The Art of Mechanical Drafting, Part 1

[TheTacktishion]

80 year old Draftsmen here.... Other tools of the trade: Erasing Dust Bag, especially if you worked in pencil. Rolling your pencil as you draw a line. Parallel Bar.. with the cables. Brought back lots of memories from the 60s and 70s. How about the HP-35 calculator.... No more Trig tables.... Our whole drafting room had to share it. About $400 at the time. Now a comparable calculator in a bubble pack at WalMart for $12.00 or less. And last but not least: Sepia, Autopositives, and Mylar.... Thank God for Autocad. Now Fusion 360. How far we have

[MrStanwillis]

Excellent video. I'm a 75-year-old retired mechanical draftsman. We could always tell who drew the plan. CAD is a love-hate program. My back never hurt until I was forced to sit all day and stare at a tube. Thanks😊

[PhysicsForge]

I'm a physicist, but when I was 16 I went on a mechatronics apprenticeship, and I remember struggling with drafting and CAD drawings. Now I'm almost in my 30's and I must confess, your video ignited in my the desire to start mechanical drafting as a hobby/therapeutic activity. Thank you, Phill, I'm looking forward to watch the other videos of this series.

[miguelperaza]

It is a total Blessing 2 have a gentleman like you bringing life to us, old timers, and bring our tools out, back to use or at least, re-do some drawings we remember from yesteryear, that we look and don't even remember how we ever drew it ! 🤔 Thank you! 😊

[emilmihaidragomir]

Asa young CNC programmer and operator, finding this, open source information is purely GOLD for me!!
Thank you so much, sir!! 🤩🤩

[TidBitOf]

I think it’s awesome that as a machinist and draftsman your informing future engineers. I’m an environmental scientist but I truly appreciate machining and drawing. I can see why technical drawing can help bridge the gap between the machinist and the engineer.

[billgates]

Phil

You have to understand how invaluable your knowledge is. As soon as technology replaces a skilled trade, it dies from historical memory. Think of it this way: if YOU don’t commit your memories to the internet, assume that it is lost for all time.

I’ve watched so many skilled arts and trades evaporate. There are things that were done when my grandad was very young which we simply CAN NOT do today because nobody knows how. I know people like to think technology can solve anything, but how will we KNOW for a fact how it was done? I’m sure we could build a pyramid today, but will that mean we would know how they were built thousands of years ago?

Keep it alive man.

[allenjcarter]

What a blast from the past! Learning to use drafting tools to make mechanical drawings has been one of the most valuable skills I learned in Jr. High and High School in the '70s. While I moved to computers for a lot of drawing in the '90s, the ability to make clear drawings with as little as a pencil and straight edge has always been invaluable.

[djsandvig]

Another old guy here….worked as a “draftsman” out of high school for a bit. Learned the craft in high school. My handwriting is really printing and when my hands were steadier it remained a point of pride for me. I’ve been casting about for a nice drafting table recently to re-create some elevations of my childhood home. I wish there were somewhere one could get blueprints made. I still have most of my gear, triangles, inking set, pencils, eraser machine, etc.

[maxadonna]

I just landed a role as a mechanical drafter at an amazing company in my town. These videos are truly the best possible thing I ever could have come across and I am extremely grateful for all of the work you put into this.

[stxrynn]

I had a ons semester class in mechanical drawing back in '81. I learned to sketch, how to write legibly, and understood geometry better as a result. I had an easier time going through Analytical Geometry, Trig, and the Calculus as a result of getting good exposure to technical drawing. I can hardly wait to go this again. Thank you for doing this.

[SailorGerry]

Took intro to mechanical drafting back in 1972. Halfway through the first course, the class started to do more projects & assignments in architectural & civil drafting (as the program was Civil/Architectural Technology). We also had to do 'Indian ink' drawings for presentation or rendering purposes.

There was a real ''commaderie' among most of the students in the class and the drafting courses were the most interesting and fun! I had never worked in manual drafting, however, during summers did work as a deckhand on merchant ships. After a few years, had enough sea time to write coast guard exams for my 3rd/2nd Mate's Certificate. Manual drafting - especially being well-versed with angles and the necessity of having the 'micro/macro picture' in your head, along with attention to detail, certainly did help with chartwork and navigation courses for stages of the various mates' certificates and tasks related to real-time chartwork & navigation on the ship's bridge (wheelhouse).

The last few years have done the odd yacht or ship profile in Indian ink, as a sort of hobby. The end result is, more often than not, very interesting and beautiful. A drawing as such, framed and hung over a fireplace or in a 'man cave' is stunning! Have been offered money for these, however, presently am not ready to accept such or go beyond the 'hobby stage', and most people do not have any idea the amount of hours put in, to produce the end result.

Thanks for the interesting video - it brought back a lot of fond old memories...

Greetings to all the old classmates of Dawson College '72!

[viliusmarcinkevicius]

Stemming from architecture towards fine woodworking this is definetely my jam. Really glad to have found the series, thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[jamauldrew]

Seriously…wow.
I graduated last year and have been employed, modeling piping for the last 6 months. It has taken me months to figure out what HALF of these items are used for.
My generation is so far removed from any of the manual methods, that we are truly losing touch with some necessary basics.
Thank you for sharing this information 🙏

[warrenjones]

I took my fist mechanical drafting class in 1978 as a 9th grader. I did that and architectural drafting all through HS. Never worked as a draftsman and did not do regular machine work until my 40's. But as a equipment operator and later as a mechanic those skills came in handy. Up until the 90's Caterpillar parts manuals were derived from the assembly drawings. Many people had problems looking at such a drawing, they preferred the expanded blow up. Having that drafting background it was a so easy for me to use that drawing and it gave me a context in which the parts fit in service making reassembly a breeze. Now I am a machinist and fabricator and I use drawings daily. I still make drawings by hand if need be, but usually simply work from a sketch. Any or a cad drawings I get come from other sources as I have not taken the time to learn Cad, and unlikely I will at this point, unless I need to or become board! never say never!


Anyway Phil I love this stuff and I will be tuned in. thanks for taking the time to do this.

Cheers

[anthonyh]

Just paused the video and ordered that book. Took drafting in high school and I was hooked.

[laurin]

Get your Cheque! I bought a svartpilen 401 last week because of your praise and i‘m loving the bike!🤩

[smokeynewton]

71 years old and still have all of my equipment. I thought I was the only one that missed it.

[davidlandfieldsports]

As an apprentice trained mechanical engineer, who spent a week in the drawing office, some 30 odd years ago, this has been a great trip down memory lane. Thank you

[tedfarwell]

Love the series.

I was an aircraft designer/draftsman for over 20 years - Canadair, LearJet and Cessna. Last generation to use drafting tools; first generation to use CAD.

Nice Vemco compass at 28:00. Light weight, smooth adjustment and elegant design.