DRAFTING DICTIONARY AN EXPLANATION OF PRECISION DRAWING EQUIPMENT

T-SQUARE Precision drawing instrument, used as a guide for other drafting equipment. Has a 90° angle where the head and blade attach. The head refers to the part that glides along the edge of your drafting table. The blade is the long centre, used to align other pieces of drafting equipment. The T-square should be made of solid materials and should be handled with care.

METRIC & ARCHITECTURAL SCALE Used to reduce or enlarge drawings. Have more than one graduated scale. Used only as a measurement instrument and not a ruler. Several different scales, including metric, architectural, and engineering. METRIC SCALES IMPERIAL SCALE

STEEL RULE Straightedge made of rigid material, most commonly sheet metal with a cork backing. Divided into specific increments. Can be found in metric and imperial measurement divisions.

FRENCH CURVE & SPLINE French curve: a rigid plastic template used to draw irregular curves or radii. Spline: a flexible plastic or rubber template with a metal core that can be shaped into most curves. SPLINE FRENCH CURVES

TRIANGLES: RIGHT ANGLE & ISOSCELES Made of hard, transparent plastic. Used to draw vertical lines as well as lines at set angles. Can be combined with each other to draw multiple angles. Isosceles triangle: 45°-45°-90° Right-angle triangle: 30°-60°-90°

DRAFTING TEMPLATES Plants, furniture, circles, appliance standards, squares. Standardized cut-outs used to draw repeated shapes to scale.

ERASER SHIELD Micro-thin piece of metal with cut-outs. Allows the user to erase detailed sections of a drawing without damage to the rest of the drawing.

DRAFTING BRUSH Used to sweep away debris from a drawing, so it does not smear the full drawing. Also known as a dusting brush.

PROTRACTOR Used to measure angles. Made of transparent plastic.

COMPASS Used to draw circles, bisect lines, and create dividing lines. Can be fitted with pencil leads or points.

MASKING TAPE/ DRAFTING DOTS Used to hold drawing paper/vellum to the drafting board so it does not shift while drawing. Only need to use small pieces to attach drawing paper. Too large of a piece will result in your drawing being torn when it is removed.

LETTERING GUIDE Designed to assist in the drawing of uniform lines for the purposes of consistent, evenly spaced lettering.

DRAFTING BOARD Flat, smooth surface, designed with square, parallel edges that allow the T-square to slide easily. Most boards are covered with a vinyl material to allow for even surfaces on which to affix the paper.

DRAFTING DICTIONARY CREDITS Eraser shield, drafting brush, drafting templates, compass, mechanical arm, and imperial scale photos copyright © the BC Industry Training Authority. Retrieved from the BC Carpenter Trades Apprenticeship Program, Competency L1 B-1: Use Construction Drawings and Specifications. Metric scale and spline photos copyright © the BC Industry Training Authority. Retrieved from the Piping Trades Apprenticeship Program, Competency L1 C-2: Read Drawings and Specifications. Steel rule photo copyright © the BC Industry Training Authority. Retrieved from Trades Access Common Core, Competency C-1: Describe Common Hand Tools and Their Uses. Licensed under the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. T-square photo copyright © the BC Industry Training Authority. Retrieved from Trades Access Common Core, Competency D-3: Read Drawings and Specifications. Licensed under the CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.

Protractor by Richard Wheeler. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons at: GNU Free Documentation License, version Painter’s tape by Imjustmatthew. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons at: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Standardgraph to 7 mm lettering guides Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons at: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. French curves by Radomil. Retrieved from Wikimedia Commons at: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Staedler drafting dots photo used by permission of Blick art materials.