2D Engineering Drawing and its Importance

Engineering drawing is a type of technical drawing that has existed since ancient times. It is crucial to document and communicate your design intent, market your product and/or ensure seamless manufacturing. In this blog, we will discuss reasons why you should take your engineering drawings seriously. 

What is 2D Engineering Drawing?

Engineering drawings are used by designers and engineers to communicate a 3D object by creating its 2D views. These drawings contain information regarding the geometry, dimensions, tolerances, and material of the object.  ​

The standard orthographic projection of views shows how the object looks from the top, bottom, front, back, right, or left. These views are positioned relative to each other on the drawing sheet. Adding all orthographic views to the drawing is not necessary. You should have as many views as are sufficient to fully and clearly convey all the information. This might also mean using additional views to show further details. Additional views can include section views, break views, crop views, etc.  

Importance of Engineering Drawing

You may think that engineering drawing is a repetitive and boring process. However, overlooking it can cause more harm than good. Putting less effort into it may save time while creating them, but this might cause issues downstream like the following:

1. Client facing difficulty understanding the drawing 
   
2. Client spotting shoddy work 
   
3. Improper part manufacturing 
   
4. Difficulty in part assembly 
   

These issues will not only delay the project but can also leave a bad impression on your client. That is why engineering drawings should be given the importance they deserve. 

Creating Engineering Drawing using SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS enables you to create quality engineering drawings from 3D models super easily. Your perfectly documented drawing is just a few clicks away. Simply go to File > Make Drawing from Part. Then select the sheet size you want, drag and drop the standard view orientations populated in the View Palette and create projected views relative to mouse movement. 

Model properties are automatically added to the information block, which can also be customized. You can adjust the drawing view scale, add dimensions, hole callouts, center-lines, and other annotations to communicate the drawings. You can also use the Model Items tool to add all the annotations in one go. Finally, export the drawing to suitable media e.g., PDF and/or .jpeg. The following gif shows the steps to start a drawing, add orthogonal views, and use the Model Items tool to auto-populate your dimensions.  

A great feature of these drawings is that they update with the model. Any update to the model will be reflected in the drawing.  
​
​How often do you use engineering drawings to communicate your models? Let us know in the comments.  

If you are looking to get a deep dive into the SOLIDWORKS drawing tools, you can check out the SOLIDWORKS Drawing Specialist training at the TforDesign School.  

By Mohsina Zafar, Technical Lead at TforDesign

Mohsina is a Mechatronics engineer who is passionate about 3D design and artificial intelligence. She specializes in SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD and loves to help students solve their SOLIDWORKS problems. 

linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohsina-zafar/ ​