TECHNICAL DRAWING DRAFT NOTES ON SPECIFIC TOPICS

TOPICS COVERED:
1. Construction of Polygons
2. Isometric and oblique projections
3. Orthographic Projections
4. Scales
5. Principles of Tangency (Read up)

NB – Assignments at the end of the notes to be submitted on or before Saturday 22nd of June 2024

CONSTRUCTION OF POLYGONS
Formula to remember

360/ N (Exterior angle of the polygon)

(2N – 4) * 90 (Sum of the interior angles of the polygon)

Key points

Across flats means Circle is inscribed in polygon

Across corners means Polygon is circumscribed by a circle

E.g 1 Construct a regular hexagon given that the distance across flats is 70mm

Steps

1. Draw a circle of diameter equal to the distance given (70mm)

2. Draw construction lines that divide the circle into 4 quadrants
3. Draw a horizontal line (AB)using the t-quare tangential to the circle at the point where the
construction line touches the bottom of the circle
4. Using your 60o setsquare, draw a line tangential to the circle on both sides and cuts through
line AB
5. Follow the same procedure by constructing another line CD tangent to the point where the
construction line touches the top of the circle.
6. Outline lines tangential to the circle to the points where they intersect with other lines to get
your hexagon
E.g 2 Construct a regular hexagon given that the distance across corners is 70mm

Steps

1. Draw a circle of diameter equal to the distance given (70mm)

2. Draw construction lines that divide the circle into 4 quadrants
3. Using your compass at a distance equal to the radius of the circle (35mm), mark of above
the point where the horizontal circle divider touches the constructed circle at both sides.
4. Draw lines to join all the points marked on the circle and outline your polygon.

E.g 3 Construct a regular octagon given that the distance across flats is 70mm

Steps

1. Draw a circle of diameter equal to the distance given (70mm)

2. Draw construction lines that divide the circle into 4 quadrants
3. Draw tangential lines of arbitrary lengths to all four points where the construction lines
touch the circle.
4. Using your 45o set square draw tangential lines to the circle that cuts through 2 of the
tangential line.
5. Outline lines to join the points to get the octagon.

E.g 4 Construct a regular octagon given that the distance across corners is 70mm

Steps

1. Draw a circle of diameter equal to the distance given (70mm)

2. Draw construction lines that divide the circle into 4 quadrants
3. Bisect the quadrants formed by the construction lines to get points on the circumference of
the circle.
4. outline lines to join the points and obtain the required octagon
Constructing any regular polygon (Octagon) with a given length of side e.g 50mm
(approximate method)

1. Draw the given side PV. (50mm)

2. Bisect line PV to obtain the mid point of the line. Draw a line perpendicular to line PV through
this point.
3. From point P, construct a line at 45O to cut the perpendicular line at point 4
4. From point V, construct a line at 60O to cut the perpendicular line at point 6.
5. Bisect the distance 4-6 to locate point 5.
6. Step up (lay off) distance equal to 5-6 beyond point 6 to get points 7, 8, 9….
7. With center at 8 and radius 8P or 8V, draw a circle that will inscribe the polygon.
8. Adjust your compass to AB and divide the circle into eight equal parts and connect the division
points to complete the construction of the regular polygon (in this case octagon).

PROJECTIONS
Drawings are used by engineers and designers to convey information. Here we would consider
methods of representing 3d images on a 2D space such as our paper. We call these methods
projections. We would consider the following projections
a. Isometric Projections
b. Oblique Projections
c. Orthographic Projections

ISOMETRIC PROJECTIONS
Key points to note in drawing isometric projections:
1. Vertical lines are represented as vertical lines as 90o
2. Horizontal lines are represented at a 30o
3. Lines are drawn at the isometric length which is 0.816 of the actual length.
4. The circle is first drawn as a plane figure, and is then divided into an even number
of equal strips. The face of the cube is then divided into the same number of equal
strips. Centre lines are added and the measurement from the centre line of the circle
to the point where strip 1 crosses the circle is transferred from the plane drawing to
the isometric drawing with a pair of dividers. This measurement is applied above and
below the centre line. This process is repeated for strips 2, 3, etc.
The points that have been plotted should then be carefully joined together with a
neat freehand curve.

