Definition of mechanical drawing - What it is, Meaning and Concept

To understand what a mechanical drawing is, we must first consider each term that composes the expression separately.A drawing is a stroke or a delineation that allows to represent a figure. mechanical , meanwhile, can be linked to a machine, a device or a mechanism.

A mechanical drawing , therefore, is a graphic representation of a machinery , of part of it or of its pieces .These are plans or schemes which show the arrangement or operation of these devices.

Mechanical drawings are part of the set of technical drawings : those that, when representing an object, provide data that enable its design, manufacture, operation and/or maintenance. drawings electrical and architectural drawings are also considered technical drawings.

The importance of drawing to convey ideas through graphics and lines has been considerable throughout many millennia.Let us not forget that long before the human being invented and developed writing systems he relied solely on art to express himself and record his ideas and experiences.

When the writing finally appeared, the drawing became an activity of certain specialists, both artists and people with needs that the written language could not cover, as is the case today of engineers and designers who need to prepare plans, sketches and sketches for their work activities.

Like the rest of the technical drawings, the mechanical drawings must show those details that are required to execute a project.They usually appeal to different symbols to represent cuts, lines and other elements.Normalization allows the same symbology to be used globally, favoring understanding among specialists.

The use of symbols has another objective in addition to enabling the reading of a map to people from all over the world: simplify the drawing and minimize the likelihood of error.If engineers did not have their reach a series of conventions to easily represent certain concepts, would be forced to design the devices and parts with the highest possible degree of realism, and that would lead to a very hard work, which would not always reflect with less precision the less obvious characteristics of the products.

According to the International Organization for Standardization (whose name in English is Organization for Standardization and its acronym, ISO ), in the Currently, two systems of representation are used, the American and the European, also known as the third quadrant and the first quadrant , respectively.Trends indicate that in the future the American will be used in almost all cases.

With respect to the symbology of each one, it is important to note that the user must know in advance to which the mechanical drawing corresponds to be able to understand it correctly, since the same symbol can mean different things in one and another.For example:

* for ISO (E), the European representation system, the P , the Q and the R are used to symbolize the front, top and side views, respectively;

* the American system, ISO (A), instead uses the P , the Q and the R to represent the top, front and side views, respectively.

It should be noted that a mechanical drawing can be developed by hand on a flat surface (such as paper) or carried out virtually with the help of a computer program ( software ).This way you can generate 3D renderings and get different perspectives.

An example of mechanical drawing is the graph that shows all the parts of a motor .Thanks to this representation you can understand how the different gears are formed and how it works the set.