Engineering Drawing Help Needed

Apparently you seem to be lacking an engineering background.

Once you have knowledge on the subject then it is not difficult to do the required calculations.

One option is to go through the basic engineering drawing books which will provide you a conception of how things look like when viewed from different angles and how to form a 3d image in your mind of various things from such views.

Another option is to get help from any engineer in your area to teach you the drawing basics after which you may be able to study them and calculate the necessary items.

milanki

start studing first symbols & legents , meaning of different types of lines ,this you can find in index drawing. once you will aware you can go ahead easy.

If you're talking about 3D CAD then the information on size, volume and (assuming density has been entered) the mass should be available from the model. As to what type - look at the material for a clue. Also look for flat pattern shepes on sheet metal parts; split lines, gate manifests, drafting and ejector pin marks on mouldings, surface finish information on machined parts. You should soon get the hang of it!

milanki,

I am curious to know how you ended up in an engineering environment without being able to understand a drawing. Is it that you are just starting out and have as yet never come across technical drawings or was you training as an engineer lacking?

On a separate but related track engineers seem to have an in built ability to comprehend a technical drawing and intuitively see the object being drawn in their head. On the other hand there are people like my wife who have absolutely no comprehension of what a technical drawing represents and can't discriminate between a technical drawing and a child's scribbling.

I am curious to know do the other engineers, like me, seem to instinctively understand a technical drawing or is it a learnt skill that has become so entrenched that there is no way to separate it from basic language skills? Also how common are people that haven't got a clue about what technical drawings represent, are the few and far between or is it just us engineers that can understand them?

If you go into your CAD help section, it should point you in the right direction in determining weights, type, inc. I have been using CAD now for 13 yrs, and still go into help for various items.

masu, I think that being able to see in 3D and comprehend a technical drawing is a natural trait. I am not sure if one can be taught this, but I may be wrong. I am a Design/Mechanical Engineer and all the engineers I have met have had this ability. But before being an Engineer I was a carpenter, I could see things built before it was. Those working with me could not for the most part. I would have to sketch it out to help them see the final product.

I believe that if one has a hard time seeing and interpreting drawings, they are in the wrong field of work. A good example is our QA manager here. He is book smart, sigma six, etc. Everything a QA manager should be, but at times he can't comprehend technical drawings, develop nominals, or understand problems due to stacked tolerances. One would have to sit down with him and pretty much draw it all out for him to understand.

Some people may have your ability to "see" and comprehend a technical drawing without training. But when I was in school, technical drawing was part of my engineering education. And in that class, we were taught how to look at the drawing and form the picture in our mind. Perhaps the original poster slip this class or maybe it wasn't require where he's from?? Or perhaps the poster isn't an engineer by trade and was just toss into the position where he is required to read a blueprint or drawing??

MidniteFighter

Some people may have your ability to "see" and comprehend a technical drawing without training. But when I was in school, technical drawing was part of my engineering education.

I too studied technical drawing at high school and enjoyed it immensely. During the two final years of high school we had a subject called industrial arts that covered just about everything to do with engineering and took the technical drawing part up to conical sections, transmission pieces and development of solid shapes. It was a great subject and gave you a good grounding in engineering touching an all the different facets and giving you a feel for the whole thing.

I'm pretty sure though that when you first saw a technical drawing you had some sort of idea what it meant even before you studied the subject at school.

You also mentioned the tem BLUE PINT and I would hazard to say that most engineers today would never have actually seen a blue print let alone know why they are called that.

For those that don't know why we call plans blue prints it goes back to the way copies of the master drawings were made. When a draftsman did a drawing the initial drawing and construction lines would be done on paper with pencil in much the same way most would have been taught at school. When the drawing was completed it would then be handed over to a tracer who would trace the pencil drawing onto a semi transparent piece of paper using ink. Originally this paper was a specially treated linen but this was later replaced with synthetic film in the early 1970s. Once the drawing was traced onto the transparency the working copies were made by placing the transparency on top of a piece of light sensitive paper that when exposed to light and developed turned blue. The final product was a blue sheet of paper with a negative impression of the original drawing shown in white. Since the drawings were predominantly blue with white lines they were called blue prints.

I havn't seen blue prints ever used as the technology was replaced by a system that produced a positive copy of the transparency long before I started engineering but the term has stuck. The only time I have ever seen a true blue print was in my great grandfathers workshop so that will give you and idea of how old the term actually is.

That's enough trivia for the moment, I just thought people might find the history of the term interesting.

Believe it or not Masu, the company where I work now just had its 100th years anniversary, and some of the prints for the equipment is actually the original blue prints. But with the modern technology, we have the prints scanned into the computer, and the original lock up and stored.

MidniteFighter

You mention basic language skills - go out and get them for yourself! You are proud of your skills to envision objects as they are drawn, we know. It's the explaining and grammar part you struggle with.

And some people are lax when it comes to responding promptly and identifiably.

We will have a better news letter if responses to questions, no matter how seemingly basic they may appear to some, are positive and factual.

I believe that the beginning of my answer was both positive and factual in response to the actual question, however your response was neither positive or factual relative to the actual question. At times in this open forum one question/comment begets another. Sometimes one has to question another's knowledge in a specific field, in order to determine how to best answer that persons original question.

Sorry - Even though this response followed yours, your answer wasn't one I was referring to. My response was phrased positively and intended to be helpful to the overall question and answer process we have going here. Obviously we have to ask / answer questions to have dialogue. There were a couple of responses that appeared critical of the sender. That sort of thing could keep someone who wanted to ask a question from asking, and that would be a shame.

Milanki,

The drawing will provide dimensions of the item and the type of material to determine size and the weight. Although, it is evident that you never took any engineering drawing classes, unfortunately the only way for you to accomplish your objective is to take some drafting classes. I wish I could be of more help, but you need to learn the fundamentals first.

Best of luck to you.

Hi Milanki,

If you enlarge the above jpeg you will see that the physical properties of the tool are displayed to the left. There are different reasons for needing to know the size and weight of a product. If it's for quoting purposes then taking the blank size before machining is fairly easy. Length x width x height (or length x dia.)of raw material before machining and calculate mass divided by cost per pound of the material. If you need more precise information you can still get a ballpark estimate by subtracting the material removed and calculate weight and mass/surface area. The most exciting method is using the vast array of cad programs available and drawing in 3D. The tool above took about 1/2 hr to design and roughly 4 hours practice on the demo software to accomplish. I can now change any parameter to suit requirements for a different tool and spend minutes and have all the engineering data at my fingertips. Do you have example you can share of product you're trying to calculate size and weight for? If so, please forward and I'll see what kind of advice I can give you to arrive at the answers you're seeking.....thanks....Steve

Can you inform is this a sheet metal part or turning part & is it possible to send 3D model of this part.

Please inform how to study a normal engineering drawing and a CAD Drawing of any engineering product and how to know the item type and how to calulate size & weight of the item from the drawing.

I am afraid to say that your question is equivalent to asking how to read and interpret the great works of literature.

An engineering drawing is to an engineer what language and a book are to an author. Being able to understand and interpret engineering drawings is a complex tool that is essential to every engineer. It is something that you must learn and way to complex to be answered in a in a forum such as this and the time available.

I would suggest either getting a good text book on the subject or doing a course on engineering drafting and descriptive geometry. Another thing is not to expect the be able to use any CAD package without having a good understanding of the subject. It is a tool analogous to a drafting board and just as useless if you have no idea of what you are doing.