is to the designer or drafter; and a knowledge of general drafting principles is of value to almost all people irrespective of their vocations.

Because of the exact nature of the facts which it is intended to record or convey the drawing is generally executed with the aid of drafting instruments or a Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) program. The mechanical character of the representation, together with its purpose and the usual means of execution, gives mechanical drafting its name. Machine drafting, architectural drafting, and engineering drafting are specific applications of mechanical drafting. A mechanical drawing properly dimensioned in figures and prepared as a guide in constructing the object is called a working drawing.

If you want to learn to draw mechanical drawings, including survey and architectural, go to http://101info.org and learn online.