You would have never seen a professional draftsman without the vertical scale - he would have been fired for going too slow. Having the vertical scale set up accurately is far faster. I respectfully disagree with a previous poster who recommended only using a horizontal scale. A good T-square will help you precisely set up your drafting arm. Should be less than a buck - way worth it. Lay the shield with one of the hole shapes over the portion of the line you want to erase and erase precisely. This is a very thin stainless steel sheet with precision cut holes through which you can erase. Yo can use regular wood pencils, but you have to sharpen them about every 6-10 inches of line that you draw to maintain a consistent line thickness. They work well, they are comfortable, and they hole lead without slipping. As far as type of mechanical pencil goes - I have used every high end drafting pencil out there, but now I pretty much only use my pentel side click advance pencils. I use HB for my final drawing/dark lines, and 4h for lighter construction lines or layout lines. A draftsman will have several pencils/pens set with different lead hardnesses for light lines used to lay out your drawing, and heavy lines to make the final drawings. Remember to ALWAYS roll your pencil while you are drawing a line to make sure you maintain consistent line thickness. Next, use a decent mechanical pencil - get a 5mm and 7mm to start so that you can make different line weights. Get a quality drafting compass, with articulated legs and quick release - I use a Staedtler Mars 552 should be around $30 online. The engineering scales are easier to work with for the math, (no fractions) but at some point you will have to translate them into standard inches for constructing your project in the shop.

Architectural scales will translate to your shop much more fluidly than engineering, unless you plan to buy a tape measure in tenths of an inch (usually used in heavy construction - roads etc.).

I still have an old Vemco drafting arm, but I like my made in the USA Vemco Track system the best.Īs far as scales go, I would start with some scales in standard inches first. Congratulations on going old school! I am also dependent on AutoCAD for my living, and while it is certainly a much faster tool than drafting by hand, the old pen and paper definitely has its appeal.

Mutoh drafting machine