Becoming a Drafter

Before every product, building, or anything else manufactured or built is completed, drawings and models made by someone using the skills taught in drafting courses are created. Every consumer product we use and every building we live or work in started out as a design. And every design had to be represented by a drawing in order for the people who constructed the end product would know how to make it. This is true for toys, furniture, electronics, etc...

In a drafting course, you'll not only learn to draw plans on paper, You will also learn how to use CAD programs on computers. With Computer Aided Drafting programs, you can make changes and add detail to plans very quickly and with an accuracy that can't be accomplished on a drafting board. With the CAD you can also make realistic 3D images or models that make it easier to understand the drawings you create in 2D.

You also have to learn one or more of the fields that use drawings. For example, some courses specialize in residential or commercial architectural drafting. With this type of drafting course, you would also study architectural terms and the problems of design and engineering that architects and designers have to deal with. You would also learn how to do an estimate for building materials from the details that you have drawn. Not to mention how to generate renderings of the proposed finished buildings in three dimensions called a rendering.

As a survey drafter, you would learn the needed mathematics and drawing techniques to draw boundaries and topography of a piece of property. How to research deeds and plats at the courthouse and interpret the field notes of the surveyors who go out and get the raw data you need.

When learning mechanical drawing or drafting, you study the mechanics of materials, industrial products and manufacturing systems, furniture construction, structural parts of engines, Heating, venting, and air-conditioning systems, plant layout, etc.

Learn these online in a fraction of the time it would take to learn it at vocational schools. Please go to http://drafting101.com/ for more information on learning to be a drafter.

A Course in Mechanical Drafting

Taking a course in mechanical drafting is not one of the easiest endeavors. A student needs to develop a discipline over the way he or she looks at things. They also need to develop a constructive way of thinking so that the student can think in a mechanical way. Not only this but they need to be trained to be able to communicate graphically so that the intentions of an idea, process, or item are understood without question in a fabrication or machine shop.

Mathematics are a major part of the learning process. In this field of drafting, some of those math classes you took in high school will actually seem like a necessary skill to have once you start your studies. Calculations of material stresses and deflection, calculations of material density and volume, sheering, load tables, etc. are only a few of the things a student will have to learn.

The student has to get a working knowledge of the fundamental operations and conventions of mechanical drawings from lettering and calculations, to the lay out of the work and so on in order that the completed sheet or sheets of drawings reflect a well arranged and clearly executed finished drawing. In the making of working drawings, it is often very difficult for the novice because of its conventional character of the work.

In today's engineering drafting offices, the student will need to be able to work on a CAD system. CAD is short for Computer Aided Drafting. In other words, it is a drafting board in a computer. And before a CAD system is learned it is always best to learn how to draw on a drafting board. Manual drafting may be a disappearing discipline but in my mind as a teacher it is indispensable.

As I said, it isn't the easiest career to learn. But like anything you have to learn to do, once you get past the basics it can become second nature to you. It is a high paying however and good pay means a more comfortable life. With enough determination, you too can do it. I did...

My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural and mechanical plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw house plans, site plans, mechanical and shop drawings and other types of drafting that I have been trained to do in a virtual classroom on the internet called Drafting 101 at http://drafting101.com/

A Queen Anne House

A Queen Anne House
 

Design Examples in Classic Vintage Architecture
 

The design shown in the following drawings is a good example of a country residence in the Queen Anne style home. It's suitable for a family with a little extra money to spend. Building it requires a minimum lot measuring about fifty to seventy-five feet on the front. The basement is around nine feet in height, and extends under every part of the house except the parlor. The area, foundation walls, and chimneys, are of poured concrete or masonry block and are supported on a twenty four inch wide by eight to ten inch deep steel reinforced concrete footing.

The tops of the chimneys and the foundation walls which are about three feet above the grade line, are veneered in red brick. The bottom of the cellar (basement) is concreted four inches deep and reinforced. The basement doorway, window sills, and outside basement steps, are blue stone set in the masonry. The first story is ten feet in height, and contains a kitchen, dining-room, library, parlor, a large hall, and a sufficient number of closets and pantries.
 

The second story is nine feet in height, and contains five chambers (bedrooms), each with a closet, and a separate bathroom. The attic contains two bedrooms of good size, and a storeroom. The flues in the chimneys are built separate and continuously to the top, with clay thimbles or metal flues set in the brick-work where directed on the plans. The fire-places in the parlor and dining room have open grates, and mantels to match the ornate woodwork of these two rooms, and have tile facings, and hearths of selected patterns.

