Chapter

9
Making a Titleblock and
A1-A2-A3-A4 Borders
In this chapter, you will learn the following to World Class standards:

ƒ Designing a Titleblock in Solid Edge

ƒ Drawing a Titleblock
ƒ Adding Text to Titleblock Using the Text Tool
ƒ Borders in Solid Edge
ƒ Saving the Titleblock and Borders

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Watching a crew of workers build a bridge, you may see a construction site manager looking
over a set of drawings while observing the erection of steel girders or the pouring of a
foundation. These drawings have many orthographic projections showing the front, top, right
side, left side and maybe even additional details about the project. Designers print the drawings
on paper that you will learn has a special name like “A2 Wide Sheet,” and if one drawing sheet is
the dimension of 594 x 420 mm, then the entire set of drawings are similar in area and are
bundled together. On every single blueprint there is a rectangular region referred to as the
titleblock, which contains the name, project, signatures, dates, identification number, sheet
number, revision label and scale. The titleblock also displays the company name, address, city,
state, zip code and possibly either a phone number or email address. A properly prepared
drawing has signatures and stamps, showing the construction manager and crew that the
information provided is correct and approved for manufacturing. Without this essential data and
authorization, the construction company is venturing into an area where legally they most likely
do not have the permission to construct the job.

Figure 9.1 – World Class CAD Titleblock

Designing a Titleblock in Solid Edge

As an architect, designer or engineer, sometime in your career your manager will ask you to
design, from scratch, or modify an existing titleblock. Sounds easy to you, right? As you have
discovered, each task in the world of manufacturing involves specified knowledge. Designing a
titleblock in this chapter will not only give you some important insight into planning essential
drawing data, but by actually creating the titleblock instead of just reading a textbook, you will
learn what to expect when viewing another company’s print describing and authorizing a part or
assembly. Although drawing formats will vary from one organization to another, let us see what
sections are common in most titleblocks.

Title

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The first item of information is the “Title,” which is present on every print. In the field of
architecture, the names can be First Floor Plan or Foundation Plan. In mechanical engineering,
the names can look funny, like Screw, Hex Hd ¼-20 – 2 LG or Bracket, Steel Mounting; the first
word of the drawing title matches a common list of descriptions so the organization’s drawing
database can be sorted easily by their categories, such as Screw or Bracket.

Project

The project description is also very important. Again, in the field of architecture, the project
identification could be the James Street Steel Bridge. In mechanical engineering, the project can
be the product to which the drawing is associated, like 403/404/406 Vertical Motor Mount
Assembly.

Drawn: Name &

Date

The next blocks of data added to the titleblock are the name of the person who made the drawing
and the date on which they drew it. In many cases, the person who started and ended the
drawing would either type in their name or sign the drawing under the “Name” column of the
“Drawn” row of the titleblock. This will depend on the company’s protocol for releasing
drawings to the manufacturing shop or construction site. When a person does not finish the
initial attempt and the drawing is handed over to another CAD drafter or designer, then the
individual that completes the entire drawing is considered the drawer. When another individual
adds or removes any entities to or from the original drawing, it does not entitle that person to
take credit for the design and replace the drawer’s name. The addition or subtraction will be a
revision and would be added to the drawing’s revision block, along with the documentation in a
file or database explaining the change. When a drawing name is changed, the industry in which
you will be working can consider your attempt to take credit for another’s work as plagiarism.
Normally this is discovered when drawings are being submitted for patent or an investigation
after an accident or product failure. The question is always, “who made the drawing?”

Instead of just typing your name in the drawing, you may want to have an electronic signature in
the name block. This makes the document much more authentic since signatures are much more
respected than a set of initials or a typed name.

For the “Date” column of the “Drawn” row of the titleblock, always put the date the drawing
was started. It is a frequent occurrence for design times to be long in their duration, so the initial
drawer will be modifying the entities in the CAD drawing while other elements of the project are
coming together. The print will not be released to another department or organization without
being checked and approved, so anyone can see the date for release from the project manager’s
approval date. You will discover over time how significant the drawing start date will become.
In a project with hundreds or even thousands of parts and assemblies being documented, having
the Drawn date, Checked date and Approved date being the same is almost worthless for project
analysis. Just a few simple, logical questions could not be answered if these dates are incorrect.

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When did a drawing start?

How long did the department take to finish different aspects of the effort?

When did the designer first think of that idea?

Always capture the Drawn: Name and Date information during the first day you create the
computer aided design file.

Checked: Name & Date

Most companies that, either through time or through experience, have found that quality is the
number one issue in the business of architecture and engineering and will enforce a multiple
signature rule in their departments. This will be evident when viewing their titleblock. The
“Checked” signature, typed name or initial shows when the drawing is 100% inspected for
proper form, fit and function. The dimensions and tolerances are checked with corresponding
parts and assemblies. Notes will be reviewed to see if they exhibit proper material, finish,
coating for corrosion control, appearance and other special concerns. The checker becomes one
of the most important individuals in the design process, eliminating silly mistakes that could
cause the project to overrun or terminate. When the CAD file is checked, sign and date the print
and send the file to the project manager for approval.

