Drawing Layouts

Working drawings

This is a term used to describe a scale drawing which serves as a guide for making something such as a building or machine. A working drawing will usually include flat 'orthographic' views of an object from different sides along with scale and/or dimension information. All the information presented on the drawing must be in accordance with the British Standard BS8888 so that anyone in the world knows what the different lines mean.

Pictorial drawings

These illustrations are used to provide extra information and help visualise the item in 3D. Pictorial drawings attempt to give an approximation of how the object will look when finished. There are several different types which you might come across:

Isometric Drawings:

These give a good impression of the 3D item but can look quite square so are not as good for final illustrations, this is because there is no perspective.

Perspective drawings:

These drawings use perspective to give a more realistic presentation. This type of illustration is better for larger objects or buildings which don't look right without perspective.

Orthographic Projection

This describes the way we show the different views of a part on paper. Ortho (meaning 'straight' in Greek) and Graphic (meaning picture) describes the views as being 'straight pictures'. When you look at each view in the drawing shown you can see how this is a good description as each view only shows the front face and not the top or sides. In order to show the whole part a number of views are included and laid out in a very deliberate way.

This illustration of a simple block shows how we lay out views or 'elevations' of a solid object in the UK, this will be how drawings are shown in the workshop and in the exam. This layout is called '3rd Angle Orthographic Projection' and the symbol shown in the bottom right corner should appear on every drawing to tell you this method is being used. As you can see, the views are laid out in line, to the same scale, and with the right hand side view shown to the right of the front view; the top (or plan) is drawn above the front view and the left side would be drawn to the left. This method makes it easy to present complex 3D shapes through 2D paper drawings.

Projection layout.pdf

Cutting Lists

These are lists added to drawings summarising the different pieces of material needed to make the item shown. The information will include overall sizes, material, and the quantity of each part needed. The sizes for each part will be shown in the drawing but the summary can be helpful when cutting materials ready for making. A typical cutting list is shown.

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