The frame of the building is of solid, seasoned spruce or southern yellow pine, of the following dimensions: girders, six by eight inches; sills, four by eight inches; floor beams, two by ten inches; headers and trimmers, four by ten inches; attic ceiling beams, two by six inches; outside studding, three by four inches; door and window studding, four by four inches; inside studding, two by four inches ; rafters, two by six inches; hips and valleys, three by eight inches; plates, four by six inches; veranda sills, four by six inches; veranda plates, four by six inches; veranda rafters, three .by five inches; veranda beams, three by six inches; veranda ceiling beams, two by four inches; balcony posts, six by six inches; bridging timber, two by two inches.

The studding and floor beams are placed sixteen inches from centers, all strongly bridged. The exterior of the building is sheathed with dry, tongue and grooved, mill-worked spruce, driven tightly together, and securely nailed to each stud. The side walls of the lower story are covered with dry, clear white pine, and beveled siding. The side walls of the second story are shingled with best quality white pine or cedar shingles, and the roofs are slated with good quality black slate, put on with galvanized iron nails. The main ridge is surmounted with a terra cotta cresting. The finial on the tower is of galvanized steel.
 

The basement window frames are of plank, with casement sash, which are glazed with single-thick glass. All other windows have one and one-eighth inch jambs, and two inch rabbeted sills, with one and one-eighth inch blind hanging stiles, all of dry white pine, free from knots or blemishes. The sashes are one and one-half inch in thickness, glazed with double-thick French glass, and balanced with cast-iron weights, and brown hempen cord. Outside blinds to all windows except basement and attic. The front door is veneered with oak, is two inches thick, with five raised panels, molded both sides. The doors in the attic are one and one-quarter inch thick, with four plain panels. The "outside" basement door is built of tongued and grooved white pine, securely nailed to strong cleats with wrought iron clinch nails. All other doors are of white pine, one and one-half inch thick, five-paneled, and molded both sides. The veranda and balcony posts, outside door and window casings, railings, steps, belt courses, gutters, corner boards, etc., are of dry, sound white pine, with all the necessary moldings. The floors of the first and second stories are of kiln-dried yellow pine; veranda and balcony floors are of white pine, laid in paint; attic floor of spruce, all well driven together, and blind nailed to each bearing. The balcony floor is covered with sheet lead, and made water tight. The architraves and wainscoting in kitchen and pantry are of yellow pine.

The architraves (main beam resting across the tops of columns), skirting boards and panel backs in dining-room and hall are of oak; in the library of cedar; in the parlor of white pine, stained to look like mahogany. The bath-room is fitted in white ash, finished with a coat of wood filler, and two coats of wood preservative, rubbed smooth with pumice stone and oil. All other inside wood-work of white pine, painted three coats as directed. The stairs to the basement are built of dimensional lumber in the usual way. Main stairs of oak, with turned newels and balusters, properly filled and polished. The pantry is fitted with shelves, and all closets with wardrobe hooks and upper shelves, as directed on the plans. Hard wood saddles are placed under all doors, and rubber tipped door-stops are attached to the bases. The front dining-room, library and parlor doors, have bronze knobs, butts, roses, drops, and escutcheons, and bronze-faced mortise locks. The attic doors have brown mineral knobs, and black iron butts, roses, drops, and escutcheons, and ordinary rim locks. All other doors have black porcelain knobs, roses, drops, and escutcheons (A flat piece of metal for protection and often ornamentation, around a keyhole, door handle, or light switch), black iron butts, and brass-faced mortise locks. Bronze sash locks for the dining-room, hall, and library. Bronzed iron sash locks for other windows. A gong bell with all the required attachments, is placed in the front hall. All exterior tin work, iron and woodwork has three coats of a hardy enamel paint.

The small moldings and narrow projections of the cornices, which are some of the characteristic features of the Queen Anne style, give a building an unsatisfactory appearance without a proper selection and combination of colors, and a proper use of materials. Great care should be exercised in deciding which colors are used. Shades of warm browns are always pleasing, and suggest hospitality and comfort.

Tim Davis is a seasoned architectural designer with over 30 years experience. If you wish to have him design your own Queen Anne home, go to http://customhouseplans.8m.com. He also teaches residential architectural drafting online at http://homedesign.8m.com. One of the courses he's offering is called Vintage House Plans 101 at http://drafting101.com/vintage/ where he teaches students how to draw these classic homes in their preserved styles.

