16.1 Blueprints Overview
Cameron Kjeldgaard
Modern blueprints are not typically blue, nor is any special process used to produce them. Rather, modern printing technology and computer-aided drafting (CAD) software have exponentially streamlined printmaking across all relevant industries. Blueprints are used across many industries and specialized prints are implemented at many steps in the conceptual, design, and production process of any project. As a result, what you may generally think of as a “blueprint” may actually go by many names: architectural drawing, technical drawing, engineered drawing, detail drawing, and so on. In a welding environment blueprints are often just called prints or drawings.
With prints serving so many purposes to so many professions and across so many industries, it should be noted that there are a variety of standards which govern how they are made. The profession of making prints is called detailing and a number of different organizations publish detailing standards. These include but are not limited to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the AWS. These American standards have been adopted in other countries, but many nations have their own national standards. This is all to say that depending on which industry you are working in and in what country you read a print, the conventions and standards used to make that print may vary—either slightly or significantly—from what is presented in this chapter.
When first learning to read and interpret drawings, it is helpful to think of them as being composed of four core building blocks:
- Lines
- Views
- Dimensions
- Written information and directions
This chapter covers these core elements in their listed order, as each item builds on the former and adds another layer of complexity and information.
