Technical Drawing Standards: Lettering Heights

May 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With:
Annotations

The BS Standards defines a range of eight Nominal

heights for lettering.
The sizes are:
1.8, 2.5, 3.5, 5.0,7.0,10,14 and 20mm

A formula of 1:2 ( 1:1.4) is used to calculate the sizes available,the same formula that
calculates paper sizes and line weights.
The recommended Minimum sizes are:
Paper size

Notes & Dims

Titles

Headings

A0

3.5

A1

2.5

3.5

A2

2.5

3.5

A3

2.5

3.5

A4

1.8

2.5

3.5

BS EN ISO 3098-0:1998 Technical product documentation. Lettering. General requirements.

The BS Standards defines a range of eight Nominal heights for lettering in Technical
drawings

Technical Drawing Standards: Dimension Styles

April 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With:
Annotations

The BS ISO Technical drawing Standard describes Five different dimension styles for us to
choose from. The first two, Closed Filled and Closed Blank, would usually be used in
Engineering. Oblique is often favoured by Architects. Ive never seen anyone use Open 90
or Open 30, except when sketching by hand. There are []

Technical Drawing Standards: Leader Lines.

February 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With:
Annotations

A leader line is a line that establishes a connection between a graphical representation of an

item and some text. A leader points to a bit of our drawing and says: Oi Look Here and
Read This!. The leader line itself should be a continuous Thin line (see this post on
Linetype Definitions). A []

The BS ISO Technical drawing Standard describes Five

different dimension styles for us to choose from.
The first two, Closed Filled and Closed Blank, would usually be used in Engineering.
Oblique is often favoured by Architects. Ive never seen anyone use Open 90 or Open 30,
except when sketching by hand.

There are a couple of Alternative terminators that have special meanings. A circle is
indicative of an origin point. In the example of running dimensions below, all the dimension
values spring from the same datum point.

The Point terminator is used for when the dimensions are too close together to allow room
for an arrowhead. An Oblique stroke can be used instead.

Technical Drawing Standards: Leader Lines.

February 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With:
Annotations

A leader line is a line that establishes a connection between

a graphical representation of an item and some text. A
leader points to a bit of our drawing and says:
Oi Look Here and Read This!.
The leader line itself should be a continuous Thin line (see this post on Linetype Definitions).
A leader line also has a terminator and some text. A leader line may have a reference line
under the text.
The British technical drawing standards give us four different types of terminators to use with
our leader lines.

An arrow terminator is used to point to an edge of an item. The dot is used to point to a face.
The Architectural tick can be used for referring to multiple parallel edges. The final type of
line has no terminator, and is used for pointing at dimension lines or lines of Symmetry.

Leader lines can have multiple segments and you can use one annotation to reference
multiple faces and edges.

You can reference multiple parallel edges or faces with one leader.

It is recommended that you draw your leader lines at an angle to the rest of the drawing i.e.
Not parallel to the drawing itself. Increments of 15 are advised.

Finally, your Instruction text can be centred to the reference line, or it can sit above the
reference line. The text should be a least twice the line thickness above the reference line.
The text should never touch the reference line itself.

An Icon to represent the ISO Standard Line types

October 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Line
Type Definitions

I tend to Post about whatever I am passionate about,

Today I was Inspired to draw this Icon representation of the ISO Line types

I Like it!

[EDIT]
I just worked out where I got that idea from 8-~

AutoCAD Line Type Scales, The Secret Truth.

May 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: AutoCAD Tutorials Tagged With: AutoCAD
Productivity, Line Type Definitions

The best thing about AutoCAD is that the programmers

never throw anything away. The worst thing about
AutoCAD is that the programmers never throw
anything away!
There are now four AutoCAD variables that govern your line type scale. It can seem a little
confusing, so hang on tight while we take a run through them
Suggested values:

LTSCALE = 1.0
CELTSCALE = 1.0
PSLTSCALE = 1
MSLTSCALE = 1
To change a variables value, simply type it in at the command line and enter a new value
when prompted. These values are saved in the drawing, so its worth getting them right in
your template file.
Why should I use these values?

Why have I suggested these settings? Let me run through each one in a little more detail.
LTSCALE

This variable sets the Line Type Scale factor globally.

Use LTSCALE to change the scale factor of all linetypes for all geometry in a drawing.
Changing the linetype scale factor causes a REGEN so you can see the result of your
changes straight away.
If you only draw and plot from Model space, you can use LTSCALE to scale all your line
types to suit your plot scale. If you use Paper space layouts, just leave this set at 1.0.

CELTSCALE

Sets the Current Entity Line Type Scale i.e. whatever you are about to draw next!
The CELTSCALE is relative to LTSCALE. By setting CELTSCALE to 0.5 the next line
you draw will have a linetype scale factor which is half that of the lines drawn previously.
You can use this feature to vary the linetype scale of your lines as you draw them. You can
also change the line type scale of some geometry after youve drawn it by selecting the
geometry and looking for LTSCALE in the properties palette.
Dont forget to set the CELTSCALE back to match LTSCALE when youre finished.

