Blueprints

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by mvray

Now let me make a comment to the fellow machinist reading this, these are machine drawings for us, not parts diagrams for people to look up names and locations of parts.

I have a machine tools background, and studied drafting at university. I still have problems reading these drawings, because I was not raised in that culture at that time speaking that language. Simply translating the words is not sufficient; you need to live the life to understand the mindset behind the words. Anyone with teenage children knows these problems. Even something as seemingly simple as a set of blueprints needs a translation to be understood.

The Metric system is a whole 'nother set of headaches, to us that were raised on the Inch system. It even affects tolerances. Metric tolerances can be greater or less than a comparable Inch tolerance, but are definitely different. Clearances the same.

I find that names I routinely use are not the same as their German equivalents, and other parts that I identify differently have that name...(if you can follow that)...

Having notes on the prints helps somewhat, but it is still a struggle (for me) to translate these prints into something I can actually use.

Just my $.02 for the day...