Technical drawing
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A technical drawing is a form of graphic communication. This type of drawing is used in the transforming of an idea into physical form. The process of creating a technical drawing is called drafting or technical drawing. A person who does drafting is known as a drafter. In some areas this person may be referred to as a drafting technician, draftsperson, or draughtsperson. A technical drawing differs from a common drawing by how it is interpreted. A common drawing can hold many purposes and meanings, while a technical drawing is intended to concisely and clearly communicate all needed specifications of a created object or objects.
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[edit] Overview
Technical drawing includes the various fields and technologies underpinning electronics, which has in turn revolutionized the art with new tools in the form of Computer Aided Design.
Most technical fields, even those not generally considered as highly technical such as plumbing have their own conventions and practices—the symbols and shorthand notations that convey a lot of information in minimal space. All of these are specialized communications. The foundation of the modern computerized world is directly founded on the accurate scale drawings on synthetic vellums that enabled the integrated circuits and printed circuit boards that underlie modern electronics, as discussed in the section below Before CAD. The development and progress of the industrial revolution on the whole depends on the art, usually taught and classed as one of the Industrial arts. Engineering and architectural students are introduced to the art, generally in freshman level courses.
Today the mechanics of the drafting task have been greatly accelerated through the use of CADD systems, but regardless of whether a draft is drawn by hand or with computer assistance, the field-use-drawing must be reproducible with a version control system to maintain authorized and approved changes to the master document (or computer files, the modern analog).
In some fields, particularly electronics, draftsmen are also known by the ambiguous "designer", whose job would be distinct and separate from the engineers specifying and working out the design details. In short, draftsmen are communicators that are part of an engineering team charged with producing specialty documentation packaged as a design, which following the standards of the field, can be understood by others with the same training.
[edit] Manual drafting
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The basic drafting procedure is to place a piece of paper (or other material) on a smooth surface with right-angle corners and straight sides—typically a drafting table. A sliding straightedge known as a T-square is then placed