Engineering drawing

An engineering drawing is a type of technical drawing used to define the requirements for engineering products or components. Typically, the purpose of an engineering drawing is to clearly and accurately capture all geometric features of a product or component so that a manufacturer or engineer can produce the required item. It may also describe the process of making the item, may be used to convey engineering ideas during the design process, or may provide a record of an existing item.

Rather than being an illustration, an engineering drawing is intended to describe the size and shape of an item and may provide information regarding acceptable variations, load limits, materials and any other information that can help give a complete understanding of an item.

Drawings can be created in Oblique and Isometric as well as 1st and 3rd projection.

It is usual for engineering drawings to include a series of projections showing different angles of the item, as well as sections, ‘exploded’ views and so on. Projections may create two dimensional or three dimensional representations of the item. See Projections for more information.

Increasingly, engineering drawings are prepared using computers that can also create files used to instruct machines how to manufacture the item. See computer aided design, computer aided manufacture and building information modelling for more information.