STRUCTURAL DRAFTING

STRUCTURAL SYMBOLS AND CONVENTIONS

General
Structural drafting principles are based on time tested practices based on standards set
forth by The American Standards Institute (ANSI), The American Institute of Steel
Construction (AISC), and the U.S. National CAD Standard. Structural drawing
technique refers to a style or quality of a drawing imparted by the individual drafter to the
work. It is characterized by crisp black line work, lettering, consistency, and uniformity.
Structural drawings should reflect the rigid line control of a mechanically produced drawing.
The development of good detail drawings is a real engineering accomplishment and art.
Students should develop a stylized drawing technique that conforms to the rigid
conventions of line drafting with added variations of artistic techniques to produce a very
individualized finished drawing.
The original concepts of a framework of a structure is shown on the architect's and
engineer's design drawings. These design drawings are interpreted and translated into
detail drawings to give complete instructions for the fabrication and assembly of the
various structural components. Through the shop drawings the draftsman must convey in a
technical language all information required for the shop to fabricate the structural
members. To be able to accurately prepare the required drawing the draftsman must have
a thorough knowledge of the latest engineering specifications, be familiar with the
techniques of shop fabrication and field erection, and be knowledgeable and skilled in the
techniques of structural drafting. Therefore it is imperative that the structural drafter
develop good drawing techniques.
Titles
All entities on a drawing must have a title whether it is a plan view, elevation, section, detail, note column,
symbols legend, etc. A typical drawing block title is show below.

All drawings or views should indicate the numeric scale at which that view is presented. Numeric scale can be
expressed in metric, architectural, or engineering as is appropriate to the project. An example of a typical numeric
scale is shown with the word scale indicated and without the graphic scale.

North Arrows
The purpose of a north arrow is to indicate the north direction and therefor the orientation of the building in
relation to the sun. The circle size is user defined and should be about 1 inch diameter. Use the BASE command
and place a base point in the center of the circle.

Section Marks
Section marks are used to indicate where sections are being taken or cut. Structural practices
are very similar to that used in engineering drawing. Because of the complexity of structural
drawings cutting plane lines are generally omitted and only the arrow indicating the direction
of sight of the section view is shown. The section call-out consists of a 5/8" diameter circle,
an arrow indication the direction of sight, and two numbers. The upper number/letter
indicates the name of the section on the sheet and the lower number refers to the sheet where
the section view is drawn.
The lettering in the section call-out circle is always horizontal regardless of the direction of
the arrow. The arrow is a 45 degree line, tangent to the circle. Examples of typical section indicators are shown
below.

Generally a section call-out consists of two circles, one on each end of the cutting plane line. It is permissible to
omit one of the circles and replace it with a simple arrow for partial sections. Examples of section indicators for
partial building sections are show below.

Sheet Layout
The drawing paper need to be framed with a border line. A 1/2 inch border
line is drawn around the paper. This line is a very thick line. Title blocks are
added and placed along the bottom and/or the right side of the drawing
paper. A north arrow (if applicable) is placed in the upper left corner of the
sheet. In general all of the drawing area should be filled. The main drawing
should be the dominate picture on the sheet with detail drawings and general
notes related to the main drawing placed around it. All drawings, details, and
notes should be titled. Titles are placed beneath the picture.
BILL OF MATERIALS

NORTH ARROW (IF APPLICABLE)

MAIN DRAWING

NOTES
TITLE
SCALE

DETAIL

DETAIL

DETAIL

TITLE BLOCK

TITLE

TITLE

TITLE

SCALE

SCALE

SCALE

REVISION BLOCK

Title Blocks
Title blocks are a very important part of the overall drawing. They contain
information not given directly on the drawing with dimensions or notes. Title
blocks for structural drawings are prepared according to the specifications set
forth by the company. The following information is generally provided in the
title block:
Title of the project/name of the drawing
Name and address of the client.
Name and address of the structural company.
Date of the completion of the drawing package.
Scale of the drawing.
Drawing Number.
Structural engineer's professional stamp.
Lettering should be simple and conform to the overall lettering style of the
drawing. The heights of the lettering should follow in accordance with their
relative importance. The drawing number should receive the greatest
emphasis and have a height greater than 1/4".

