A Dinosaurs Gloat

[Paul Canaris]

What can I say, I guess I'm just a Dinosaur. I spend my days involved in the installation of medical equipment such as 64 slice CT Scanners and such, but when it comes time to relax, I like to do things the way I learned years ago and which I'm most comfortable with. :p I just finished putting this drafting setup together this past weekend. I had wanted one of these for years remembering back to high school and college where I used one of these. I realize too many this will seem a slow way to do design work, but for me it's actually faster than a CAD program which I find I just don’t use enough to become proficient at. Some of you may find this to be so as well. The mechanical drafting unit is a NOS Vemco 630 with a 5” head and NOS K&E scales; it glides like it was on a cushion of air. The drafting table itself was slapped together to be functional with no concern for looks. It’s made from 2/3 of a sheet of ¾” Chinese 11 ply hardboard, covered with a 20 mil Vinyl board cover. The lower rail is scrap oak, the drawer is a mock-up I did for test fitting bathroom drawer roller bearing guides and the legs are two saw horses. I mounted two flexible neck drafting lamps with 100 watt bulbs at opposite ends of the table to prevent shadow casting. Also shown is my most recent project, a drawing for one of two G&G bathroom mirrors.:)

[Bill Arnold]

Paul,

Very nice setup! Sure brings back a lot of memories of the pre-pc era. Like many, I spent untold hours at a drafting table early in my career. While there's something about being more "connected" to a project when one spends time with pencil and paper, I have to say that I'm equally as connected to a project I layout on my computer. Maybe it has something to do with the amount of "erasing" I find I have to do! :confused: :eek:

:D

[Don Bullock]

Paul, that's great. I fully agree and have something like this on my list of things to make as well. While I've been using computers from the early days of Radio Shack, Commodore (can't remember the one that pre-dates them), there are things that can be done better and faster with a pencil.

[Jim Becker]

That's a nice setup...and even a CAD user can fine utility with a pencil from time to time! I do have a drafting desk in storage and should I ever get a good spot to put it, I will likely get used!

[Bart Leetch]

Lookin great... I would feel very much at home with that.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I grew up on a drawing board like that. For free flowing design concepts, hand sketching is still the best and quickest way to capture a thought. One can computerize hand sketching using a stylus, but it's still just sketching with a pen. As for CAD software programs, they are good for refining the hand sketches, or for stuff that is more mechanical (like kitchen cabinets). Perhaps, I'm just old school too.

Anyway, looks good!

-Jeff :)

[Greg Dykes]

I wore one of those out back in the early 80's at the Univ. of Houston. I bought one that was almost new back in 82 from a furniture rental company that was going out of business. I got the table and Vemco V-track for $150.00. I had it until three years ago when it was damaged in a huricane. I sure miss doing it the "ole fashion" way. I learned to ink on one of those.

[joe greiner]

I guess I'm a dinosaur, too; but a dinosaur with a current driver's license. I have the Vemco's uncle: a K&E elbow machine with a counterweight arm. Works very well at about 75 degrees from the horizontal, for better access to the entire drawing. Haven't used it lately, though. I now use paper & pencil for rough sketches, and CAD for final design. The good thing about CAD is it gives you lots of precision; the bad thing about CAD is it gives you lots of precision.

For small flatwork that would be hard to lay out (such as arcs where the center point would be in the next room), I print the CAD layout full size and attach the print to the material with spray adhesive. Then cut out the part with scroll saw, jig saw, band saw, or whatever. I score through the cut line with a utility knife or hobby knife. This preserves the shape when/if the paper tears from the saw work; particularly handy when cutting metal, because cutting fluid can dissolve the spray adhesive.

A couple advantages of CAD that are hard to beat:

Consider several variations of a design, save each version, and come back to each as the design gets refined or "de-refined." The downside of this is a tendency to overwork the design, when you'd just as well proceed with production.

Insertable files of hardware and tools to check for interference or feasibility. I've made CAD files of nuts & bolts, homemade jumbo wing nuts, wrench sockets, drill press, cross-slide vise, Forstner bits, router bits and such. The router bits in particular are convenient for establishing the cutting sequence for a combination molding made of simple component cuts. Could do all of these things with tracing paper, of course, but it gets kinda messy.

Joe

[Brian Weick]

Paul,
I have one as well , not exactly like yours - but I do use it. Nice table!:D
Brian

[Maurice Ungaro]

Very sweet! Brings back memories of my father's furniture design studio, were I spent countless hours, either rumaging through the stacks of solid brass hardware samples, or runnning copies on the aquous ammonia based Diazit wide format copier.

I can smell the graphite dust now!

[Chuck Lenz]

I've allways wanted a drafting table and arm since 1974 when I took mechanical drafting in high school. About 17 years ago there was a auction that had started at a house at the end of the block from where I live. After being there for awhile I was just about ready to go back home when I noticed 3 guys had their arms resting on something, I went over to see what it was and much to my suprise it was this old drafting table. Needless to say I stayed and bought it. It's a old POSTS drafting table with a Universal drafting arm. After I bought it I restored it. That was my personal HUGE gloat that year, something I wanted for a long time. I do all my drawings on that table, I've never really took the time to try to get good at CAD. I still like to draw it out. http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/Woodchuck_/DraftingTable.jpg

[John Schreiber]

It does bring back memories, remember the sandpaper pads used for pointing pencils?

Now I'm a SketchUp man, but I'm also a doodler with a sheet of graph paper and and a pencil.

[Chuck Lenz]

It does bring back memories, remember the sandpaper pads used for pointing pencils?


John, I still have one of those sandpaper pads. I mainly use it for puting a point on my compass lead. I do however luv a good mechanical pencil.

[Keith Outten]

Looks like there are more people around who can lay lead than I thought :)

.

[Rich Torino]

Paul,
that setup is just great... I've wanted one for years and there is enough for sale on Ebay but I just don;t have the room.... Hmmmm I wonder if I can convince the wife to eliminate the spare bed room????