Customer Reviews

Technical Drawing

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This text was the basic drafting manual that I used during my technical education; its use did not end with school, however, since I refer to it frequently in my occupation. It tells everything that needs to be explained and described in the general drawing problems that might be encountered in industrial practice. It contains excellent descriptions and illustrations for: Drawing Threads, Fasteners & Springs Geometric Constructions Clear, Concise instructions in using Drafting Instruments, (before the time of Computer Aided Drafting & Desing, in any case). An Excellent overview of the Industrial Design & Development Process, (which I wish my supervisors would read). Sectional Drawing. This book is to drafting what Machinery's Handbook, of the Industrial Press, is to the metal working industries. There are a variety of Drafting Textbooks available, but none are incrementally better, let alone drasticaly better.

I can only speculate that this book is, as was one of the previous editions I've read, used and loved, is bound to provide an exceptional foundational education in the skill of technical (engineering design) drawing/drafting for those with the natural aptitude for freehand drawing. Readers will indeed learn about and develop precision drawing skills--whether drawing with instruments or computer.

The true value of this book is in its ability to guide and therefore transform the natural artist's raw talent into that of a professional grade design artist--capable of rendering technical depictions, representations, or designs, at any time, with little effort, and without error. As with learning to walk, this of course takes time, patience, and practice.

I have personally witnessed the struggles of many whom, having necessity to complete a course of study based upon this book, were ill-suited by their own admission for the discipline required of the eye, hand, and attention (or mind) as demanded by the capable sketch artist--to say nothing of the trained detail design drafter.

If realizing the instructional value of Technical Drawing, 12th edition, seems to come at great pain and effort, the obvious question clearly becomes one of aptitude for drawing. However, while the aptitude for drawing is extremely beneficial, proficiency in technical drawing can still be achieved by sheer tenacity.

Technical Drawing, 12th edition, as with previous editions, is therefore highly recommended for the tenacious engineer, designer and drafter. It has stood the test of time as a solid component of engineering design instruction in this nation's premiere academic institutions.

When originally published, this decades old book had exercises dimensioned in inches only. When the authors decided to include some exercises with metric dimensions, they reused old drawings, converted the measurements from inches to millimeters, rounded off to one decimal place, and DID NOT CHECK FOR ACCURACY. Every chapter has exercises with inaccurately dimensioned drawings.

My AutoCAD teacher has taught this class for 27 years. Years ago he wrote the authors with corrections. Nevertheless, each new edition reproduced the same errors. My instructor gave up trying to get the authors to correct their work.

As an AutoCAD student, I find the sloppiness of this book appalling. Technical drafting requires a high degree of accuracy. The whole point of drafting is precision, whether you're building a house, designing a chip, or modeling an object. This is like a color theory book published with only three out of the four colors necessary for full color.

I paid a premium for the latest edition, the 13th. Don't make the same mistake! Try to find an old edition, published by the original Giesecke, with dimensions in inches only. As my teacher explained in disgust, every new edition costs a lot more for no additional value. The 13th edition has full color photographs, and for that I paid an extra $25 over the 12th. One of my classmates has a 5th edition with only line drawings, no photos, no color, but IT HAS ACCURATE DRAWINGS. It would probably cost a lot less than the $80+ I paid for the 13th edition, too.

This book is an excellent reference for anyone needing an introduction to or a reference for technical drawing. Most of the content concerning machine component drawings are geared (no pun intended) more toward traditional methods for technical drawings (i.e. compass, ruler and pencil), but the methods given are well suited to modern computer-oriented methods of solid modeling. Engineers in the manufacturing industry will find it especially useful, as it can be a helpful reference for weldment drawings.

The thing this book does best is demonstrate the inferiority of 2D drafting when compared with 3D modeling. In several parts, the 2D documentation of the parts glosses over some of the more complex implications, and simply leaves it to someone else downstream to figure out. If you try to build some of the example parts in 3D, you see that the dimensions in probably 40% of the parts I worked through simply don't add up.

Shouldn't the book at least describe the concept of draft on example parts that are for the most part cast and forged parts? Some of the example parts become extremely difficult if you consider draft.

Also there is the combination of some very dated material with some semi-modern entries, especially when covering computer hardware. This kind of thing is almost impossible to cover in a published hardcopy because the computer hardware has gone through two generations between writing and distribution of the book.

On the plus side, it does have some nice examples, but this is far from complete if it is being used to prepare college students for jobs in the 2000's.

This book is a good book to learn basic drafting pratices. It is also a good referance book to keep in your bookcase beside your desk.

The book arrived on time and for that I have no problem, the shipping service worked great. My unhappyness results from the book not being complete. During a recent classroom session we were directed to turn to the appendix, imagine my dismay when the appendix was not in the book. A further review of the book revealed several of the photos were not present and in place of the photo "FPO" in place of the graphics.

.: edit, June 30 2007 :.

New rating: 3 stars

I wrote the original review in 2005, after several hours of trying to decipher this book and find misplaced information within it so as to complete a class assignment. Discovering that one of its specific textual errors made my specific task impossible, I wrote the following.

If Amazon let me increase my rating, at this point I would, but I maintain that it is unpolished and desperately under-edited.

.: end edit :.

As a freshman engineering major, I have been compelled to use Technical Drawing for a graphics course. This has been a profoundly frustrating experience. It seems that the authors, in their zeal to attain unto the dry, lifeless style characteristic of most professional engineering publications, also unintentionally created a text which is superlatively unclear.

I am recurrently astonished at the utter incomprehensibility of entire paragraphs. I will read a section, cynically assert that it communicates nothing, read it over a dozen more times, show it to others who in turn read it a dozen times, only to have my first conclusion affirmed.

There are extremely blatant contradictions.

Terms are used at the beginning of a chapter and not defined until the end.

It speaks voluminously about how critical it is to follow the prescribed techniques, only to devote less-than-the-bare-minimum amount of space to the actual descriptions of those techniques.

The review questions are frequently unrelated to the content they are supposed to be reinforcing, or are simply placed in the wrong chapter.

This (expensive!) book is a conspicuous example of "writing by committee." Technical Drawing may well be a decent-enough reference book - useful if you need a reminder about material you already know - but expect to get angry at it, especially if you're learning the information for the first time.

This book is loaded with technical information for the dratsman and designer. A must have for anyone who is in the mechanical technology field.