Introduction

The most important part of a manufacturing print is the drawing. The most important part of print reading is the ability to visualize the drawing. The ability to form a mental picture of the part from the drawing is a necessity in order to know what the actual part will look like. A machinist must visualize a part from a print before it can be made. After a part is made, an inspector generally checks the part to see if it conforms to the drawing. The drawing and the actual part must be the same. The inspector must form a mental picture of the part from the drawing in order to inspect the part. The purpose of this example is to stress the importance of forming a mental picture of a part from a print. All the other factors of print reading, such as dimensions, tolerances, and machining notes are related to a visualized part.

The ability to form a mental picture of a typical manufactured part will be studied in this chapter. This will be accomplished by reviewing the following items:

Types of drawings.

Points of view.

Projections.

Visualization.

The first three items will be examined separately. Visualization will combine the first three items.

Types of Drawings

There are many different ways that a drawing can be made. Two methods will be reviewed: isometric, and orthographic. Almost all drawings for manufacturing prints use the orthographic method. Isometric drawings will be used to help visualize orthographic drawings. All regular...