COMPANY
ADDRESS

DRAWING TITLE
DR. BY.

DATE

SCALE

S-1

Revision Blocks
Revisions blocks always appear on a drawing to record any changes that are
made after the drawing has been approved. Changes to the drawing are
necessitated by changes in design, changes made by the customer, or
changes due to errors in design. Changes are made by erasures directly on
the original drawing. Additions are made by drawing directly onto the
original. The revisions to the drawing are highlighted and marked and
reverenced to the revision block.

3
2
1
NO.

REVISIONS

DATE

BY

Bill of Materials
The bill of materials is a listing of all of the component parts of the steel
framework, including all structural members, connections angles, and
fasteners. The bill of materials is included on all shop drawings and generally
list all information for the items shown on that sheet.

MATERIAL
NO.

SHAPE

LENGTH
FEET

ASSEMBLY
MARKS

REMARKS

INCHES

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

General Notes
Notes are classified as general notes and as local notes. General
notes apply to the entire work. It is not necessary to repeat them on all
subsequent sheets. Notes are lettered horizontally on a sheet and
arranged in a systematic manner. Abbreviations in general
notes should be avoided as much as possible. Proper grammar,
sentence structure and punctuation are used in constructing a
note.
Note columns are titled to make them distinguishable from
other parts of the drawing. The lettering heights should be the
same height as other titles on the sheet.
Each note is referenced with a number. Margins are used to align the note
numbers and the notes. Use a minimum space of 1/2 inch between the
number and the note. Spacing between notes should be such that each note
is distinguished from the other notes. Remember, uniformity and consistency
play an important role in the construction of the note column.
Balloons
Balloons are used to identify rows of columns and beams on a plan view.
Balloons are drawn using a 1/2" diameter circle with 1/4" lettering.

Structural Drafting Line Work

Line widths affect drawing clarity and legibility. Lines used in structural drafting will conform to the
recommended ANSI drafting standards. Wider lines draw attention to that part of the drawing and place
emphasis on certain elements. The line table shows the recommended line widths for different applications.

Common Line Types

Hidden Lines represent items obscured from view by another material. Hidden lines are dashed lines with 1/8"
dashes and 1/16" spaces. These lines are made dense black but thin.

Center lines are thin, dense black lines interrupted by a single (5/64) dash with a (5/64) space.
There are two types of center lines used in structural drawing. The first type
is the traditional long line-dash-long line center line. This type of line is used
wherever possible. Sometimes the spacing requirements are to small to
allow for the small dash in the center line. to avoid confusion in reading the
drawing a thin, dense black solid line is used in place of the traditional center
line.

Lines used for dimensioning, gage lines, crosshatching lines. match lines, and
conventional break lines are drawn as thin, dense black lines (0.010).
Arrowheads can be open, closed, solid, or the traditional slash as shown. The length of an arrowhead is the same
dimension used for the height of lettering (3/32). In all cases, the style of arrowheads should not be mixed on a
drawing. Consistency is the key to good drafting.
OPEN
CLOSED
SOLID
SLASH

Dimension lines are represented by a thin line connecting between extension lines defining the beginning and end
of the object being dimensioned. A terminator mark identifies the intersection between an extension line and a
dimension line.

A dimension line is a continuous, unbroken line with the dimension figure placed above the line. Never place the
dimension figure below the dimension line. The Aligned system is used as opposed to the unidirectional system of
dimensioning. In spacing the dimension lines, the first dimension line should be a minimum of 1/2" away from
the object. All successive dimension lines should be spaced a minimum of 3/8" away from each other. Text heights
for notes, dimensions and general drafting are 3/32.

16'-0"

Consistency and uniformity is the key to good dimensioning. In spacing the

dimension lines, the
first dimension line should be a minimum of 1/2" away from the object. All
successive dimension lines should be spaced a minimum of 3/8" away from
each other.

Fastener Representation
Fasteners are not drawn to actual shape or size., they are simply represented
using basic symbols. Open circles or filled in circles using a minimum 3/32
diameter circle are generally used to represent fasteners.

10