Drafting symbols, standards and template

Drafting Symbol, drafting standard and drafting template information

When 2D drafting systems first started being used, it made sense to build up libraries of frequently used symbols so they could be be cut and paste onto drawings as required. The simplest of these libraries were just individual drawings which you opened, copied what you needed, then pasted the symbols into the drawing you were working on.

Things got more sophisticated when these libraries were organized into menus, where you could pick the symbol you needed from a drop down list. You didnt need to have a drawing full of symbols loaded into memory. Menu driven systems could also be used with large digitizing tablets, where all the symbols were in plain sight and all you had to do was point to them to build up a schematic diagram.

Most cad systems nowadays use symbol libraries that use software driven symbol generators that dont require a huge library of symbols at all. In these systems, you click on the requirements you want and the software builds the symbols for you. For example welding symbols where you need only select left hand or right hand, size of weld, far side or near side and so on. The nice thing about these systems is that you can go back and edit any symbol if the design needs to be changed

If you are looking for a particular symbol, there are a wide variety of software packages that provide just about any symbol and drafting standard you could imagine.

CADsymbols® CD is the most extensive collection of standard parts and symbols available containing over 30 million symbol drawings and models in 2D/3D view and freely revolving 3D models. CADsymbols CD is perfect for mechanical engineers; mechanical drafters' and non-professionals in the mechanical design arena who want to directly download complex symbols into their drawings instead of create them from scratch. Supports both imperial and metric measurements.