ASME Y14.24

“Types and Applications of Engineering Drawings” (an American National Standard). This is the definitive industry source for what “drawings” are, what types there are, and how they are to be used. It should be studied thoroughly, because this is how the rest of the known universe expects us to communicate (except when we spend several months beating them up on each and every contract). If we’d pay attention to it, many things would be a whole bunch easier!

Aside

Some of the card-carrying System Engineers out there might consider it odd that this site pays any attention to what flavors of Engineering Drawing might exist.  The rationale has two parts:

1) These drawings are the “point of implementation” for any system that we engineer.1  If we’re unfamiliar with these ideas, we cannot “close the loop” to verify how well our practices work.

2) We want System Engineering concepts to be pervasive through development, including in detailed development.  See the CI Development Cycle essays.

The 2012 version of ASME Y14.24 identifies the following classes and types of drawings and describes their intended application:

Drawing Type2

Section
Ancillary 1.9
Identifying 3.23
Monodetail 5.1
Multidetail 5.2
Assembly 6.1
Inseperable Assembly 6.2
Installation 7
Altered Item 8.1
Selected Item 8.2
Modification 8.3
Arrangement 9
Procurement Control 10.1
Vendor Item Control 10.2
Source Control 10.3
Envelope 10.4
Interface 11
Identification Cross-reference 12
Mechanical Schematic 13
Functional Block Diagram 14.1
Single-line Diagram 14.2
Schematic Diagram or Circuit Diagram 14.3
Connection Diagram or Wiring Diagram 14.4
Interconnection Diagram 14.5
Wiring List 14.6
Logic Circuit Diagram 14.7
Wiring Harness 15.1
Cable Assembly 15.2
Printed Board and Discrete Wiring Board (Sets) 15.3
Microcircuit (Set) 15.4
Undimensioned 15.5
Kit 15.6
Tube Bend 15.7
Matched Set 15.8
Contour Definition 15.9
Software Installation 15.10.2
Alternate Parts 15.11
Drawing Tree 16

 

 

Footnotes
  1.   Not all Engineering activities are aimed at developing a system.  Sometimes, for example, we merely analyze one.  When we’re not engineering a system, this topic is not very useful.[↩]
  2. A few definitions are included here for ease of reference.[↩]