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25 July 2003

Mechanical Drawing the Old Fashioned Way; Part 3

by Brian Mansfield

Lettering

Lettering has to be the most tedious part of mechanical drawing. However, it is a vital part of documenting a drawing.

Lettering on mechanical drawings is normally an all upper case Gothic alphabet (see Figure 1). Normally the letters are vertical like the figure, but sometimes italicized letters are used. I suggest using the vertical alphabet first before trying to letter in italics.

The figure shows the strokes needed to create each letter in the alphabet and numbers. Note the letters width to height ratio is 3/4 (like the "B") to 1 (like the "A" or the "O"). In some cases, like the "W", the ratio is actually greater than 1.

Also note, the letters are drawn on horizontal guidelines. Never letter a drawing without guidelines. The guidelines used for the figure were originally 3/16" (the height of the letters) with 1/16" of space between each line.

Spacing between letters should be consistent and not too tight. Spacing between words should allow an "O" to be fit comfortably.

HOMEWORK:

Practice lettering by laying out guidelines that are 1/8" with 1/16" space in between. Also practice lettering on guidelines that are 3/16" Ð 3/4" with 1/16" Ð 1/8" space in between. Try to make the letters consistent, and use a consistent line weight. Use the strokes in the figure as a reference.

NEXT UP: "View to a Drawing"