Representation of Scales

Scale can be expressed in the following two ways.

Engineering Scale
Engineering scale is represented by writing the relation between the dimension
on the drawing and the corresponding actual dimension of the object itself. It
is expressed as
 1mm=1mm
 1mm=5 m, 1mm=8km
 1mm=0.2mm, 1mm=5µm
The engineering scale is usually written on the drawings in numerical forms.
Graphical Scale
Graphical scale is represented by its representative fraction and is captioned on
the drawing itself. As the drawing becomes old, the drawing sheet may shrink
and the engineering scale would provide inaccurate results.
However, the scale made on the drawing sheet along with drawing of object will
shrink in the same relative proportion. This will always provide an accurate
result. It is a basic advantage gained by graphical representation of a scale.
Representative Fraction (R.F.)
Representative fraction is defined as the ratio of the length of an element of the
object in the drawing to the corresponding actual length of the corresponding
element of the object itself.
Representative Fraction (R.F.)
Example 1
If 1 cm length of drawing represents 5m length of the object than in
engineering scale it is written as 1cmcm=5m and in graphical scale it is denoted
by
Representative Fraction (R.F.)
Example 2
If a 5cm long line in the drawing represents 3 km length of a road then in
engineering scale it is written as 1cm=600m and in graphical scale it is denoted
as
Representative Fraction (R.F.)
Example 3
If a gear with a 15cm diameter in the drawing represents an actual gear of 6mm
diameter in graphical scale, it is expressed by

 Scale 1:1 represents full size scale

 Scale 1:x represents reducing scale
 Scale x:1 represents enlarging scale.
Construction of scales
 R.F. of the scale
 The maximum length of scale to be drawn on the
drawing sheet
 The least count of the scale, i.e. minimum length
which the scale should show and measure
 The maximum length of the scale to be drawn on the
drawing sheet is determined by the following
expression: