I'm still stuck in the stone age, and use a antique POSTS drafting table and a Universal Drafting Machine Co. arm that I restored years ago. 

Edited June 10, 20178 yr by CharlieL

I have one of those, too!!!

 

I do use Sketchup to create "3D" drawings but I still do paper and pencil for things I need to work out dimensions and some smaller "full size" items.

 I saved one from the dumpster a few years back, too big for the computer room.

 

 Repurposed the wood and now it fits in the foyer

 

I took the "top" and the mechanics and mounted it so it swings down from the basement ceiling. When not in use it is out of the way. It does collect saw dust between uses.

4 hours ago, DuckSoup said:

Repurposed the wood and now it fits in the foyer

Beautiful bench Bob! Great vision to see that bench from the old table. It was worth every strain dragging that out of a dumpster when you see the bench.

I got a drafting table from the old drafting room at work when everything went to computers. No arm, though, just the table. Someday I'll refurbish it, but for now it just sits there taking up valuable floor space!

John

The reason that I like it is that it is the method that I learned to use when I took a mechanical drafting class in high school, and I enjoyed it, plus I like antiques. I've had a conversation about drafting manually, and on the computer with my brother inlaw that is a draftsman, and what I got out of it was that it really isn't all that much faster to do on the computer, so thats why I have shied away from the extra expense and time to learn it on a computer. I don't do a lot of drafting, mainly just when I'm designing dust collection projects, such as dust hoods and dust separators.  

Edited June 14, 20178 yr by CharlieL

53 minutes ago, CharlieL said:

The reason that I like it is that it is the method that I learned to use when I took a mechanical drafting class in high school, and I enjoyed it

 That was the same reason I had to save mine, but had no room for it. I remember the ones in school always had a piece of sand paper stapled to the leg for sharping the lead pencil.

Edited June 14, 20178 yr by DuckSoup