CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION AND USE OF

DRAWING INSTRUMENTS
MEC 132 – ENGINEERING DRAWING

MEC132: CHAPTER 1 1
CONTENTS
• 1.1 Box of instruments, T-squares, drawing board, set squares, compass and
scales
• 1.2 Type and grade of pencils and their use in drawing subject
• 1.3 Drawing paper: size and format scales and scale drawing
• 1.4 Line and application according to BS 308 and ISO

MEC132: CHAPTER 1 2
 Drawing Equipment
The following equipment are recommended for the course :

◦ Drawing paper – A3 size (420mm x 297mm)

◦ Compass – large
◦ Mechanical pencils (grades 0.3mmxH, 0.5mmx2B, 0.7mmx2B)
◦ Eraser
◦ 30ox60ox250mm triangle
◦ 45ox200mm triangle
◦ Protractor – 150mm
◦ Ruler
◦ Masking tape
◦ Irregular curves – French or flexible types
◦ Circle templates
◦ Soft cleaning cloth
◦ Drawing board
◦ T-square

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 Figure 3 : Equipment used in technical drawing
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5
 Drawing Boards & T-Squares
 The left edge and right edge of a drawing board has a true
straight edge.
 For right-handed people, the left-hand edge of the board is
called the working edge because the T-square head slides
against it.
 For left-handed people, the right-hand edge of the board is
called the working edge because the T-square head slides
against it.
 The T-square is made of a long strip called the blade, fastened
at right angles to a shorter piece called the head.

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 Drawing Boards & T-Squares

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 Drawing Boards & T-Squares
 The drawing paper should be
placed close to the working edge
of the board to reduce any error
resulting from the bending of the
blade of the T-square.

 The paper should also be placed

close enough to the upper edge
of the board to permit space at
the bottom of the sheet for using
the T-square.

 Drafting tape is used to fasten the

drawing paper to the drawing
board.
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 T Square

 A T-Square is a technical drawing instrument used

by draftsperson.
 The primary purpose of the t-square is to create
horizontal parallel lines
 T-squares are typically wood with clear plastic
edges, but they can be made of metal for cutting

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 Triangles
 Triangles are used to create vertical lines
 Triangles come in two forms, 30-60-90 and
45-45-90
 Basic geometry skills can help you create
other angles (a 30 on a 45 gets you a 75
degree angle, for example)
 Triangles are typically clear as seeing the
edge of the triangle is extremely important to
lining up your drawing instrument (drawings
must be precise!)
 Inking triangles are undercut (on one side or
two) so that ink will not smear
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 French Curve
 French curves are a template that can
create curves of varying radii
 Hyperbolas, parabola, eilipses and other
shapes are created using French curves
(although they take some skill to master)
 Digital drafting has replaced French
curve use, although most students are
still expected to understand how to
manipulate French curves

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 Flexible Curve
 The flexi-curve is used as a last resort when a French curve cannot
approximate the curve
 Flexi-curves can also be used to approximate a curve in a rough
drawing, and then a French curve is used to make the curve accurate

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 Erasers
 Used to remove pencil lines and graphite
smudges from a drawing

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 Compass

◦ Used to draw circles and arcs

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 Drawing Pencils
 High-quality drawing pencils should be used in technical
drawing, never ordinary writing pencils.
 Many makes of mechanical pencils are available together
with refill leads in all grades. Choose a mechanical pencil
that feels comfortable in your hand.

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 Lead Pencil/Mechanical Pencils
 Lead widths run from 0.03mm to 0.07mm
 Not as much control as the lead holder
 Pencil leads run from 9B (the softest lead) to 9H (the hardest lead)
 Hard leads make very light lines, last a long time, and also groove your
vellum (9H are 41.5% graphite, 53.5% clay and 5% wax)
 Soft leads make very dark lines, don’t last as long, and are harder to
erase (9B are 90.5% graphite, 4.5% clay and 5% wax)
 Standard pencils are #2 (HB), which makes them dark, but also able to
be erased completely

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Drawing Leads
 The first consideration in the selection of a grade of lead is the type of line
work required. For light construction lines and guide lines for lettering use a
hard lead. For all other line work, the lines should be BLACK. The lead
chosen should be soft enough to produce jet black lines but hard enough not
to smudge.
 9B, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B, 3B, 2B, B, HB, F, H, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H
(The American system – not used in most drafting/art supply stores even in
America, has a different system of numbers 1=B, 2=HB, 2.5=F, 3=H, 4=2H)

HARD MEDIUM SOFT

9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H
Hard leads are used where extreme
accuracy is required. Generally
these leads are used for construction
lines.
3H 2H H F HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B
Medium leads are used for general Soft leads are used for various kinds
purpose line work in technical of art work. These leads are too soft
drawing. to be useful in mechanical drafting.
 Drawing Lead Applications

TASK LEAD GRADE LINE WEIGHT

CONSTRUCTION LINES 3H, 4H, 6H THIN, LIGHT
VISIBLE OBJECT LINES H, F, HB THICK, DARK
HIDDEN LINES 2H, H THIN, DARK
CENTER LINES 2H, H THIN, DARK
DIMENSION LINES 2H, H THIN, DARK
EXTENSION LINES 2H, H THIN, DARK
LEADER LINES 2H, H THIN, DARK
CUTTING PLANE LINES H, F, HB THICK, DARK
PHANTOM LINES 2H, H THIN, DARK
LETTERING H, F, HB THIN, DARK