PSLTSCALE

This variable controls the linetype scaling of geometry displayed in paper space viewports
Paper Space Line Type Scale.
This variable only has two settings. Setting PSLTSCALE to 0 (Off) will mean that the
linetype scale factor of your modelspace geometry will not be effected by the scale of your
viewport.
Setting PSLTSCALE to 1 (On) means that the line type scale of your modelspace geometry
will be scaled to match the viewport scale.
If you use paper space layouts, turning paper space line type scaling on ensures that all your
geometry will have the correct line type scale, no mater what the viewport scale is.
LTSCALE and CELTSCALE Still effect the Line type scale of your geometry. You
might need to use the REGEN or REGENALL command to see the result of any changes
in your viewports.

MSLTSCALE

This is a reasonably new (Since 2007), but extremely useful variable. Like Paper space line
type scaling, Model Space Line Type Scaling only has two options. Setting MSLTSCALE to
0 (Off) is the default setting and will behave as Autocad always has.
Setting MSLTSCALE To 1 (On) will cause the Line type scale of any geometry in model
space to be scaled by the Annotation scale. This allows you to have a preview of how the line
type scale might look when seen through a scaled viewport.
MSLTSCALE Overrides LTSCALE and CELTSCALE in Modelspace, but it doesnt effect
Paperspace, so it wont change how your geometry looks inside your viewports.
Using MSLTSCALE is a really good way of checking that your linetypes are going to look
as you expect them to, without having to Flick back and forth between Paperspace and
Modelspace.

Do you know how to which Linetype definitions you should use to meet the ISO Technical
drawing standard? Read these posts on defining ISO linetype definitions to find out more.

Technical Drawing Standards: Line colours.

January 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Line
Type Definitions

Should you use colour line work on your drawings?

The British standards for technical drawing suggest that you dont use coloured lines on your
drawings. This makes sense from a Setting out point of view, most of our drawings will be
photocopied at some point in their life and the coloured lines wont show up.
The British standards do make a provision if you want to use coloured lines in your drawing,
you just need to add a note or key to explain what the coloured lines mean.
Do you use colour lines on your Drawings?

Yes - It's in our company/industry/local standard

No - There's no point

No - But we should!

View Results
NB: This has nothing to do with the colour of the lines that you see on your screen, only the
printed output.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Check out:
BS EN ISO 128-20:2001 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Basic
conventions for lines
Or read more posts on Technical drawing standards.

Technical Drawing Standards: Line Type Definitions.

January 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Line
Type Definitions

The advantage of using the British standard is that the line

type definitions have largely been coordinated in their
meanings across the Industries.
Putting the Line types, Line weights and Line type scales together, we get the following Line
type Definitions to use in our drawings.
I have amalgamated the definitions from the engineering drawing supplement and the
construction drawing supplement together. The Line type definition numbers are my own.
Once again, you are free to make up your own line definitions, but it is recommended that
you put a note on the drawing with their meaning.

BS 8888:2008 Technical product specification.

BS EN ISO 128-20:2001 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Basic
conventions for lines
BS ISO 128-23:1999 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Lines on
construction drawings
BS ISO 128-24:1999 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Lines on
mechanical engineering drawings

10
7

Comments

1.

Anonymous says
May 2011 at 9:47 am
The Line weights ought to be in the ratio three:2:1. The additional line weight for
construction drawings is used to represent graphical symbols and is situated
somewhere between the a Narrow Line and a Wide line.
Reply

Paul Munford says

May 2011 at 11:04 am

Thanks very much for your comment.
If you are looking for information on Line Weights, specifically you can find
out more here:
http://cadsetterout.com/technical-drawing-standards/line-weights/
Cheers,
Paul
Reply

2.

Keith S. Angus says

June 2012 at 11:27 pm
So what are all these ACAD_ISO linetypes that we are offered? Which ISO, and why?
Which industries are they used in? Im not aware of any standard that calls them up,
and find I have to write my own line definitions to get anything sensible. Surely in
these days of worldwide standards that shouldnt be necessary? (Im trying to decide
if Im serious or joking when I say that but I really cant make my mind up!)
Reply

Paul Munford says

June 2012 at 12:07 pm

Hi Keith,
This is from the ACADISO.lin file (2010):
ISO 128 (ISO/DIS 12011) linetypes have been added.
;;
;; The size of the line segments for each defined ISO line, is
;; defined for an usage with a pen width of 1 mm. To use them with
;; the other ISO predefined pen widths, the line has to be scaled
;; with the appropriate value (e.g. pen width 0,5 mm -> ltscale 0.5).
I have no idea how much time and effort the CAD vendors spend keeping up
to date with current standards!
Paul
Reply
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Name *
Email *
Website

Comment
I am Human!
Yes! I'd like to join the CSO mailing list

838
3,355

1,737

1,752

Popular on CSO
101 Inventor productivity tips
AutoCAD Layering productivity, never use the Layers pull down again!

AutoCAD Line Type Scales, the Secret Truth

How to optimize your AutoCAD DWG drawing files

The Secrets of copying Assembly files

Technical Drawing standards: Line Types.