Project Manager
Approval

The project manager, who probably is a highly experienced designer, engineer or architect,
should be the only person able to sign off the “Manager Approval” name and date blocks for
the release of the drawing. The job supervisor has to have the knowledge to control the entire
content in the package of blueprints, but may not check every single item since the drawer and
checker verify every detail in the creation of the CAD file. Typically, the project director will
have multiple reviews where their team and other invited specialists sort through the most
important details to examine significant portions of the design. The project manager can have
reports on file showing calculations and various approvals from other engineers and architects.
You will learn many facets of the building trade and design theory throughout your career, but
you must realize that the majority of professionals in your field will eventually take on a level of
responsibility sometime during their tenure. Therefore, you must take every opportunity to learn
the correct method of detailing object lines, dimensioning, noting and encompassing the views in
the correct orthographic presentation. There are laws or codes in nearly every country outlining
the methods for constructing a project. In the end, when the drawings are complete, like many
qualified technical specialists before you, you will be the individual signing off the package of
drawings for release.
Sheet Size,
Drawing Number
and Revision

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The drawing number is a serial descriptor identifying the individual blueprint so that there can be
a level of control when discussing, ordering, building or inspecting a part or assembly. Some
part numbers are generated from a database that may have existed a decade or even a hundred
years before you arrived at the corporation. In this case, when your supervisor asks you to check
out fifty drawing numbers for the project, you can enter the data list and capture the next fifty
numbers available for distribution. This process of blocking out drawing numbers requires
listing the number and project. As each drawing is completed, go back into the organization’s
catalog of numbers and record the proper name, drawer and date drawn in the database. Your
company might have additional fields in their catalog database that they will require you to fill
out for documentation of the project.
Other companies use a logical numbering system, like 2005-031-002, which could mean the part
was designed in the year 2005, that the print was in the thirty-first project of the year and the
second drawing of the project. Many groups apply logical coding system to identify their
drawings. You only need to study the company’s drawing number method to learn how to
deploy the system.
The block containing the sheet size is for the use of the drawer, checkers and people printing and
using the drawing in manufacturing. The size of the sheet can often coincide with the size and
complexity of the part.
Organization’s
Name and
Mailing
Address

The next block that you will create contains the organization’s name and mailing address. In
Solid Edge, the companies name is in the top right corner and their address is in the lower left
corner. Businesses that are proud of their product will have their company’s identification
largely displayed in the titleblock.

Drawing Scale

The drawing scale can be 1:1 for mechanical drawings or 1/4”-1’ for architectural prints. All
computer-aided designs are drawn with a one-to-one scale but in order to fit a large commercial
building on a drawing like the A1 Wide drawing sheet will require a drawing scale.

Drawing a Titleblock
Now that you know some technical details concerning the formation of a valid titleblock, you
will use the default titleblock in Solid Edge to format your own titleblock (Figure 9.2). You can
put in your own name, address and contact number in the organization name and address blocks
instead of the World Class CAD information. To modify the Solid Edge title block, you must
first activate the Background tool on the Sheet Views panel under the Views tab (Figure 9.3).
Next, you need to select the A2-Sheet from the sheet tabs along the bottom of the graphical
screen (Figure 9.4).

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Figure 9.2 – Standard Solid Edge Titleblock

Figure 9.3 – Background Tool Active Figure 9.4 – A2-Sheet Selected

Select the Zoom Area tool at the bottom right of the graphical screen, then click with
your left mouse button, and drag a box around the Solid Edge titleblock so that it takes
up the whole screen. The first area of the titleblock that you are going to modify is the
company name box. In the upper right corner in large bold print is the Solid Edge
company name. Left click on the top text box surrounding the text “Solid Edge” (Figure
9.5). In the Text Window that appears to the left of the screen, select your font as Arial.
Set your font size to 6.10 and make sure the text is Bold (Figure 9.6). Now, highlight
the words “Solid Edge” by left clicking with your mouse and moving the cursor across
the words. Type in either your company name or your own name (Figure 9.7).

Figure 9.5 – Selecting Text Box Figure 9.6 – Arial Font, 6.10 and Bold

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Figure 9.7 – Company Name Added
Below the company name is another textbox. For the World Class CAD titleblock, a short
slogan is added. For your own titleblock, you can either select the text box and delete the text
inside or add a small phrase about yourself. If you want to add a small phrase, select the box, set
the font to Arial, size 3.00 and Bold.