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19
 Drafting Pencils
◦ Don’t have erasers because standard pencil erasers are awful on vellum and doubly awful for
inking over (most drawings are inked after being done in pencil)

MEC132: CHAPTER 1 20
 Preparation for Drawing
◦ i) The drawing table should be adjusted to a convenient height while sitting
on a chair or while standing.
◦ ii) The instruments should be placed within easy reach, on the table or on a
special tray or stand that is located beside the table.
◦ iii) The table, the board and the instruments should be wipe with a dust
cloth before staring to draw.
◦ iv) Select a drawing paper and attach the drawing paper to the board with
masking tape, using a short strip across each of the four corners of the
paper. Attach the paper in a position comfortable for you, the drafter.

MEC132: CHAPTER 1 21
 Drawing Paper
◦ Drawing paper is produced to
standard metric sizes. These standard
sizes are in accordance with the
International Standards Organization
(ISO) A Series.

A2

◦ In this course, A3 white drawing

paper is used. Figure 4 : Paper sizes
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 Layout of Drawing Paper

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 Drawing Scale
Types of scales :-
1) Metric scale (normally used in this course)
2) Engineer’s scale
3) Decimal scale
4) Mechanical engineer’s scale
5) Architects scale

. The scale of a drawing is defined as :

Ratio = length of drawing / actual drawing

◦ Preferred scale are = 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100.

◦ Never used odd scale such as : 1.2, 2.5, etc.
◦ The ratio of size depends on the relative size of the object and the drawing paper.
◦ A drawing of an object may be the same size as the object (full size) or it may be larger
or smaller than the object. Some of the commonly used scales are shown in Table 3.
MEC132: CHAPTER 1 24
Table 3 : Common scale ratios used on drawings 25
MEC132: CHAPTER 1 26
 Lettering Technique
 Most engineering lettering is single-stroke Gothic font. Lettering
is drawn freehand and are drawn within light horizontal
guidelines. Typically lettering is 1/8” high.
 All lettering uses upper case letters. Lower case letters are
rarely used in technical drawings.
 There are three aspects of good lettering: proportions and forms
.
of the letters, composition and spacing, and practice.
 There are six fundamental drawing strokes and their directions in
basic lettering. Horizontal strokes are drawn from left to right,
vertical strokes are drawn from top to bottom, and curved
strokes are drawn downward.

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MEC132: CHAPTER 1 28
 Lettering Technique

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General rules for lettering :-

◦ When lettering, always use as guidelines very light lines drawn with a straightedge. Do not erase
guidelines. Use your 0.3mm lead to make light guidelines.
◦ Do make the stroke of letters all vertically aligned or all sloping to the right. Do not mix vertical and
sloping characters!
◦ Do your lettering as the last step of your drawing because you will be using a lead which can lead to
smudges.
◦ Make decimal points bold and clear. It is important that they be clearly visible.
◦ Remember, letters and numbers should be dark, use your 0.7mm (H) lead.
◦ Space guidelines (3mm) apart for whole numbers and letters.
◦ For fractions, space guideline (6mm) apart.
◦ The height of the overall fraction number must be double from the height of the normal number and the
fraction number must be ¾ from the number height. For example, if the height of the number is 3mm,
therefore, the overall height for the fraction number is 6mm and the height for each of the fraction number
must be 2mm.

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MEC132: CHAPTER 1 31
 Ensure that numbers above and below the fraction line do not touch the line
(Figure 8) and are vertically aligned (Figure 8b).

Figure 8(a)

Figure 8(b)
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Method of Dimensioning
• Projection lines and dimension lines are full, thin lines.
• Dimensions should be placed outside the drawing wherever
practicable as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 : Projection lines and dimensioning lines. 33

◦ Dimensions should be preferable be placed just above dimension
lines and in such a position as to be read from the bottom or right-
hand edges of the drawing sheet.

◦ Dimensions should not be repeated on a drawing unless there is a

good reason for the repetition. It is important that the points of
arrow heads should touch the projection or other limiting line.

◦ A centre line, or a line which is extension of a centre line, should

never be used as a dimension line.

◦ Arrowheads must be easily readable and normally not less than

3mm long (Figure 10). It is important that the point should touch
the projection or other limiting line. Figure 10 shows the right way
to draw the arrow and its dimension.
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 Figure 10 : The right way to draw the arrow

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 Example of dimensioning method of an object :-

MEC132: CHAPTER 1 Figure 11 : Drawing lines for dimensioning 36

Manual drawing

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 Rules for Maintenance and Care of Drafting
Tools & Equipment
◦ Keep hands and ◦ Do not hit scales and
equipment clean triangles on edges
◦ Keep all instruments ◦ Do not overextend
clean and dry compasses and dividers
◦ Do no bend templates ◦ Clean plastic tools with
sharply soap and water only
◦ Do not use templates or ◦ Do not stick compasses
scales as straight edges and divider points into
for cutting tools scales and triangles
◦ Do not use templates as ◦ Never sharpen leads
eraser shields over drawing or table
surface
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 END OF
CHAPTER 1
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