The Need For Mechanical Drafting Training

Mechanical Drawing is an important art and craft in the today’s mechanized world. So much so that it would be difficult to over estimate its importance. Without it, civilized life as know it now would very quickly come to a standstill. In this electronic and mechanical age, it has become indispensable as part of our industrialized system. It has the position, apart from its connection with theoretical mechanics, as a necessary feature in our economic production. Indirect or made by memory production methods are no longer commercially feasible. Every important piece of machinery or fixture or begins on paper or in a CAD program, and the accuracy and completeness of what a drawing shows of a mechanism depends on the craft of mechanical drafting.

A good mechanical drawing is in itself a powerful aide in design. In addition to its main goal as an accurate depiction of the ideas of the designer, it also is a practical test of the practicality of the functions of the parts drawn. A large part of ordinary machine design, where rigidity and practicality are what you want to end up with, is produced by the showing of the drawing (object) only. No complex mechanism can be designed and produced with complete accuracy without the help of a top notch mechanical drawing.

Scale drawings, while mainly intended for producing representations of structures in readable sizes for drawing, handling and storing, are also necessary to the properly proportioned design of all objects that if drawn in their natural size, are too large or too small to be completely seen by the naked eye. This is especially true where there is little or no graphic information for mathematical calculations.

The information needed for mechanical production demands an accurate drawing, displayed and explained by understandable and uniform methods, which are common knowledge to all who deal with the subject’s construction. Collectively, these constitute an important and invaluable skill, apart from any connection with abstract science, a skill which has to be acquired by plenty of work, care and diligence. This is most readily accomplished by making it a separate study in the early stages of drafting training; and that period is most needed, also, because this kind of skill is a powerful help to the progress of every other branch of vocational training or study that is involved in this type of work.

It should also be noted that, although special aptitude to draw is always a valuable asset, it is not a substitute for the necessity of studying and practicing drafting conventions, and that it is really necessary to go through a good training course in this field.

The author, Tim Davis, has built a very complete course in Mechanical Drafting at http://draftingservice.us/m101.