Figure 9.8 – Selecting Second Text Box Figure 9.9 – Writing Short Phrase
Also, you are going to have to center align both
the name and the short phrase so after selecting
the textboxes using the shift key, go to the
Paragraph panel of the Text Window and click on
the Right Justify tool. A number of options will
drop down from the tool. You need to select the
Center tool to center align the text.

Figure 9.10 – Center Aligning the Text

The next part to add to the titleblock is the address and phone number. The area where you are
going to place this information is the lower left hand text box on the default titleblock. Begin by
selecting the text box (Figure 9.11). Next, change the font to Arial, size 3.00, Bold and Center
aligned. Now, type in your address and phone number as in Figure 9.12.

Figure 9.11 – Selecting Text Box Figure 9.12 – Adding Address

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You will now have to delete some of the text within the titleblock that Solid Edge automatically
inputs. You cannot alter the text in any way because it only changes when you save the file or
change which sheet you are on. With the cursor, select the three pieces of text in the titleblock as
shown in Figure 9.13. After selecting the text, use the delete key on your keyboard to remove
the text from the titleblock.

Figure 9.13 – Selecting 3 Pieces of Text for Deletion

Adding Text to Titleblock Using the Text Tool

After deleting some of the unwanted text from the titleblock, you can use the Text tool
to add your name and date you started the drawing in the “Drawn” row of the titleblock.
You also need to add the Project block. Select the Text tool from the Annotation panel
under the Home tab. In the box where “FILE NAME: Draft1” was originally written,
draw a textbox starting at the upper left corner of the block. Drag the text box to the
lower right corner (Figure 9.14). Keep the font as Solid Edge ISO but change the font
size to 2.00. Type in “Project” and then right click to end the Text command. If the
text is too close to the edges of the block, you can use the Move tool to adjust its
position within the block but make sure that the text stays in the upper left corner of the
box (Figure 9.15).

Figure 9.14 – Making Text Box Figure 9.15 – Project Block

Select the Text tool another time to add your name and date in the “Drawn” row of the
titleblock. Begin by drawing a text box in the “Name” column of the “Drawn” row. With a font
size of 3.00 and the Solid Edge ISO font, type in your first name. Once again, if you need to
move the textbox, select the Move tool and adjust the placement of the text (Figure 9.16).
Reselect the Text tool and draw another text box in the “Date” column of the “Drawn” row.

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Change the font size to 3.00 and keep the Solid Edge ISO font. Type in the full date with the
abbreviated name of the month included in the box. It is best to have the full date so that there is
no confusion if the drawing is viewed by people in other countries. Select the Move tool to
place the date as in Figure 9.17.

Figure 9.16 – Adding Your Name Figure 9.17 – Adding the Date

Borders in Solid Edge

In Solid Edge, the four standard borders are the A1 Wide, A2 Wide, A3 Wide and A4 Wide
borders (Figures 9.19 – 9.22). Unlike in AutoCAD where the default drawing space is model
space, Solid Edge automatically starts in sheet space. This means that, instead of having to draw
all of the borders and create a titleblock from scratch, you simply have to activate the
Background tool on the Sheet Views panel under the Views tab as in Figure 9.3. With the four
different borders sitting on tabs on the bottom of the graphical screen, modifying each different
border becomes very easy because you simply have to select and change any part of the border
or titleblock you want. This is convenient because you have a template for your titleblock in that
the Solid Edge titleblock can easily be modified to display your own company name and
information.
You already changed the titleblock of
the A2-Wide. Now you need to
change the titleblocks of the remaining
three borders so that all four will have
your own custom titleblock. With all
the borders customized, it is very easy
to change between which border you
have as you active sheet. In sheet
space, it is very easy to change which
sheet. Begin by double-clicking the
Sheet1 tab on the bottom of the
graphical screen. The Sheet Setup
window will appear in the screen.
Select the Background tab and left
click on the drop-down arrow. As you
can see in Figure 9.18, you can choose
between the four different borders to
change the background.
Figure 9.18 - Changing the Working Sheet

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Figure 9.19 – A1 Wide Border (841mm x 594mm)

Figure 9.20 – A2 Wide Border (594mm x 420mm)

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Figure 9.21 – A3 Wide Border (420mm x 297mm)

Figure 9.22 – A4 Wide Border (297mm x 210mm)

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Saving the Titleblock and Borders
To save the drawing, select the Save tool from the Quick Access toolbar on the upper
left of the screen. The Save As window will appear in the display. You can make your
own directory or you can place the drawing in the My Documents folder. Ask your
Network Administrator or Supervisor to show you where you should store your
finished drawing. You should type the name of the drawing “titleblock and borders” in
the File Name text box. The “.dft” suffix is added automatically to the name when you
save the drawing.

Figure 9.23 – Saving the Titleblock and Borders

* World Class CAD Challenge 22-18 * - These tasks are not timed but we do challenge you
to test your knowledge for modifying the titleblocks in the A1-A4 borders to maintain your
World Class ranking.

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