Hand Drafting

I have met two hand drafters since I started doing this kind of work in 2001. Both worked in large shops with lots of legacy data and drawings, both could draft by computer as well and only one of them is still working.?ÿ

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I have not drawn any complete drawing this century.

Will still hand edit and add a few things before I will reprint.

A little over a year ago I brought the records of the firm to the east of me. The firm did good work but they drafted by hand. Hand drafting was one of the reasons after the owner passed that the sale of the firm did not go well. When I found out the records were going to the dumpster, I?ÿ made an offer to the widow.

Haven't hand drafted since '94.?ÿ I enjoyed doing the linework, but being a lefty, Leroying was a nightmare.

Now this is a stab from the past! In a way I miss hand drafting; mylar, the drafting arm, pounce bag, horsehair brush, leroy lettering, leather weight bags, drafting pens, ultrasonic cleaner, electric eraser, eraser shield, french curve, railroad curves, flexible curve, symbol templates, stickies (frowned upon), fixative. and finally a trip to a reprographic shop for a mylar photographic (silver halide process) copy(s).?ÿ Working copies were diazo bluelines.

Although producing a presentable and accurate product could be learned in a few months, speed was the name of the game and a senior draftsman's?ÿ wage could easily be double an entryman's.?ÿ A key skill I never got the hang of was freehand lettering for smaller text, annotation and the like.?ÿ ?ÿ

There was a transition phase involving large format standup CalComp(?) flatbed moving pen plotters (you just taped the mylar to the bed),?ÿ connected to a PDP mini mainframe and Tektronix graphics terminals with reel tape drive offline storage.?ÿ They could plot mapping linework, annotation, symbols and block text but required touchup work (leader lines mostly) by hand.?ÿ They were noisy and required a full time tech to babysit them. And some fool had to visit the office @ 3:00am?ÿ weekdays to switch tape reels, guess who?

When I started in the late 80's the firm I worked at hand drafted everything. I left there in 2000 and began to use CAD at my new employment. I think that learning to draft by hand makes my CAD drawings neater. I see too many drawings that look like a 3rd grader drew it.

When I first took an office job in 1994, I had the opportunity to prepare some of my own maps by hand. I loved that! I had finally found a place to use my high school drafting class skills. 😉 We had Cadliners too, but I didn't use them. I really, really enjoyed drawing my own surveys.

Although a lot could get done with a "water cooled" Leroy and the Pen Bar Vacuum Frame System. I found my old Leroy set when I was moving Saturday. I immediately thought " I will never go back".

Quit drafting when Generic Cadd appeared on the market.....now that's old. Sigh..... ??ÿ

Not since 1985...

Posted by: Jim in AZ

Not since 1985...

What were you using? I have used ?ÿHolguin CEADS with a Wang 2200 system but couldn't afford it when I started my own business in 1988.

I also used DigiCad but didn't like it.?ÿ ??ÿ

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I actually got into surveying by accident... looking for a drafting job while working at the local blue print shop in Bloomington Illinois.?ÿ ?ÿI haven't drawn a map by hand since I left there in 1996, but we did all our maps by hand.?ÿ We used a DOS based COGO system to calc coordinates, then plotted them on a worksheet.?ÿ Overlayed?ÿ a sheet on the worksheet to transfer the linework.?ÿ

Some Leroy lettering, but mostly hand lettered.?ÿ I haven't seen one of my old maps since then... probably for the best, TBH.?ÿ?ÿ

I still work on an old Mayline drafting table that I re-finished, but the drafting arm is long gone.?ÿ?ÿ

I think a co-worker said it best, " My daughter knows how to use AutoCAD, but does not know how to hold a pencil. "

My last professional hand drafting days were in 1989.?ÿ I was lucky enough to start out at an engineering firm saw the benefits of technology.?ÿ I spent about two weeks drawing by hand while I waited for my 386 complete with dual 5-1/4" floppy disks and AutoCAD 10/DCA.?ÿ My boss was happy to see me give up my hand lettering career. Those were the days, I never want to return.

Posted by: John Putnam

AutoCAD 10/DCA. Those were the days, I never want to return.

Me neither...1989 with the famous DCA add on...Softdesk...Autodesk...LDD...

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and now morphed into this pile of sheek called C3D

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DDSM

A local surveyor by the name of Clarence Pace recorded hand drafted surveys in Washington County, Oregon as late as 2005.?ÿ I'm not aware of any anyone else that has done so around here in the last 20 years.

No hand drafting, but we have original R/W maps dating back into the 1930's that occasionally require a revision, which must be hand drawn.

Let's see I started surveying in 1977 for a surveyor who started in 1927!?ÿ I drafted by hand into the mid '80's, maybe later??ÿ We would do the initial map or plat in pencil and than ink with quill pens and rapidiograph(sp?).?ÿ I used to draw on paper, vellum and irish linen.?ÿ Didn't draw too much on mylar.?ÿ I did hand lettering and some leroy.?ÿ Actually I think hand drafting was faster by the pros.?ÿ Some guys would do 8 1/2"X14" residential plats in an half hour.

Where I worked before here, had a guy, one guy, who hand drafted ALL of the rural water plans for standpipes, mains and services. He was really good at it and he hated revisions.?ÿ ?

We were exposed to AutoCAD R11 in high school and I've been using it since 1998 on a daily basis.