Can anybody give me some input as to how you guys use dashes when labeling
the size of something.... i.e. a footing size, window opening, etc.
Do you put a dash between the feet and inches, between the inches and
frations of inch, etc...?
examples..
4'-6 1/2" or 4' 6-1/2"
Also, do you use spaces on either side of the 'x' in a dim
i.e. 24"x36" opening
vs. 24" x 36" opening
I know these seem trivial, but we would like to standardize these within the
office, and me and another guy have different styles. So, I guess I am
takign a poll.
TIA
Steve
On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:32:38 +0000, Steve W wrote:
If I was *hand drafting*, the first would be: 4'-6½"
(You'll need a decent font/newsreader/platform to see the last char,
decimal 189, which is a stacked fraction.) But since most software
does poor to non-existant handling of stacked fractions down to at
least 1/16" precision, we've adjusted how we express it digitally.
We've added the space just to clarify the fraction. And at some point
after the computer, some lackee started putting the dash in the wrong
place which achieves your second example.
The second, hand drafted, would be: 24"×36"
And again, the middle char (decimal 215) is usually replaced these
days with the English letter "x", although the proper character and
meaning both imply "by". Not "x". I usually put space on either side
of a *lower case* "x" (24" x 36") simply to distinguish the now
confusing bottom-justified letter intermingled with numbers. But go
back and look at drawings from the 1950's and you'll see the
conventions from whence we came.
Now I'm not saying that the good ol' days were better, just that our
software still has plenty of limitations that we work around. I always
insist on decimal 1-128 and prohibit odd characters like degree marks,
+/-, diameter, etc, simply because when you do an export to .dxf,
.pdf, or even another font, you completely loose control. And I've
been in architecture long enough now to prefer ugly over change
orders. But it sure would be nice to have a single character to
represent things like "square" (you know, the box with the vertical
line through it) rather than having to either write it out or use an
abbreviation that may or may not conflict with something else.
--
Steve Hall [ snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com ]
Polytechforum.com is a website by engineers for engineers. It is not affiliated with any of manufacturers or vendors discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.