Drafting standards are a set of guidelines and rules used in the construction industry to ensure that technical drawings are consistent and accurate. These standards facilitate communication among architects, engineers, and contractors by establishing a common language and format for conveying information.
Now, let’s continue reading to learn more about drafting standards, the ISO certification that describes them, and how they are applied in Australia.
Drafting standards, also called drawing standards, refer to the set of rules, guidelines, and conventions that govern the preparation, documentation, and presentation of technical drawings, such as engineering, architectural, and mechanical designs.
These standards were built to ensure consistency, accuracy, and clarity in the representation of complex systems, components, and processes.
Some key aspects of drafting standards include:
- Line Types: Drafting standards specify the use of different line types for various purposes, such as outlines, hidden lines, centerlines, and section lines.
- Dimensions and Annotations: Drafting standards provide guidelines for the placement, formatting, and notation of dimensions and annotations, ensuring that they are clear and unambiguous.
- Layers: Drafting standards define the use of layers to organise and manage different types of information within a drawing, such as background information, dimensions, and annotations.
- Viewing Standards: Drafting standards specify the orientation and arrangement of views in a drawing, ensuring that all necessary information is presented in a clear and organised manner.
Organisations that follow these drafting standards ensure that their technical drawings are accurate, consistent, and easily understood by all stakeholders, thereby improving communication, collaboration, and overall project success.
Aside from drafting standards, spatial coordination is a critical component of the construction management process.
Spatial coordination is the process of ensuring that all project components fit together properly in a physical space, taking dimensions, clearances, and accessibility into account.
Discover more about it in our post, “Spatial Coordination in Construction Projects: What It Is and How It Works“.
What Is the ISO Standard for Drafting?
The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) establishes the global benchmark for standard development. When it comes to ISO drafting standards, there isn’t just one. ISO has a couple of important standards that are widely used in the construction industry. ISO 128 and ISO 5455:1979 are two widely used standards for drafting. Here are the explanations for that:.
- ISO 128: This standard covers the general principles of presentation in technical drawings. It specifies things like line thicknesses, fonts, and symbols used to represent different features on a drawing.
- ISO 5455: This standard focuses on the recommended scales used on technical drawings. It ensures consistency in how drawings depict the actual size of the object they represent.
For mechanical engineering drawings specifically, there are several ISO standards under ICS 01.100.202. These include standards for general principles of presentation, lines on mechanical engineering drawings, views on mechanical engineering drawings, sections on mechanical engineering drawings, and more.
Drafting standards Australia (Image by BIM SCALER)
What are the Australian Drafting Standards?
The Australian Drafting Standards are legally binding and were established by one or more governmental bodies. Although they are regarded as optional because they are guidelines, they become required when they are included in regulations or business contracts.
AS 1100.301-2008 is a key Australian technical drawing standard that specifies requirements and recommendations for architectural drawing practice.
This standard addresses a variety of issues, including paper size, dimensioning, lines, reference lines, dimension and tolerance indication, symbols, abbreviations, drawing scales, drawing sheet layout, and more.
These standards are applied to a variety of settings and procedures, such as CAD file storage, file templates, layout units, borders and titles, symbols, layers, text, table, dimension, and other drafting styles and plotting. The company’s or school’s drawing standards are consistent with national industry standards.
Aside from that, Australian universities have developed several standards. Two of the most well-known are the drafting standards developed by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the CAD drawing standards developed by the University of Technology, Sydney. Both standards were created to facilitate the submission of drawings prepared by consultants and contractors for building projects at the respective universities.
The Usage of Drafting Standards
Drafting standards are used to ensure consistency, clarity, and accuracy in the communication of technical information between engineers, designers, manufacturers, and other stakeholders involved in the production of products, structures, or systems. Here are some key ways drafting standards are used:
- Consistency: Drafting standards provide guidelines for the creation and presentation of technical drawings, ensuring that they are clear, consistent, and universally understandable. This helps to avoid confusion and misinterpretations, particularly when multiple people are working on a project.
- Efficiency: By adhering to a set of established standards, drafting personnel can maintain a consistent approach to drafting, making it easier for others to understand and interpret the drawings. This can lead to a more efficient design process and, ultimately, increased production and profits.
- Communication: Drafting standards facilitates communication between different disciplines and organisations involved in a project. They ensure that all drawings within a project or company use the same layer names, dimension styles, linetypes, and text styles, which is essential for accurate and consistent sharing of information.
- Professionalism: Drafting standards helps to produce documents that look professional rather than thrown together. This is important for maintaining a high level of quality and credibility in the construction stages of a project.
- Customisation: Drafting software, such as SolidWorks, allows users to create and customize drafting standards for a drawing document. These standards can include specifications for dimensions, annotations, and tables, and can be saved to a file, archived, and sent to others.
Organisations may minimise errors, enhance communication, and foster effective cooperation in the design, manufacturing, and construction processes by adhering to these drafting standards and making sure that their technical drawings are understandable to all parties involved.
What are the CADD skill standards?
The CADD (Computer-Aided Drafting and Design) Skill Standards are a set of guidelines that outline the skills required for proficiency in CADD. They are developed by industry experts and are used to guide training programmes and assess the skills of potential employees.
The Texas Skill Standards document outlines several key skills in CADD, including:
- Use of Drawing Media and Related Drafting Materials: This includes identifying the characteristics and types of vellum, mylar, plotting pens, plotting pencils, ink, and toner cartridges. It also involves selecting the appropriate drawing medium, considering factors like cost, use, compatibility, accuracy, and reproduction equipment.
- Use of Basic Measurement Systems: This involves understanding and applying the elements of the English/Imperial system and the metric system. It includes identifying and applying measurements to mathematical operations of length, mass (weight), area, perimeter, circumference, and volume.
- Adding Correct Annotation to Drawings: This skill involves identifying notes, symbols, and their placement. It also includes applying annotation notes, symbols, and placement to correct the feature being described.
- Identifying Line Styles and Weights: This involves identifying various line styles, including the centre line, hidden line, phantom line, object line, section line, cut plane line, dimension line, symmetry line, visible line, extension line, and stitch line. It also includes evaluating line styles and applying the correct line style to represent or define features.
These standards are aimed at a beginner CADD user and are written generically so as not to bias them towards any particular CADD software. For more detailed information, you may want to refer to the official documents or the specific standards mentioned.
After we’ve learned about drafting standards, you might want to implement a design automation process to speed up the creation of drawings and ensure line style consistency across projects.
Design automation is the process of automatically generating design elements using software tools, which reduces manual effort and increases drafting efficiency.
Learn more about it in our previous post, “Design Automation: What It Is and Its Benefits to the Construction Process“.
Conclusion
To sum up, drafting standards are critical to preserving the accuracy, consistency, and calibre of technical drawings and documentation. The value of these standards cannot be overemphasised, whether it is for learning CADD, following the ISO standard, or following Australian drafting guidelines.
So, are you ready to implement the drafting into your construction project using the BIM process?
BIMscaler’s consulting and management services will provide you with end-to-end BIM usage for your project, starting with BIM/model management, content management, project start-up, project meetings, and end-user support, including as-built documentation creation.
As a leading Australian provider of BIM services, BIM Scaler assures you of a professional and effective BIM implementation for your building project.
