In spite of having used CAD programs for many years (TurboCAD is my most
recent tool, and let's not have this degrade into a Sketchup war, shall
we?) I still resort to (and enjoy!) using pencil and paper for many of
my design activities.  I used my Dad's drafting board, T-square, and
triangles for many years, and I still have fond, fond memories of taking
drafting class in high school, one of the two most useful classes I ever
took (typing being the second; and man was that Mrs. Utz a hottie!).
Unfortunately, I no longer have a decent drafting table, the T-square is
long gone, and all I have left are a few triangles and my drafting
pencils and a sharpener.  I'd like to rectify that, but then again ever
since taking drafting class I always had a hankering for one of those
fancy drafting machines (like this guy:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zeichenmaschine.jpg).  Does anybody
own one?  There are lots of them for sale on eBay; any recommendations?

--
If it ain't perfect, improve it...
But don't break it while you're fixin' it!
To reply, eat the taco.http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/

There are lots of them for sale on eBay; any recommendations?

In spite of having used CAD programs for many years (TurboCAD is my most
recent tool, and let's not have this degrade into a Sketchup war, shall
we?) I still resort to (and enjoy!) using pencil and paper for many of
my design activities. I used my Dad's drafting board, T-square, and
triangles for many years, and I still have fond, fond memories of taking
drafting class in high school, one of the two most useful classes I ever
took (typing being the second; and man was that Mrs. Utz a hottie!).
Unfortunately, I no longer have a decent drafting table, the T-square is
long gone, and all I have left are a few triangles and my drafting
pencils and a sharpener. I'd like to rectify that, but then again ever
since taking drafting class I always had a hankering for one of those
fancy drafting machines (like this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zeichenmaschine.jpg). Does anybody
own one? There are lots of them for sale on eBay; any recommendations?

On Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:42:17 -0500, Steve Turner
bbqboyee at (no spam) swtacobell.net.invalid> wrote:

In spite of having used CAD programs for many years (TurboCAD is my
most recent tool, and let's not have this degrade into a Sketchup
war, shall we?) I still resort to (and enjoy!) using pencil and
paper for many of my design activities. I used my Dad's drafting
board, T-square, and triangles for many years, and I still have
fond, fond memories of taking drafting class in high school, one of
the two most useful classes I ever took (typing being the second;
and man was that Mrs. Utz a hottie!). Unfortunately, I no longer
have a decent drafting table, the T-square is long gone, and all I
have left are a few triangles and my drafting pencils and a
sharpener. I'd like to rectify that, but then again ever since
taking drafting class I always had a hankering for one of those
fancy drafting machines (like this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zeichenmaschine.jpg). Does
anybody own one? There are lots of them for sale on eBay; any
recommendations?

We used Vemco drafting machines at Caterpillar until the early 80's
when the digital age was upon us. I would highly recommend Vemco.

An example of this is I start to make a sketch of a chair. Then I build a
prototype.
Once I am happy with the prototype I take all the dimensions and make an
ass'y
and detailed drawings. This way I can make some jig and fixture to make
more than
one chair.

"Scott Lurndal" <scott at (no spam) slp53.sl.home> wrote in message
news:irnEm.32066$eJ2.5118 at (no spam) news.usenetserver.com...
Steve Turner <bbqboyee at (no spam) swtacobell.net.invalid> writes:
In spite of having used CAD programs for many years (TurboCAD is my
most recent tool, and let's not have this degrade into a Sketchup
war, shall we?) I still resort to (and enjoy!) using pencil and
paper for many of my design activities. I used my Dad's drafting
board, T-square, and triangles for many years, and I still have
fond, fond memories of taking drafting class in high school, one of
the two most useful classes I ever took (typing being the second;
and man was that Mrs. Utz a hottie!). Unfortunately, I no longer
have a decent drafting table, the T-square is long gone, and all I
have left are a few triangles and my drafting pencils and a
sharpener. I'd like to rectify that, but then again ever since
taking drafting class I always had a hankering for one of those
fancy drafting machines (like this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zeichenmaschine.jpg). Does
anybody own one? There are lots of them for sale on eBay; any
recommendations?

