A picture showing engineering design before the invention of CAD – manual drafting
requiring many highly trained people that was still prone to mistakes.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-psFExQqLvAc/Xet-oKZdG4I/AAAAAAAATAQ/
LrhkzG5I_do7kVOdQbOMRvniCq0XLobAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Life_before_autocad
%2B%25281%2529.jpg
The invention of CAD software revolutionized both design and drafting for engineers
worldwide.
Before CAD was invented, all design and drawings had to be completed through
manual drafting, using drawing boards, T-squares, rulers, set squares, various grades
of pencils, compasses, templates etc.
This wasn’t an ideal solution not only because the engineers had to be able to imagine
and visualize the components in great detail, but also be able to transfer it onto paper
perfectly, since otherwise the drawing would be very likely scraped and started over.
The papers were in various types and sizes, and sometimes the engineers would have
to roll the ends up to be able to work on a section at a time.
All of this took a lot of time to master and even the talented and experienced drafters
still made mistakes that made the designs unusable. One of the typical errors was
scaling; forgetting to scale the drawing or even a singular part or dimension, often
meant that the drafter would have to start over.
Of course, the drafter would still be able to erase lines and elements in many
circumstances. This was done using a shield like the one below to ensure that only the
, desired elements were erased and not the neighboring lines. However, changes were
always a risk and required great amount of focus and effort.
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-dfbdef6bb98bc837e963a6d9199b5b0a
There were also other issues like having to go over faint lines because otherwise they
would not reproduce correctly in the blue or black line machines/copiers.
Lettering was conventionally done by hand; however, certain projects would require
stenciled lettering. This process was very time consuming.
When it came to design visualization, the engineers would have to keep track of all the
required views and their elements to be able to project them correctly as well as have a
good imagination for things like section views. This especially applied to complex
projects like assemblies.
All calculations were done by the engineers and sometimes errors would be made in
which case the whole design could be wrong.
Despite this meticulous process, even after a design was completed, it was never
certain whether everything was done correctly and the product would function correctly
until it was made. This hindered any improvements because designs that were known to
work were left alone as to not risk getting things wrong and wasting time and resources
on a new design that would potentially fail.
requiring many highly trained people that was still prone to mistakes.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-psFExQqLvAc/Xet-oKZdG4I/AAAAAAAATAQ/
LrhkzG5I_do7kVOdQbOMRvniCq0XLobAQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Life_before_autocad
%2B%25281%2529.jpg
The invention of CAD software revolutionized both design and drafting for engineers
worldwide.
Before CAD was invented, all design and drawings had to be completed through
manual drafting, using drawing boards, T-squares, rulers, set squares, various grades
of pencils, compasses, templates etc.
This wasn’t an ideal solution not only because the engineers had to be able to imagine
and visualize the components in great detail, but also be able to transfer it onto paper
perfectly, since otherwise the drawing would be very likely scraped and started over.
The papers were in various types and sizes, and sometimes the engineers would have
to roll the ends up to be able to work on a section at a time.
All of this took a lot of time to master and even the talented and experienced drafters
still made mistakes that made the designs unusable. One of the typical errors was
scaling; forgetting to scale the drawing or even a singular part or dimension, often
meant that the drafter would have to start over.
Of course, the drafter would still be able to erase lines and elements in many
circumstances. This was done using a shield like the one below to ensure that only the
, desired elements were erased and not the neighboring lines. However, changes were
always a risk and required great amount of focus and effort.
https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-dfbdef6bb98bc837e963a6d9199b5b0a
There were also other issues like having to go over faint lines because otherwise they
would not reproduce correctly in the blue or black line machines/copiers.
Lettering was conventionally done by hand; however, certain projects would require
stenciled lettering. This process was very time consuming.
When it came to design visualization, the engineers would have to keep track of all the
required views and their elements to be able to project them correctly as well as have a
good imagination for things like section views. This especially applied to complex
projects like assemblies.
All calculations were done by the engineers and sometimes errors would be made in
which case the whole design could be wrong.
Despite this meticulous process, even after a design was completed, it was never
certain whether everything was done correctly and the product would function correctly
until it was made. This hindered any improvements because designs that were known to
work were left alone as to not risk getting things wrong and wasting time and resources
on a new design that would potentially fail.
