Hello Ma

Many years ago, I bought a roll of white wrapping paper (butcher paper), 18 inches wide, and a 2'x4' piece of hardwood panel with a smooth side. Tape a piece of the paper onto the board and draw out the project in plan view, top view, and side view, using a ruler such as an engineer's rule for scaling. You can make detailed side drawings of joints. The larger paper allows you to draw something out full-scale. Sometimes, I would also draw an isometric view, just for 3-D looks. Doing this really helped me get the proportions right, as well as think about the sequence of machining the various pieces and assembling them. It was an immense help when I designed and built my dining table and chairs, book cases, and dressers. When done, you can roll the drawing up and store it in one of those Christmas wrapping paper tubes. 

hat

Edited January 10, 20197 yr by hatuffej

8 hours ago, hatuffej said:

When done, you can roll the drawing up and store it in one of those Christmas wrapping paper tubes. 

If you have any left after batting everyone with them. 

2 hours ago, p_toad said:

If you have any left after batting everyone with them. 

I manage to save 1 or 2!

 

2 hours ago, p_toad said:

If you have any left after batting everyone with them. 

How do you make the laughing icon? Those are cool!

Never mind, I found it.

 

hat

Edited January 11, 20197 yr by hatuffej

Most of my plans are drawn freehand on legal paper. Good enough for me to work off, but likely useless to others. 

 

If im doing a large piece, like our bed, and I want to check proportions, then I’ll get the drafting table out and draw it out to scale. 

 

And lastly, only cut pieces when you need them. Stuff happens, mistakes get made. Do larger pieces first. 

On 1/7/2019 at 8:57 PM, MaDeuce said:

So... yea. I think I'll leave cabinet/shelves until I have a little more practice... didn't turn out very good.

 Experience is a wonderful thing, it lets you recognize a mistake when you make it again.

+1 on the others advice, be patient you'll get there.

following up some more.

 

i first learned about proper drafting in Jr. HS shop class.  scale, front, top, end views, orthogonal views, hidden lines, dimensioning, all that good stuff (lettering too).

 

got another dose of that in freshman year of college as part of one of my engineering courses, and another dose a year or so later as part of a kinematics course (graphical solutions).

 

so i have all the needed tools and enough knowledge to be dangerous.

 

so, yes, i could draw out a set of plans that someone else could work off of to make something.  but drafting to such detail is a lot of work.  i've been asked before, after showing something i've made for our house, "hey, do you have plans for that design?"  well....yes, and no.  i could do it again from the notes i created the first time around, but if i just photocopied those same notes, you could not make sense of them.  now, if you want to pay me to properly draft up a set of plans, we can talk.  but the thing is, those plans would only produce the project exactly like i drew it.  if you wanted to modify the project in some aspect (maybe make the coffee table 12" longer), you would have to know enough about how all the parts relate and which ones would need to be changed in dimension.  and at that point, you are basically drawing your own plans, so why have me make something you could not use?

 

one of the needed skills for a competent woodworker is being able to think backwards.  you see a picture of a project, lets say a coffee table or end table.  well, what size do you want yours to be?  height, depth, width.  start there and work backwards. 

 

i've built projects with no drawings.  my workbenches are 36x96.  any deeper would be too deep.  so i wanted the plywood to have a 1-1/2" overhang from the underlying 2x4.  that determines how long the 2x4s are.  and so on....

19 hours ago, p_toad said:

If you have any left after batting everyone with them. 

Between my husband and 3 kids... we never have any left over LOL

3 hours ago, MaDeuce said:

Between my husband and 3 kids... we never have any left over LOL

...of course you never, ever are guilty of getting involved, are you? 

3 hours ago, schnewj said:

...of course you never, ever are guilty of getting involved, are you? 

 Nope... not ever. I'm innocent.

Stop laughing!

1 hour ago, MaDeuce said:

 Nope... not ever. I'm innocent.

Stop laughing!

Sorry, I just couldn't help it. I'm good now, the tears have dried up.

Its true.... they're big enough to fight back now. When they were younger, it was a yearly tradition LOL

35 minutes ago, schnewj said:

Sorry, I just couldn't help it. I'm good now, the tears have dried up.

now all you have to do is get up from the floor...

you first...

I still need to catch my breath and find a hankie...

Edited January 12, 20197 yr by Stick486

In the mid 70's I took mechanical drafting in high school. We used a table and arm, and ever since then I wanted a arm and table at home, and quite a few years later I found a old setup that I restored. I feel very fortunate to have it.

Got any pics Charlie?  If you have restored it I know that it's jam up!

Yep, I'm thinking it is a old one, the stand is made of oak and has a metal tag that says POSTS Dependable Drafting Room Equipment. The drafting arm is a Universal Drafting Machine Co. One of my neighbors a couple doors down had a rummage sale and there it was. Made my day big time.

Edited August 8, 20197 yr by CharlieL

48 minutes ago, CharlieL said:

Yep, I'm thinking it is a old one, the stand is made of oak and has a metal tag that says POSTS Dependable Drafting Room Equipment. The drafting arm is a Universal Drafting Machine Co. One of my neighbors a couple doors down had a rummage sale and there it was. Made my day big time.

Now that is one sweet drafting table and arm. Begging to be used. 

Took drafting in Junior High shop class. I'll still use drafting techniques today, I learned then. Especially lettering. 

These tables are easily made.  A piece of birch plywood.  Cut it to size.  If you wish to use the triangle arm, place a piece of metal on each side of the table.  Use flathead screws to make sure the arm travels smoothly up and down on either side.  You can even make your own triangle arm.  I used these big tables before going to Vietnam.  I preferred the arm like the one hanging from the top.  Then I used a variable triangle to make my uprights or angles and I could dial in the degrees.  I much prefer paper as it is much more comfortable to me than software.  Also, another thing I learned is to make a line template with a credit card.  Drill holes in the arrangement in which you wish to draw your lines.  Place your pencil tip in and slide it back and forth to make reference lines to letter. And, a small board to make a lip across the bottom will hold pens and erasers.  yes, I am comfortable with the old ways and prefer them.  Imagine!  

That is sweet Charlie, as I knew it would be

That's quite a nice find, Charlie.