OBLIQUE PROJECTIONS
Key points to note in drawing Oblique projections:
1. Vertical lines are represented as vertical lines as 90o
2. Horizontal lines are represented at a 45o
3. Lines of depth are drawn at the half stated length.
4. One face is drawn in full.
ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTIONS
Orthographic projection is the representation of an object in line of sight of the viewer and
depending on what the viewer intends to see. These views are called elevations.
We have front elevation, rear elevation, plan (top elevation), bottom elevation, left side elevation
and right side elevation.

Orthographic views are presented parallel to the line of sight in which they are viewed thus

The most presented views are the Top View or plan view, the side view (Left or Right) and the Front
view. The orientation of the other views are dependent on the front view.

There are two systems of Orthographic Projections

First angle Projection and Third angle projections.

1. First Angle Projection :

In the first angle projection, the object is placed in the 1st quadrant. The object is positioned at the
front of a vertical plane and top of the horizontal plane. First angle projection is widely used in
India and European countries. The object is placed between the observer and projection planes. The
plane of projection is taken solid in 1st angle projection.

Symbol for first angle projection

2. Third Angle Projection :

In the third angle projection, the object is placed in the third quadrant. The object is placed behind
the vertical planes and bottom of the horizontal plane. Third angle projection is widely used in the
United States. The projection planes come between theobject and observer. The plane of projection
is taken as transparent in 3rd angle projection.

Symbol for third angle projection.

Why are second and fourth angle projection methods not used in the industry?
In the first angle and third angle, we assumed that the horizontal plane is rotated clockwise by 90
degrees for drawing purposes. Similarly, if we rotate the horizontal plane in second angle and fourth
angle projection, horizontal and vertical views will overlap with each other, which creates confusion
in their drawn views. So, we are using methods of the first angle and third angle projection.
It is just a matter of assumptions. The assumption that the horizontal plane rotates clockwise. If you
rotate the horizontal plane counter clockwise, then the views will overlap in the case of the first
angle and third angle method, and then the fourth angle and second angle projections are
favourable.
SCALES

A scale is defined as the ratio of the linear dimensions of the object as represented in a drawing to
the actual dimensions of the same. They are used to either enlarge or reduce an object to drawn on
paper.

The representative fraction (R.F) shows the ratio of the size of the line on your drawing and the line
it represents.

= Distance Drawn
Distance represented

Example a scale of 1:2 is a reduction scale meaning 1mm on the drawing is 2mm on the real object.

Constructing a scale:

A scale is a straight line divided into suitable number of equal parts or units of which the first unit is
further sub-divided. It has two units of measurement e.g metres and decimeters or centimeters and
millimeters and is used for simple scales. Scales that do not have many sub-divisions. When
constructing any shape, the first thing to decide is the length of the scale.
Example:
Construct a plain scale where 30mm represents 1 metre and the scale can be used to read up
to 5 metre in increments of 250mm.
STEPS

1. Draw a horizontal line 150mm long and divide it into five 30mm parts.
2. Divide the first segment on the left hand side into four equal parts. Ensure that the method of
line division is used so as to subdivide the line accurately. The first segment division is used
for the smallest units required on the scale which in this case is the 250mm increment.

Note: The first division is the only one which is necessary to be subdivided and at the end of the
first division, “0” is printed.

3. indicate a scale length by measuring from right to left.

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Draw the isometric drawing of the figure below and first angle orthographic projection
with arrow x indicating the front view.
2. Using the approximation method, construct a regular pentagon, hexagon and octagon,
given the length of the sides as 60mm.

3. Construct a diagonal scale of 25mm to represent 1m which can be used to measure

metres from 10mm up to 4m.