Barn to Home Conversion How-To

Converting a Barn into a Home, online course. Donations are welcome: http://drafting101.com/barnhome/

Step by step instructions on how to convert a Barn into a Home.

What the Drafter/Draftsman Should Know

When studying mechanical drawing, it's important to know what is involved in becoming a designer or drafter who, instead of just making drawings of the plans of others, is just as able to do original work themselves. To begin with, the ability to originate or make improvements on plans and designs can be developed by studying what others have done in this field. It often happens that the way we operate one device can be applied to some other devices which are used for a completely different purpose. This way, the original idea is made more useful because it's used for more than one purpose.

While this really isn't original work so to speak, the fact is that very few mechanical appliances are totally thought up by one person. Also, it may not always be a good idea in machine design to attempt to be entirely original but apply what's known with all certainty to be sound in theory and in practice. This doesn't mean that the inventor or designer should not think for themselves or that they should deliberately borrow the ideas of others, but simply that they should proceed with caution when attempting to improve or change entirely some commonly accepted method or principle which has been completely tested in practice.

The drafter whose work isn't limited simply to drawing lines on paper, has to have a working knowledge of mechanical principles, the various known methods of creating and modifying motion, and how to make the parts of tools and machines the right size so that they can resist the stresses they're going to be subjected to. Many failed designs have been the direct result of ignorance of basic mechanical principles.

Another requirement is a good knowledge of the art of drawing. For a drafter to be successful in their field, they must know more than how to make mechanical drawings. Nevertheless this is a major part of their work, because drawings that don't clearly represent the object drawn are bad news in the fabrication shop and will probably cause serious mistakes. Delays in the machine or wood shop are often caused by poor drawings that are lacking in things like dimensions, or the arrangement and number of the views, or in some other respect.

Therefore, a good education in this field is totally necessary for industry to produce the products we use today. Sure, CAD programs have made life easier producing more accurate drawings than ever before, but if we put a lack of knowledge in, the end result is a lack of knowledge coming out.

About the Author

Tim Davis is the author of Mechanical Drafting 101 at http://draftingservice.us/m101/ which is a very complete course in mechanical drawing.

Magnet Motor Cooperative

Are you interested in participating in the free energy movement? There are many who are experimenting with Magnetic motors to make this free energy dream a reality. Please go to the Magnetic Motors Discussion Board at http://maginvent.com/forum/ to find out more.

Starting a Drafting Service

Once you receive the necessary education from either a good technical school or from apprenticeship under a professional designer, drafter, architect, or engineer, many people venture out to open their own drafting office. You need to make sure that you have enough training and expertise to go out on your own. Technical drawing is a highly specialized field, and if practiced poorly can injure your reputation as a professional and your personal credibility.

With science and technology the way it is today, very few people complete drawings using a drafting or drawing board, thanks to the advent of computer generated drawings using a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) program. A well designed CAD program not only makes it easier to open an office but also makes it much less expensive because of their ease of use and accuracy. Most drafting offices can be run out of your living room or den with nothing more than a laptop or desktop computer and a professional CAD program. There are however certain other considerations before going into this type of business.

One of these would be the needed library of reference books that are not available online. This would be books like "Architectural Graphic Standards" or "ANSI Standards for Mechanical Drawing", although certain portions of both of these books are available on line on the Internet. If you are doing architecture, a good selection of plan books would be a handy resource. Not to copy from however, that would be a bad thing, but as a fresh source of ideas you can suggest to your clients.

A good electronic symbols library for your CAD would be great too. This saves time, which is precious by the way, to not have to re-draw the same thing over and over. There are several websites offering them for sale and a few free download sites also.
Another thing would be a web site presence where you can advertise your services and also display drawings at certain stages to your client from the comfort of their home. I've been using this process for at least ten years and the clients love it. They have access to their drawings any time of day or night. And instead of waiting on the mail, the changes you make to their drawings can be reviewed almost instantly after you upload them.

You might also consider talking to your local insurance agent about some sort of malpractice insurance. Better safe than sorry. And with any new businesses it is always good to hire a bookkeeper to help you keep up with your taxes.

If you want to learn to draw mechanical drawings, including survey, and architectural, go to http://maginvent.com and learn online.