Gibbs N.

Murillo
1CEA

Common Drawing Instruments and their Uses

1. Drawing Sheet - Drawing sheet is a white paper on which an object is drawn
which is available in various sizes. The sheet used for engineering should be of
good quality. It should be white in color with uniform thickness with must resist
the easy torn of paper. The surface of sheet must be smooth.
2. Drawing Board - Drawing board is generally made of soft wood and it is in
rectangular shape. It is used to support drawing sheet, so, the size of board is
made according the size of the drawing sheet. The wood portions are joined by
tongue and grove type joint to prevent cracks. At the edge of board, straight
ebony edge is provided for the T-square usage.
3. Mini Drafter - Mini drafter is an instrument which can be used for multiple
functions in drawing. It contains two arms which is adjustable to required angle
and at the end of the lower arm a scale set is attached. The scale set contains
two scales connected perpendicular to each which cannot be separated. This
instrument is fixed to the drawing board at one edge with the help of screw
provided for the drafter. Mini drafter is used for drawing horizontal lines, vertical
lines, inclined lines, angles, parallel lines, perpendicular lines etc.
4. T-Square - T square is used to draw horizontal and vertical lines on drawing
sheet. It made of wood or plastic and in T shape. The vertical part of T is called
as blade and horizontal part of T is called as head. The edge of head is uniform
level and attached to the edge of the board. The working edge is used to draw
lines anywhere on the sheet by moving the instrument top to bottom.
5. Compass - Compass is used to draw an arc or circle with known dimensions on
engineering drawing. It is generally made of steel and consists two legs. One leg
contains needle at the bottom and other leg contains a ring in which a pencil is
placed. The needle tip is placed at the respected point and pencil tip is adjusted
to the height at least 1mm just above the tip of the needle. The gap is nothing but
the paper thickness.
6. Divider - The divider looks like a compass, but the difference is the two legs of
divider are provided with needles. This is used to divide a line or curve into equal
parts. It is also used to check the measurements.
7. Set Squares – Set squares are used to draw lines with an angle between them.
In most of the structures, 30, 45, 60 and 90-degree lines are most common. So ,
set squares make the work easier for this type of drawings. Generally, set
squares are of two types. One is 45 degree set square and another one is called
as 30 – 60 degree set square. Both are required in the drawing. 45 set square
has a side of 25 cm while 30-60 set square has 25 cm length on one side.
8. Clinograph - Clinograph is an instrument used to draw parallel lines to the
inclined lines. It contains one adjustable wing or strip which can be adjusted to
required angle. So, it can be termed as adjustable set square.
9. Protractor - Protractor is used to draw and measure the angles of lines in the
drawing. It is transparent and made of plastic. It is in the shape of semi-circle,
and the edge of semi-circle part consists reading with one-degree accuracy. The
bottom line joins the 0o to the 180o. The center of this bottom line is marked as
“O” or “C” from which the angles are measured.
10. French Curves - French curves are made of plastic and they are in irregular
shapes. Sometimes the drawing requires irregular curves or shapes or arcs
which cannot be drawn using compass. In that case French curves are suitable.
Generally French curves are more suitable for small curves and for long curves
splines are used.
11. Drawing Templates - Templates are nothing but plastic or wooden boards which
contains spaces of several shapes or letters. Non-dimensional shapes or variety
font letters are drawn by using templates which makes drawing easier and
perfect.
12. Pencils- Pencil is used to draw on the paper. Any type of pencil is not suitable for
drawing. There are some limitations, the drawing appearance should be very
neat and understandable. Every line of the drawing should indicate its
importance. It depends upon the hardness of pencil. Based on the hardness
quality pencils are classified into 18 grades.
13. Eraser - Eraser is used to remove the lines or spots which drawn by mistake or
with wrong measurements. The eraser used should be of good quality and soft. It
should not damage the paper while erasing.
14. Paper Holders - When the drawing sheet is placed on the board it may not be in
fixed position. To fix the drawing sheet to the board paper holders are used.
Generally used paper holders are thumb pins, spring clips, stick tapes etc. Care
should be taken while removing the clips or tapes otherwise the sheet may tore.