An engineering drawing, a type of technical drawing, is used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items.

A graphical language used by engineers and other technical personnel associated with the engineering profession. The purpose of engineering drawing is to convey graphically the ideas and information necessary for the construction or analysis of machines, structures, or systems. The basis for much engineering drawing is orthographic representation (projection). Objects are depicted by front, top, side, auxiliary, or oblique views, or combinations of these. The complexity of an object determines the number of views shown. At times, pictorial views are shown.. Engineering drawings often include such features as various types of lines, dimensions, lettered notes, sectional views, and symbols. They may be in the form of carefully planned and checked mechanical drawings, or they may be freehand sketches. Usually a sketch precedes the mechanical drawing. Many objects have complicated interior details which cannot be clearly shown by means of front, top, side, or pictorial views. Section views enable the engineer or detailer to show the interior detail in such cases. Features of section drawings are cutting-plane symbols, which show where imaginary cutting planes are passed to produce the sections, and section-lining (sometimes called cross-hatching), which appears in the section view on all portions that have been in contact with the cutting plane. In addition to describing the shape of objects, many drawings must show dimensions, so that workers can build the structure or fabricate parts that will fit together. This is accomplished by placing the required values (measurements) along dimension lines (usually outside the outlines of the object) and by giving additional information in the form of notes which are referenced to the parts in question by angled lines called leaders. Layout drawings of different types are used in different manufacturing fields for various purposes. One is the plant layout drawing, in which the outline of the building, work areas, aisles, and individual items of equipment are all drawn to scale. Another type of layout, or preliminary assembly, drawing is the design layout, which establishes the position and clearance of parts of an assembly. A set of working drawings usually includes detail drawings of all parts and an assembly drawing of the complete unit. Assembly drawings vary somewhat in character according to their use, as design assemblies or layouts; working drawing assemblies; general assemblies; installation assemblies; and check assemblies. Schematic or diagrammatic drawings make use of standard symbols which indicate the direction of flow. In piping and electrical schematic diagrams, symbols are used. The fixtures or components are not labeled in most schematics because the readers usually know what the symbols represent.

Structural drawings include design and working drawings for structures such as building, bridges, dams, tanks, and highways. Such drawings form the basis of legal contracts. Structural drawings embody the same principles as do other engineering drawings, but use terminology and dimensioning techiques different from thoses shown in previous illustration.

Engineering drawings: common features

Drawings convey the following critical information:

Geometry the shape of the object; represented as views; how the object will look when it is viewed from various angles, such as front, top, side, etc. Dimensions the size of the object is captured in accepted units. tolerances the allowable variations for each dimension. Material represents what the item is made of. Finish specifies the surface quality of the item, functional or cosmetic. For example, a mass-marketed product usually requires a much higher surface quality than, say, a component that goes inside industrial machinery.

Multiple views and projections

In most cases, a single view is not sufficient to show all necessary features, and several views are used. Types of views include the following: The orthographic projection shows the object as it looks from the front, right, left, top, bottom, or back, and are typically positioned relative to each other according to the rules of either first-angle or third-angle projection. The origin and vector direction of the projectors (also called projection lines) differs, as explained below.

In first-angle projection, the projectors originate as if radiated from a viewer's eyeballs and shoot through the 3D object to project a 2D image onto the plane behind it. The 3D object is projected into 2D "paper" space as if you were looking at a radiograph of the object: the top view is under the front view, the right view is at the left of the front view. First-angle projection is the ISO standard and is primarily used in Europe. In third-angle projection, the projectors originate as if radiated from the 3D object itself and shoot away from the 3D object to project a 2D image onto the plane in front of it. The views of the 3D object are like the panels of a box that envelopes the object, and the panels pivot as they open up flat into the plane of the drawing.[2] Thus the left view is placed on the left and the top view on the top; and the features closest to the front of the 3D object will appear closest to the front view in the drawing.

Isometric projection

The isometric projection show the object from angles in which the scales along each axis of the object are equal. Isometric projection corresponds to rotation of the object by 45 about the vertical axis, followed by rotation of approximately 35.264 [= arcsin(tan(30))] about the

horizontal axis starting from an orthographic projection view. "Isometric" comes from the Greek for "same measure". One of the things that makes isometric drawings so attractive is the ease with which 60 degree angles can be constructed with only a compass and straightedge. Isometric projection is a type of axonometric projection. The other two types of axonometric projection are:

Dimetric projection Trimetric projection

Showing dimensions

The required sizes of features are conveyed through use of dimensions. Distances may be indicated with either of two standardized forms of dimension: linear and ordinate.

With linear dimensions, two parallel lines, called "extension lines," spaced at the distance between two features, are shown at each of the features. A line perpendicular to the extension lines, called a "dimension line," with arrows at its endpoints, is shown between, and terminating at, the extension lines. The distance is indicated numerically at the midpoint of the dimension line, either adjacent to it, or in a gap provided for it.

Importance of engineering drawing to engineering:

Without a proper layout and planned idea, youre basically winging your design and most likely messing up your final products. So drawing is one of the most important step in planning an equipment or designing a plant or even modifying any of its parts. drawing is the act of a language which provide clear communications among engineers in an industry.