My old drafting table trick I picked up in Phoenix saved me a headache

I've been drafting for about 7 years now, doing mostly residential plans for a small firm outside Phoenix. A few months back, I took on a side job for a guy who wanted a tiny house layout with some weird angles. I was skeptical about using my old manual drafting table instead of just doing it all in AutoCAD since I'm pretty fast on the computer. But the angles were so messy on screen, I kept second guessing the roof lines. So I pulled out my old parallel bar and a sharp pencil, laid out the whole thing by hand on vellum in about 3 hours. It came out cleaner than anything I'd done digitally for that project, and the client signed off on it right away. The whole thing made me wonder, do any of you still use manual methods for tricky layouts or is everyone all digital now?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamesm3813d ago

Did you have to use an actual pencil or did they at least let you borrow a stylus? lol

averymartin13d ago

Hold on, the original post said they used an "actual sharp pencil" not a stylus. A stylus is for tablets and phones, not for drafting on vellum with a parallel bar. You'd want a nice 2H lead for crisp lines that don't smudge, not some rubber nub. Have you ever tried laying out a roof angle with a digital screen glare? It's a whole different headache.