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Message 1 of 14
bfackrell
335 Views, 13 Replies

Drafting Standards

Hi.

I'm and drafter with an AA and over 10 years of experience but, unfortunately, no experience with any drafting standards.

Can anybody tell me the best way to familiarize myself with some standards such as ANSI, ASME, MIL-STD, etc so that I will be more attractive to potential employers?

What would be the most valuable drafting standard to concentrate on?

Thanks
Brad
13 REPLIES 13
Message 2 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

Hey Brad;

Which field have you been practicing in for the past 10?

Architecture I would surmise, but I'd like to make sure.

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB
WD 36GB Raptor

wrote in message news:5129179@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi.

I'm and drafter with an AA and over 10 years of experience but,
unfortunately, no experience with any drafting standards.

Can anybody tell me the best way to familiarize myself with some standards
such as ANSI, ASME, MIL-STD, etc so that I will be more attractive to
potential employers?

What would be the most valuable drafting standard to concentrate on?

Thanks
Brad
Message 3 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

sounds like he worked for a believer in: "...not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy of Don Reichle and Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers

Jack Talsky
Message 4 of 14
bfackrell
in reply to: bfackrell

I spent 8 years laying out furniture and shelves for a furniture distributor and 2 years as a surface modeler.

I should have never stayed at the furniture company for so long. I knew that I was digging a hole that would be hard to get out of....now I'm trying to claw my way out.

When I interview, I'm embarrassed to say that I spent 8 years drawing shelves and have no knowledge of drafting standards.

Any suggestions as to how I can get up to speed??

Thanks
Brad
Message 5 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

Brad,

For all intents and purposes you are like a kid coming out of a technical
drawing school, knowing how to draw with AutoCAD, but no training in
architectural drafting.

Forget your prior 10 years except to say that you are pretty good at
AutoCAD, and have a good all around knowledge of the software.

As for standards, every office will have its own set of standards, and
anyone they hire would need to learn those at the beginning.

There are other "standards" that are legal such as building codes, and also
how things are built. Much like you learned how to build furniture, and
that the details needed to reflect how the furniture was built, the same
holds true on a larger scale. When you detail in architecture you need to
know how the contractor is going to build it. You have to allow room for
his hammer. You have to know how to waterproof something....

When I was just starting out, well before computers, an architect hired me
for no pay to roll up his old drawings in an attic of his office. My job
was to roll them up tight, put rubber bands on them and tag them, and put
them on the shelves. After a while I started looking at the drawings
first.

Later, I quit for a paying summer job of laying floor tiles, and the
architect handed me one of the sets of drawings and told me to trace it, and
learn to draw, and look at what I was tracing and think about what it is
saying. He also asked me if I had looked at any of the drawings while I was
rolling them up. For a moment I was thinking I was in BIG trouble for
taking time to look, but I admitted that I had done that, and he confessed
that was the reason he stuck me up there, to look at the drawings.

If you know anyone in the field of architecture or any other field you are
interested in, get a set of old drawings and see how they did the job.

When you interview, do not be shy about taking a beginning position. If you
are a fast learner and ask a lot of questions before making mistakes, and
you learn from your mistakes on the first time, you will quickly prove your
worth, and move up. Make sure you get a job at a firm where they have
current software and good equipment. If you get a job at a firm where they
don't like to spend money on work tools, you will find they are also shy on
pay scales and raises, and don't understand that having good tools, happy
employees leads to better productivity, less errors, and over all a better
product, more jobs, and in general a happier life.

Good luck.

Jack Talsky

wrote in message news:5129383@discussion.autodesk.com...
I spent 8 years laying out furniture and shelves for a furniture distributor
and 2 years as a surface modeler.

I should have never stayed at the furniture company for so long. I knew
that I was digging a hole that would be hard to get out of....now I'm trying
to claw my way out.

When I interview, I'm embarrassed to say that I spent 8 years drawing
shelves and have no knowledge of drafting standards.

Any suggestions as to how I can get up to speed??

Thanks
Brad
Message 6 of 14
tkdkid1
in reply to: bfackrell

all standards are published by various organizations. for layering the best place to start is the American Institute of Architects. The have a sheet naming, file naming and layer naming guideline available for purchase.

also there is limited help under autocad's help system regarding layering standards. another method would be to go to a local trade school or community college that teaches drafting. most instructors are willing to spend 1/2 hour to an hour with you and can often give you print outs or direct you to sources.
Message 7 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

Hey Brad;

Might this be a start in the "correct" direction for you?
http://cadd.den.nps.gov/standards.html

They look like they are all LAS files, so you could load them into your
Layer State Manager then Restore whichever one you need.

HTH

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB
WD 36GB Raptor



wrote in message news:5129179@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi.

I'm and drafter with an AA and over 10 years of experience but,
unfortunately, no experience with any drafting standards.

Can anybody tell me the best way to familiarize myself with some standards
such as ANSI, ASME, MIL-STD, etc so that I will be more attractive to
potential employers?

What would be the most valuable drafting standard to concentrate on?

Thanks
Brad
Message 8 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

what did you do, break it? I couldn't get in.

