Scales Used in Technical Drawings

Civil Engineer's Scale

Civil engineer scales are used to design large projects such as roads, bridges and water
mains. Depending on the project, 1 inch on the scale can represent 100 feet in real life.
The civil engineer's scale divides 1 inch into equal decimal units of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60
and 80. Plans drawn in 10 scale may show scales such as 1 inch = 10 feet, 1 inch = 100
feet. The 20 scale is used for scales such as 1 inch = 2 feet, 1 inch = 20 feet and 1 inch
= 200 feet. Whether you are using a 10 scale, 20 scale or 50 scale, the values increase
by multiples of 10. So, for example, a 50-scale drawing could use a scale of 1 inch = 5
feet, 1 inch = 50 feet, 1 inch = 500 feet.
Architect's Scale
Architect scales convert inches into feet and always read X inches = 1 foot 0 inches. The
scale 1/4 inch = 1 foot 0 inches means that 1/4 inch in the drawing equals 1 foot in the
actual building--or is drawn 1/48 size. In other words, the size of the drawing is 1/48th the
size of the actual building or project. The architect's scale is used to draft plans of large
and smaller scale projects. These include buildings and structures, as well as interior and
exterior dimensions of rooms, walls, doors and windows.
Metric Scale
The metric scale uses the millimeter as its base measurement. Full size on the metric
scale is shown as 1:1. Half scale is 1:2. It is helpful to think of this as one unit on the
drawing equals two units on the object. A small object can be enlarged on the paper and
drawn in 2:1 scale. This means the drawing of the object is twice as large as the object
itself. Designers use an enlarged scale, such as double scale, on objects that are too
small to draw full size with any meaningful detail. Common metric scales are 1:100, 1:50,
1:20, 1:10 and 1:5. For example, 1:50 scale equals one-fiftieth (1/50) full size--or 1
millimeter on the drawing equals 50 millimeters in reality.