Engineering Drawing basics: Things to know

If you are an Engineer, then the term engineering drawing is not new for you. It is visual form to communicate the thought from one to another. If you are an Engineer, Engineering professional or Designer then you are expected to understand the drawings. It is an integral part of the engineering course and all other Engineering syllabus revolves around the drawings.
In this section I have provided you some of the important information which may help you to understand engineering drawing basics.

Engineering drawing Basics

To get complete information about the engineering drawing basics, I would refer you few of the best books which are useful for Engineering students, professionals and Engineers.

Book Title	Author	Book Description
Engineering Drawing	Basant Agarwal	First year student For all Engineering Branches
Engineering Graphics	B. Bhattacharyya	Helpful book to learn read and interpret the drawings.
Engineering drawing with worked examples	Maurice Arthur Parker, Fred Pickup	This is useful to learn basic engineering drawing concepts.
Engineering drawings and Graphics	K. Venugopal	Useful to understand the basic principal of technical drawings.
Engineering drawing	M. B. Shah, Shah / Rana, B. C. Rana	Helpful to understand engineering drawing.

Engineering drawing software

You can use many types of engineering software as per your requirements but most popular software is AutoCAD in the list of top Engineering drawing software.
AutoCAD flagship product of Autodesk is a software application for drawing, drafting and computer aided design (CAD). It was released in the year 1982 and became one of the powerful  drawing tool between the engineering professionals. Moreover AutoCAD supports 2d and 3d drafting format, and 3D drawing makes it more popular for people who can not understand technical drawing easily.

Engineering Drawing Sheet Size

The sheet size of the Engineering drawing is standard in A series. Basic size of A0 drawing is approximate 1 square meter and similarly half size of each drawing sheet will represent next drawing sheet size. Isn’t it simple!

Drawing Sheet characteristics	Drawing Sheet Size ( Breadth X Length )	Drawing Sheet Size ( Approximate Area )
A0	1189 X 841	1 Square Meter
A1	841 x 594	.50 Square Meter
A2	594 x 420	.25 Square Meter
A3	420 x 297	.125 Square Meter
A4	297 x 210	.0625 Square Meter
A5	210 x 148	.03125 Square Meter
A6	148 x 105	.0156 Square Meter

Engineering drawing tools

You could not draft a drawing without having appropriate Engineering drawing tools few years ago, but today scenario has completely changed. Now you can use many of engineering drawing software to create highly precise drawings.Though, engineering drawing tools still exist in this world as Engineering colleges only allow hand made drawing practices in Engineering course. I have a list of few of the important professional engineering drawing tools which may help you to draft a engineering / technical drawing;

1. Drafting compass and dividers
2. Drawing Boards
3. Engineers drafter
4. Engineers Scale
5. Protectors
6. Drafting triangle
7. Parallel ruler
8. Parallel gliders
9. Pencil – HB, 2H, 3H
10. Drawing Pins

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