Jack Talsky



"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5129393@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hey Brad;

Might this be a start in the "correct" direction for you?
http://cadd.den.nps.gov/standards.html

They look like they are all LAS files, so you could load them into your
Layer State Manager then Restore whichever one you need.

HTH

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB
WD 36GB Raptor



wrote in message news:5129179@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi.

I'm and drafter with an AA and over 10 years of experience but,
unfortunately, no experience with any drafting standards.

Can anybody tell me the best way to familiarize myself with some standards
such as ANSI, ASME, MIL-STD, etc so that I will be more attractive to
potential employers?

What would be the most valuable drafting standard to concentrate on?

Thanks
Brad
Message 9 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

I got into it about an hour or so ago to try it out.

I was able to get the civlsite.las Layer State copied from the site and
applied it.

But on returning to test out if I could get another one to try I was greeted
with the System Unavailable message a couple of times. But I finally got
back in and retrieved the civldetl.las and survey.las. They stated that they
couldn't find some linetypes they were looking for, so I've got some editing
to do tonight at home.

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
C3D/LDT/CD/SVY-2K6
AMD XP 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce4 MX 4000 128MB



"Turbo" wrote in message
news:5129407@discussion.autodesk.com...
what did you do, break it? I couldn't get in.

Jack Talsky



"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5129393@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hey Brad;

Might this be a start in the "correct" direction for you?
http://cadd.den.nps.gov/standards.html

They look like they are all LAS files, so you could load them into your
Layer State Manager then Restore whichever one you need.

HTH

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB
WD 36GB Raptor



wrote in message news:5129179@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi.

I'm and drafter with an AA and over 10 years of experience but,
unfortunately, no experience with any drafting standards.

Can anybody tell me the best way to familiarize myself with some standards
such as ANSI, ASME, MIL-STD, etc so that I will be more attractive to
potential employers?

What would be the most valuable drafting standard to concentrate on?

Thanks
Brad
Message 10 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

Got it......it is open now.

thanks

Jack


"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5129465@discussion.autodesk.com...
I got into it about an hour or so ago to try it out.

I was able to get the civlsite.las Layer State copied from the site and
applied it.

But on returning to test out if I could get another one to try I was greeted
with the System Unavailable message a couple of times. But I finally got
back in and retrieved the civldetl.las and survey.las. They stated that they
couldn't find some linetypes they were looking for, so I've got some editing
to do tonight at home.

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
C3D/LDT/CD/SVY-2K6
AMD XP 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce4 MX 4000 128MB



"Turbo" wrote in message
news:5129407@discussion.autodesk.com...
what did you do, break it? I couldn't get in.

Jack Talsky



"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5129393@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hey Brad;

Might this be a start in the "correct" direction for you?
http://cadd.den.nps.gov/standards.html

They look like they are all LAS files, so you could load them into your
Layer State Manager then Restore whichever one you need.

HTH

--
Don Reichle
"The only thing worse
than training your staff,
and having them leave is -
not training your staff,
and having them stay."
Courtesy Graphics Solution Providers
----------------------------------------------------------
LDT-2K4
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.2GHz
XPPro 32bit SP2
1GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB
WD 36GB Raptor



wrote in message news:5129179@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi.

I'm and drafter with an AA and over 10 years of experience but,
unfortunately, no experience with any drafting standards.

Can anybody tell me the best way to familiarize myself with some standards
such as ANSI, ASME, MIL-STD, etc so that I will be more attractive to
potential employers?

What would be the most valuable drafting standard to concentrate on?

Thanks
Brad
Message 11 of 14
bfackrell
in reply to: bfackrell

I was afraid that I would be staring from square one again...

This is very frustrating and if I had it to do over again I would have never stayed with the furniture company.

I was making over $20/hr with the furniture company (which is the only reason why I stayed) and now, with a family to support, I'm looking at starting over at about $10/hr.

In May I'll be graduating from college with a BS in Computer Science (again, I'll be an 'entry level guy') so now I have to make a choice between starting a career in drafting (again) or starting a career in computer science. I think that my income potential is much greater in computer science but I really prefer drafting...a tough decision.

I appreciate the input.

Thanks
Brad
Message 12 of 14
bfackrell
in reply to: bfackrell

Don,

Thanks for the link. I'm having trouble getting into the site but I'll keep trying.

Brad
Message 13 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: bfackrell

Definitely look here:
https://tsc.wes.army.mil/products/standards/aec/aecstdsym.asp

and here:
http://www.nationalcadstandard.org/
http://www.aia.org/tap_a_0903cad
http://www.csinet.org/s_csi/sec_expand.asp?CID=126&DID=4232
http://www.csinet.org/s_csi/view.asp?TRACKID=&CID=126&DID=10490
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BLL/is_9_21/ai_n9537644

--
Daniel J. Altamura, R.A.
Altamura Architectural Consulting
and SoftWorx, Autodesk Authorized Developer
http://partnerproducts.autodesk.com/popups/company.asp?rdid=2139
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


wrote in message news:5129495@discussion.autodesk.com...
Don,

Thanks for the link. I'm having trouble getting into the site but I'll keep
trying.

Brad
Message 14 of 14
bfackrell
in reply to: bfackrell

Wow!

Thank you very much. Those will be some very useful links.

Brad

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