drafting machine

[rtrg]

I asked if anyone could tell me if there was a anything on the market that I could use as arms. I found and bid on an artists pantograph that has multiple links in steel flat bars with each bar drilled for equaly spaced hole, marked along the length of the bar. I plan to disassemble the unit and cut the bars into 4 equal lengths. Then attach each end to the clamp, elbow, and head. The elbow will float. The 4 bars will form two parallel lines to the head. The scales will maintain its angle position along the entire board surface. I will repost when done. This will be similar to the standard bearing/band type. easier to build. And sice the bars are identical, accuracy is automatic.

[J. R. Williams]

What is your location? I have a K&E unit complete with many blades (long and short) and table that I seldom use. Building a unit that would be easy to use is a major project.
JRW

[Paul Alciatore]

I learned drafting the old fashioned way and I certainly do understand what a drafting machine is and what is for. But, with the availability of so many low cost CAD programs, I last used such methods over 20 years ago.

Why not just get a free or an inexpensive drafting program and be done with it. Or do you have to make very large drawings and the cost of a printer/plotter is prohibitive? Even then, I have made many drawings with multiple sheets and Scotch Tape.

For 2D drafting my favorite is FastCAD, which is quite easy to learn. Not free, but not too expensive either.

For 3D, you can download SketchUp from Google for free. I have been learning it and it is quite nice. I found it has a bit of a learning curve because it does things a lot different than any 2D program I have used. But they have great tutorial videos on line. A few hours of learning and you should be able to make a simple 3D drawing.

Both of these programs have excellent user groups on line for any questions you may have. Really, you should give it a try with one of these or some other CAD program.

[SGW]

What Paul said. Not to dissuade you from building a drafting machine if you want to, but I think CAD is the way to go. I've done manual drafting, but now I use ProgCAD Smart! 2009. It's free and is largely a clone of the AutoCAD user interface. (That is neither an endorsement nor a condemnation; just stating a fact.)

It is primarily for 2D drawings, though with considerable pain it can be coaxed into doing some amount of 3D. Anyway, the price is right. There is admittedly quite a learning curve. I learned by getting an AutoCAD LT for Dummies book, starting at the beginning, and working my way through the pages and examples. About a quarter of the way through the lightbulb went on and I "got" the AutoCAD view of the world and the commands so it suddenly all made sense...mostly, and I could go on without the book. There is still a lot about the program I don't know about or use, but I know enough to do what I want.

It is mostly compatible with 64-bit Windows 7. There are a few glitches, but nothing too serious. Installation on W7 requires some manual intervention, which is described in a posting on the program's Help forum.

Downloadable from here:

http://download.cnet.com/progeCAD-20...-10777485.html

There are other free or cheap packages available online; this just happens to be the one I use.

[SilveradoHauler]

Drafting Machines. Brings back memories of being a drawing board jockey prior to the CADD era.

I have two Universal Drafting Machines, the best. One is board mounted in the shop for quick & dirty shop drawings.

I have thousands of hours on Autocad back when I was a design engineer, but the old school drawing instruments save a lot of time in the shop when all I need is a simple drawing "for the record". No printer, no computer, no software, no plotter, no ink or plotter pens, pure old school! If the power goes out, just move the board out to the sunlight or fire up the Coleman lantern.

You will have to be a pretty good designer and machinist and have some outstanding tooling to produce something half as good as one of my Universals!

If you really want a drafting machine prowl the pawn shops and ebay.