I tend to prefer the parallel-bar[*] tables myself. However, mine
has been
relegated to the Attic since it takes up too much floor space for the
small
amount of time that it actually got used.

scott

[*] Cords on both sides of the reference bar allow it to move
vertically on the table while remaining parallel.

The ancestor of that corded parallel bar is the heavy weight cordless
brass
bar. It was equipped with a low profile gear at each end. The two
gears
would maintain the parallelism of the bar. It was the first tool
that I
used as an apprentice draftsman. Then we progressed to much better
tools
not to mention CAD.

Today they make a plastic rolling-paralleled rule that is very good
for
small shop drawing and navigation.

See the following link for better details



http://www.draftingsteals.com/catalog-drafting---drawing-aides-rolling-paralellel-rulers.html

Today they make a plastic rolling-paralleled rule that is very good
for
small shop drawing and navigation.

Looks like you had the proper training. Many engineering firms had
young graduated engineer working two years on the drafting board
before having project of their own.

Denis M wrote:

I do not like the folding parallel rule but I still use them for
small drawings and navigation.

I just used triangles.

The chart table (24"X24") on my sailboat is too small to accommodate
regular
size chart.

What do you sail and where?

Lew

"J. Clarke" <jclarke.usenet at (no spam) cox.net> wrote in message
news:hbtqi702lup at (no spam) news1.newsguy.com...
Denis M wrote:
"Scott Lurndal" <scott at (no spam) slp53.sl.home> wrote in message
news:irnEm.32066$eJ2.5118 at (no spam) news.usenetserver.com...
Steve Turner <bbqboyee at (no spam) swtacobell.net.invalid> writes:
In spite of having used CAD programs for many years (TurboCAD is my
most recent tool, and let's not have this degrade into a Sketchup
war, shall we?) I still resort to (and enjoy!) using pencil and
paper for many of my design activities. I used my Dad's drafting
board, T-square, and triangles for many years, and I still have
fond, fond memories of taking drafting class in high school, one of
the two most useful classes I ever took (typing being the second;
and man was that Mrs. Utz a hottie!). Unfortunately, I no longer
have a decent drafting table, the T-square is long gone, and all I
have left are a few triangles and my drafting pencils and a
sharpener. I'd like to rectify that, but then again ever since
taking drafting class I always had a hankering for one of those
fancy drafting machines (like this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zeichenmaschine.jpg). Does
anybody own one? There are lots of them for sale on eBay; any
recommendations?
I tend to prefer the parallel-bar[*] tables myself. However, mine
has been
relegated to the Attic since it takes up too much floor space for the
small
amount of time that it actually got used.

scott

[*] Cords on both sides of the reference bar allow it to move
vertically on the table while remaining parallel.
The ancestor of that corded parallel bar is the heavy weight cordless
brass
bar. It was equipped with a low profile gear at each end. The two
gears
would maintain the parallelism of the bar. It was the first tool
that I
used as an apprentice draftsman. Then we progressed to much better
tools
not to mention CAD.
I'm really surprised that they would have started you out with that
instead
of T-square and angles.

Today they make a plastic rolling-paralleled rule that is very good
for
small shop drawing and navigation.

See the following link for better details



http://www.draftingsteals.com/catalog-drafting---drawing-aides-rolling-paralellel-rulers.html
Not the same thing at all. The corded bar provides a horizontal
reference,
the rolling rules don't provide a reference, they just allow a line at a
given angle to be transferred or repeated.

Personally I don't see what the things with wheels bring to the show that
the parallelogram type doesn't.

Drafting/Technical school of that day would start you on a classroom
drafting board about 18" X 24" and 36" X 24".

Those boards were only suitable for A, B, and C sizes drawing sheet (i.e.
8½" X 11", 11" X 17" and 17" X 22"). A 24 inches T and small squares were
adequate enough.

(The one I have now is 36 inches long)

However the Ship building and Aircraft industries required layouts and
assembly drawings larger than E size drawing (34"X 44"). At that time,
corded parallel bar and T square were not adequate for an 8 foot long
drafting table. Not to mention that most of the time piles of reference
drawings were stacked at one end of the table.