1. I do not use TABBED drawings, but just put all the drawings on one tab. I use tabs extensively in spreadsheets, but CAD is not spreadsheets, and just because tabs are a good idea in spreadsheets does not mean you have to use them in everything.
2. The titleblock for my original AutoCAD drawing is XREF'ed into may main drawing (XREF is external reference, ie: the titleblock is a separate drawing that shows up behind my main drawing, but is not actually part of my main drawing). The graphic scale is drawn on the titleblock. For the attached file, I inserted the titleblock into the drawing in order to make one single drawing that I can post here, but normally I would not insert the titleblock into the drawing.
When using external references, you can change something on the master XREF drawing and it automatically changes in every other drawing that references it.
3. I preface each XREF file with "XR...", ie XR-BERNAY-TITLEBLOCK.DWG. You need to be able to immediately identify which drawings are base drawings and which drawings are XREF's (Draftsight probably uses a different term than XREF.)
4. If you select any of the text in the drawing that also has a leader, you will see a grip on one side near the leader (be sure to select the text only, not the leader).
If you select the center grip on the text and drag it, the text will move and the leader will redraw itself to the new text location automatically when you stop moving the text (called an associative leader). This feature saves much time.
5. Typically, the things that are placed on the titleblock XREF sheet are things that do not change, or things you want to change on every sheet such as the Rev. date in this case. The things that change with each drawing such as the sheet number and the sheet title are actually contained in the base drawing, not in the XREF, so that I can individually modify these items for each sheet.
6. The purple line located near the top of the titleblock is in the layer "DEFPOINTS", and I use it just as a guideline since I normally punch holes in my printed sheets and place them in a 3-ring binder. You can place anything on the DEFPOINTS layer and use it for reference only, since the DEFPOINTS layer never plots. If you accidentally unintentionally place an item on the DEFPOINTS layer, you will be highly confused since you see it on your drawing, but when you plot your drawing, the item vanishes mysteriously.
7. I try and use somewhat consistent color schemes, ie: all the tap information notes are in red. Brass items are typically drawn in a brass color. Dimensions are a light blue to stand out from any other item. Base metal is generally drawn in green since it seems to stand out well on the screen. Be as consistent as possible in your color scheme. For this drawing I have totally ignored all layers except DEFPOINTS. All objects are "color-by-entity", as opposed to objects that can be "color-by-layer". When you set up your objects as "color-by-layer", you can change the color of the layer, and all of the objects on that layer change color at the same time. For very complex drawings at work, I use color-by-layer for all objects, and toggle layers on and off to be able to sort out everything. I don't think that level of complexity is necessary for an engine drawing, but if you like complexity, go for it.
8. The hatching is associative, ie: if I stretch the boundaries of a hatched object, the hatching flows with the resized object.
9. Typically I use 3-views, front, top and side. If necessary, I sometimes use a bottom, top, left and right side.
10. The isometric drawings are just 2D items. You can draw them easily if they are not too complex just by making two copies of an object, and then drawing lines between the two objects at a 45 degree angle, and then trimming out the lines that would be hidden from view. I can generally draw a simple isometric drawing faster than I can open and begin a drawing in a 3D program, and the isometrics I draw are part of the 2D drawing and can be modified in 2D, which is not the case in a 3D drawing.
11. Almost everything in this drawing was drawn by establishing an X and Y base line and then offsetting a given defined distance, and trimming. Holes are mirrored or arrayed into exact places. (Note: The isometric drawings are not exact, but just used for illustrative purposes.) The total commands used to create this entire sheet are generally LINE, CIRCLE, ELLIPSE, ARC, COPY, MOVE, ROTATE, TRIM, ARRAY (name differs in DraftSight), MIRROR, DIMENSION, TEXT, TEXT with leader. (Not many commands were used.)
12. Most lines are simple lines, no polylines or other things that can be tricky and problematic. I use an occasional SPLINE on a shape with a compound curve. I draw one side of the object with the SPLINE, and then mirror the spline, since you will never draw two splines exactly the same.
13. General text is ROMANS. Titles are ARIAL.
14. I use the graphis scale because if you do not plot the drawing at a 1:1 scale, then the drawing will be the wrong size. You should be able to lay a ruler (a scale in the drafting world) on top of your printout, and the inch marks should match the ruler exactly.
15. The light gray tick marks at the lower left of each sheet are guides for inserting additional copies of the titleblock XREF sheet.
16. I have started a few standards at the top of the sheet. I try all all times to draw to standard stock material and fastener sizes.
17. I did not use a CAD chart for this drawing since all text is 3/32" tall. I did have to size the arrowhead for the first text with leader that I drew.
18. All sheets plot at 1:1 on a 8.5" x 11" standard sheet.
19. You can also assign pen widths to colors, and save the pen information to what is called a pen table. I use pen tables for work drawings, but use all PEN2 for engine drawings just to keep it simple, and to allow me to use colors for other then pen information.
I do not use line widths to maintain simplicity, but feel free to assign line widths if you think you can control them.
20. I typically draw the front view first, then project lines up for the top view, and right for the side view. By projecting lines from the exact endpoint of the front view, you get the exact dimensions on the top and side views. Always keep the side and top views exactly lined up with the front view.
21. You can copy and recycles items in the drawing such as copying the steam chest to make the steam chest gasket, and copying the hole pattern for the top cylinder head to make the bottom cylinder head bolt pattern. You can copy the top cylinder head and modify it for the bottom cylinder head.
By copying things that have to fit together, you guarantee that the hole pattern is exactly the same for both objects.
I only created one text with leader. All other text with leader are a copy of the first one, with the color of the text and leader being changed as required.
22. Reference the cylinder on sheet B-3D. As I recall, I only drew the left half of the cylinder, and then mirrored it to the other side.
Never draw both sides of a complex piece since with each step you add to the drawing, you have the potential to introduce errors.
23. I used the MIRROR command extensively when creating this drawing since there is a great deal of symmetry in the Bernay.
I use symmetry to great advantage when drawing engines.
24. Something that I started doing this year is copying the parts over to one side off the drawing sheets, and making blocks of each assembly.
I then assemble the blocks into a somewhat complete engine at the bottom of the page, for top, front and side views.
I have caught a number of errors this way with parts that have to align in an exact way, which is most parts.
There are some tricks to the assembly method, and I will detail those later.
Notice that if you select things in the assembly drawings, most items are blocks, and blocks can be moved as a single entity.
25. Dimensions are associative, ie: if I resize an object, the dimension updates automatically to the new size. If I move the endpoint of a dimension to a new place, the dimension automatically changes to reflect the new endpoint position.
26. I used the ARRAY function in AutoCad to make all the hex bolt heads. For Draftsight, just use the POLYGON command and input 6 sides.
:-[ :'(