January 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Line
Type Definitions

The British standards give us fifteen line types to use. Not

all of them have a specific meaning or at least they
only have a meaning that is specific to the industry
they are used in.
You are not limited to these line types. You can define your own, but the British standards
require that you add a key to your drawing to describe your custom line types meaning.

BS 8888:2008 Technical product specification.

Technical Drawing standards: Line weights.

January 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Line
Type Definitions

The British Technical Drawing standards allows for three

Line weights on each drawing. However, this varies for
each drawing discipline.
Engineering drawings only require two line weights, Construction drawings can have up to
four Line weights. The Line weights should be in the ratio 4:2:1. The extra line weight for

construction drawings is used to represent graphical symbols and is situated somewhere

between the Narrow Line and Wide line.
The acceptable line weights (in mm) that can be used in a drawing are as follows:
0.18 | 0.25 | 0.35 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 2.0
For the nerds among you the ratio between Line weights is 1:2 ( 1:1.4):
You can use which ever group of line weights you like. You should base your choice on the
size of paper and copying requirements.
Narrow (thin)

Graphical symbols

Wide (Thick)

Extra Wide

0.13

0.18

0.25

0.5

0.18

0.25

0.35

0.7

0.25

0.35

0.5

1.0

0.35

0.5

0.7

1.4

0.5

0.7

1.0

2.0

if you only want to use two line weights, take the narrow and wide pair from each row.
The default line weight in both Autocad and Inventor is 0.25mm.
The recommended Line weight for the Drawing frame (Border) for engineering drawings is
0.7mm. Im not sure how this fits in!

BS 8888:2008 Technical product specification.

BS EN ISO 128-20:2001 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Basic
conventions for lines
BS ISO 128-23:1999 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Lines on
construction drawings
BS ISO 128-24:1999 Technical drawings. General principles of presentation. Lines on
mechanical engineering drawings

Frame.
August 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Size
and Layout of Drawing Sheets

The typical Engineering style drawing border has a grid

reference frame drawn into the border. The grid
references are used for the location and coordination
of details.
Grid Line Weights

The Grid lines themselves are drawn with a 0.35mm line weight. They are spaced 50mm
apart from the centring lines. The last two divisions can be whatever size they end up.
Grid References

The grid references start from the top left of the sheet, with letters running vertically from the
top down and numbers running horizontally from left to right. On an A4 sheet the grids only
need to be drawn on the top and left hand side. The letters I and O are not used because
they could be confused with 1 and 0.

A3 Drawing Border with Grids Click to enlarge

The Number of Divisions depends on the Size of the Paper

Paper Size

A0

A1

A2

A3

A4

Long Side

24

16

12

Short Side

16

12

BS EN ISO 5457:1999+A1:2010 Technical product documentation. Sizes and layout of

drawing sheets

Technical Drawing Standards: Centring Marks

June 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Size and
Layout of Drawing Sheets

The BS ISO standards require Centring marks on

Engineering Drawings.
If you are producing Shop drawings in the construction industry you may chose to use an
Engineering or an Architectural style drawing frame. This a matter for your company
standards.
Centring marks help to align the drawing when its being copied or microfilmed. If you want
to include centring marks in your drawing frame, they should be 10mm wide and placed at
the centre of each edge of your drawing frame. They dont have to be a single line, the design
of the centring marks is up to you (go wild!)

BS EN ISO 5457:1999+A1:2010 Technical product documentation. Sizes and layout of

drawing sheets

Engineering drawing frame border size

May 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Size and
Layout of Drawing Sheets

The size of the drawing border (or Engineering Drawing

Frame) on your technical drawings is covered in BS
EN ISO 5457.
The BS ISO standards require a 20mm border to the left hand edge (for filing) and a 10mm
border round the other three sides of the drawing sheet.
Click Size and Layout of Engineering Drawing sheets for more on grid reference frames and
paper sizes.

For more information on engineering drawing layouts check out the Technical Drawing
Standards Page!

Technical Drawing Standards: Paper Sizes

May 2010 | Paul Munford Filed Under: Technical Drawing Standards Tagged With: Size and
Layout of Drawing Sheets

The British (BS) and International (ISO) Standards give

us a range of standard paper sizes to choose from.
The range is know as the A Size range. The Largest commonly used size is A0 which is a
piece of paper 1m in area with the sides in proportion 1:2 ( 1:1.4).

A1 is half this size, A2 is half that, A3 is half again and A4 is half that. A4 is the
smallest commonly used size for technical drawings.

Table of sizes
DESIGNATION

LENGTH

WIDTH

A0

1189

841

A1

841

594

A2

594

420

A3

420

297

A4

297

210

Table of enlargement and reduction scales

FROM / TO

A0

A1

A2

A3

A4

A0

100%

71%

50%

35%

25%

A1

141%

100%

71%

50%

35%

A2

200%

141%

100%

71%

50%

A3

283%

200%

141%

100%

71%

A4

400%

283%

200%

141%

100%