The Design Process & Technical Drawings Intro to Drafting & Engineering

The Design Process The design process consists of three phases: design, production and marketing. We will be focusing on the DESIGN phase, which are all of the steps necessary to go from an idea to the creation of a product suitable for mass production This will mean preparing a design plan and completing technical diagrams

Specifications Before design and construction can begin, we need a set of specifications Specifications define and specify the requirements and describe the characteristics of the desired product A set of specifications contains the answers to several key questions

Contents of Specifications A set of specifications must include: What rules must the object meet? What are the object’s characteristics? What are the manufacturing costs? What is the completion deadline for each stage? What is the product’s feasibility (evaluation of the current design taking into consideration timeline, tech. knowledge, financials etc)?

The Design Plan The design plan describes in a simplified way the elements that make up an object or device and explains how they work It must include: The force of action developed by the object The direction this force is applied The main components

Technical Drawing What is technical drawing? Also called drafting Used by architects, interior designers, and design engineers Standardized system to allow for international interpretation A technical drawing has only one interpretation based on the codes and conventions used to draw it (ex. line thickness, symbols, text size)

Uses of Technical Drawings Engineering Drawings Engineers use these drawing for mechanically engineered items, or items that are made using machines These can include both machine parts and finished items Used so that important aspects like size and dimensions can be absolutely understood by everybody in the manufacturing process

Common Features Common features of engineering (technical) drawings include: Geometry: the shape of the object, which is represented by different views of the object Dimensions: the size including acceptable units Material: what the object is made of

Examples:

Views By drawing different views of an object we can accurately show the three-dimensional form using a series of two-dimensional drawing These drawing show only one perspective at a time such as top, front, side, back or bottom for simple objects

Example: A Stapler Top View Front View

Drawing Views You need to include dimensions and lines indicating what the stated dimensions refer to Ex: You need to label your view You need to make sure you don’t move the item as you are drawing it too much so that you do not change your perspective 16 cm