Old guys have old tools

[GunnyGene]

Just a thread for old guys with old tools. :wink:
Here's what I use for designing some of my stuff. The drafting set (Fullerton 315) I used in 1962 in college. Made the board and T-Square a few years ago. Never have gotten the hang of computer drafting, although I know it's superior in some ways. I guess I just like the ability to rip up a piece of paper when it doesn't look right.
:wink: :mrgreen:

And a late 1800's hand forged froe and drawknife:

Any other old timers out there that still prefer, and have, the real deal? Show it off if you do. :mrgreen:

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Thanks for the look back. I still have my 1212PJL set.

Spent the first 20 years "on the board" and the final 20 on CAD. The CAD is marvelous, but the paper has "personality".

 

[Number9]

When design work was done, I always used pen and paper.
It slowed things down to give me more time to think.
And I found I made less mistakes than when using AutoCAD or SolidWorks.

 

[Don Lovel]

Thanks for the look back. I still have my 1212PJL set.

Spent the first 20 years "on the board" and the final 20 on CAD. The CAD is marvelous, but the paper has "personality".

Many years ago I did some facility environmental inspection work for the USPS in Iowa. The blueprints I was given to work with for many of the older facilities were ancient old original prints from the US Gov.
The big post office in Muscatine Iowa had a pristine set of original prints. They were a total work of art. The beautiful dark blue of the prints, the white calligraphy identifying things like steam pipe runs, structural dimensions, etc was amazing. That huge print set was so detailed and made my job way easier once I got used to looking at such detailed drawings.

 

[willk]

Loved to draft by hand.

My father was an industrial engineer so he did not have to rely on drafting, our son who is a mechanical engineer, has never touched a mechanical drafting set. (of course he is a navigator in the United States Air Force and that said, he has not needed any of his engineering skills since he graduated from college)

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Yeah, the old honest-to-gosh BLUEprints were actually "whitelines" and it took quite a machine to produce them from the original drawings. They were essentially a "negative" of the drawing with white lines/lettering on a dark blue background. Quite striking.

The more recent stuff produces blue lines on a white background.

Unfortunately, CAD has essentially destroyed the art of true drafting . . . more's the pity. A couple of the more recent CAD classes I've taken were taught by very young guys who had never held a pencil and actually didin't know how to make a three-view plane drawing. Sad. And of course the "prints" made these days are actually printed out electronically. They don't even smell right.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Everything I draft is on a drafting table.
I have drawn many buildings with a T square , triangle and a pencil. On occasion I use an eraser also.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Ale-8
So true.
Unfortunately, CAD has essentially destroyed the art of true drafting . . . more's the pity. A couple of the more recent CAD classes I've taken were taught by very young guys who had never held a pencil and actually didin't know how to make a three-view plane drawing. Sad. And of course the "prints" made these days are actually printed out electronically. They don't even smell right.

Learning how to draw is a skill IMHO. Most of the NEW generation don't have a clue how to layout/set up a drawing. All they want to do is punch keys. As you all know you could look at a drawing and know who drew it without looking at the name. Now they all look the same with no style. For instance. Bob Wright posted something he had lettered on and I knew that he was a Draftsman from his style.
I started as a Print Boy and ended my career as a Project Manager. I did set my arsh on the high stool for about 25 years. Spent a few hours sliding a T Square and pushing a parallel bar. I did learn how to do 3D PDMS and Auto Cad and hated every minute of it. Boss finally realized might be a better idea for me to tell people what and how to do design rather than me do it if he wanted to keep me. :wink:
I was lucky enough to travel the world doing inspection, commissioning, construction support, and teaching.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I have to admit I appreciate the possible speed and precision of CAD. I started on big ol' mainframe Intergraph and then moved to 2D Autocad which I really liked. They then moved me to Solid Edge, and while I understood the procedures I got bogged down in many of the functions and was never as good with that as with A-Cad.

I noticed that after a few years of CAD I had lost my "hand" for lettering, which "in the day"was quite distinctive. Gotta use it or ya lose it.

We've kinda run this thread a little off-topic. Sorry about that.

 

[sceva]

Well I remember practicing "lettering" Woe to anyone in class who called it printing.
I also had to learn to use a slide rule; calculators were VERY expensive then and not in common use and with relatively few functions..

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Ah, slide rules . . . back on topic, sorta. Tools, anyway . . .

Had a great big sucker, but got tired of handling it. Bought me a cute little Pickett N600-ES Log Log Speed Rule . . . the yellow one with the neat pocket case. Still have it and can still use -- uh -- some of the scales.

My first actual calculator would add, subtract, multiply, divide, and do SQUARE ROOTS . . . OMG. It was huge and cost me $100.

 

[coach]

Speaking of calculators, remember the reverse Polish notation? It actually worked, but it went away pretty quick.
I almost always hand sketched, but finished in cad. I spent plenty of time with paper and pencil (Mylar and plastic lead) and parallel bar before computers. I still have one setup at my desk even if I don't use it often. 3D programs like Revit I never got the hang of and never wanted to.

 

[graygun]

Speaking of calculators, remember the reverse Polish notation? It actually worked, but it went away pretty quick.
I almost always hand sketched, but finished in cad. I spent plenty of time with paper and pencil (Mylar and plastic lead) and parallel bar before computers. I still have one setup at my desk even if I don't use it often. 3D programs like Revit I never got the hang of and never wanted to.

The HP calculators were reverse Polish and the TIs were straight-ahead entry as I recall. I did some drafting as part of an AS degree in EE Technology but not in real life. I did use a slide rule for awhile as good calculators were too expensive for me.

Gene,old guys can only have old tools. :lol:

 

[wizofwas]

I remember when I worked for CV, I asked a draftsman that just came off of the board to draw on the new (for him) system, how he liked it. He said the CAD/CAM was good because it was more accurate, mistakes were easy to fix, when changes were made, you didn't have to redo the whole drawing, etc. But the hand drafted drawing were much prettier to look at.
BTW, I worked on system No. 6 at Owens Ill. in Toledo, Ohio. One of the last CADDS I systems to be shut down.

 

[GunnyGene]

What, no old gunsmithing/blacksmithing tools? I thought somebody might have some they'd want to show off. :mrgreen:

 

[427mach1]

I started out with hand-drawing but transitioned to CAD about 20 years ago, then to CATIA. It is so much easier to make changes and fix mistakes on the computer. Also, CATIA will let you put all the parts together as an assembly to check for fit and interference. Try that with paper drawings! We can then take the CATIA files and convert directly to a format that can be used to make rapid prototype parts using our fused deposition machines (FDM, similar to 3-D printers but on a much larger scale). I will agree, however, that a good hand drawing is much more elegant than a CAD or CATIA print-out.