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related to the 60's, drafting tables

related to the 60's, drafting tables

related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
I have in my possession a Hamilton Standard drafting table and a Vemco "V" track drafting machine. I use this occasionally, but most of my drafting work these days is done by computer, either Auto cad or Solid works.
  I decided to get rid of it, since I can lay out a drawing on a door to use as a reference table.
 To my surprise I found that nobody wanted it. Is this the fate of these old workhorses that once graced every design office in several nations, relegated to the scrap heap as obsolete?
B.E.
 

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Yes, they are going the way of the old jockeys who rode them.  And what a shame it is too, because the drawings produced on the tables were often things of beauty when compared to the perfectly legible but often nonsensical computer produced drawings of today.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Oh, they'll go the way of the quill pen, tools used by artisans of a bygone age, the subject of stories told by old men to unbelieving youngsters, teh shoulders of the giants upon which modern civilization is built.

old field guy

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables


Have you tried to sell it on craigslist?  I think there are probably quite a few people who would be interested.  I miss drawing by hand with a drafting machine.  Always include photos with your ad as well.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
I was not even trying to sell it.
 I was going to give it away, even then nobody wanted it.
B.E.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Try putting it in Craigslist under arts adn crafts.  
They are popular with artistic types.
If you live in LA. Seattle etc. where there use to be thousand of them they may be harder to get rid of.  If you could get it to the flyover zone there would be a big demand.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
Aha,
So this is an advanced artists easel with height and angle adjustments and a set of adjustable straight edges to assist you in your perspective rendering :)
B.E.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Now you are getting somewhere, berkshire!

You may get even more bucks for it if you throw in something like "High-quality, hi-tech, solid, retro feeling, artist's board"

I once gave such a board away to an artist that stayed in Sweden for some years. He loved it so much that he took it with him when he moved over to Albuquerque, NM.

Gunnar Englund
www.gke.org
--------------------------------------
100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

It is a Drafting Engine as presented by some of the early advertisers.

I have one that I spent a number of hours hovering over hung in my study, computer room. It is somewhat of a conversation piece. Mounted on the the board is a a picture of one of the aircraft drafting rooms of the Late 50's with several hundred boards in play.

In the same vain last year while taking my grandson to school I drove by the tech education build while they were having a house cleaning. There was pile of old drafting equipment, small boards, tee squares and several hundred plastic templates. I stopped and asked about getting a couple of the boards and a tee square or two. The answer was take anything you want. I took all the small drafting boards, a couple of tee squares and a mess of templates. I've made sevral items from the boards, very good wood.


  

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
unclesyd
You have given me an idea.
If I remove the base, I can hang the board on the wall,
complete with the drafting machine still on it, and use it as a conversation piece.
I earned my living with machines like that for many years. but as hokie66  said, "The jockeys that rode them are being put out to pasture.", and I guess that includes me since I am now past 65 years old.
 The base is the major problem right now. It dominates a 9'-0" X 10'-0" room and my wife ( Bless her) wants to do other things with that room. I have to watch that woman, she is now making noises about my Draft Pro plotter, but that goes over my dead body.
B.E.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

I forgot to mention one other thing I do with mine is that during hurricane season I tape a large nautical chart to the board and then everyone gets a chance to track and plot the storms.  This get real interesting when the current track will plot over your location.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
That is why I moved to the west coast some years ago.
Now all I have to worry about are earthquakes and forest fires.
B.E.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Earthquakes are nice that way.  

No build-up, just a wham-bam, off-you-go.

Of course, we're still waiting for the one that's going to turn western AZ into beachfront property, but until then, it's just the occasional 30 seconsd of terror.

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

we use all of ours.

Collating, looking at paper drawings made by CAD, temporary and permanent storage, break room lunch table.

The extra 10" in height gets my cactus up over the window sill for more good sunlight time per day and it shows!

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Are you anywhere near me, I'd love it.

I've just been made interim checker and a table would be great for helping do mark-ups/red-lines.  

In practice I've no way of getting it so maybe not.

We held on to one at my last place because we did a lot of amendments/revisions to old drawings even though new stuff was CAD.

Just before I left we had an office re-organization and it got put outside, then into the factory where it got vandalized.  I complained to the Tech Director who said it should have got put back in the office once the moving was finished, not sure what happened in the end.

I regret that I was just too late to ever really use one in anger, I felt the people that learnt on the board seemed to make better drafters than we that didn't, although some of that may have been the extra experience.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

My old chef engineer told me that when he began as a trainee draftsman (in the 1940's?) he was not allowed to go on a drafting board until his handwriting was acceptable (legible and neat).  Every trainee spent his first few weeks writing out memos etc by hand until judged fit.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

berkshire,

   My sister returned to college and has graduated with a masters degree in architecture.  Apparently, a lot of architects continue to use drafting boards.  Check out the appropriate schools in your area.

                          JHG

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Maybe there will be a peak in drafting table value as we all upgrade to 3D CAD...

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
KENAT
I am located in southern California near San Diego.
 If you can use it I will give it to you. all you have to do is come and get it. You will need a van or large pickup truck.
Let me know if you are interested.
B.E.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

I was just in San Diego over the Fourth of July weekend.  I could have picked it up for... me!

--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Thanks for the offer Berkshire, I'm in CA too, bit further North but like I said, I don't have a way to pick it up.

None the less I'll make my manager aware just in case.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Sounds cool, I live close (OC), but we're swamped with STUFF!!

We're looking to get rid of stuff ourselves.  

TTFN

FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

My daughter does calligraphy, & someone gave her one & it works great. Apparently there are many styles of lettering, and each uses different guide lines, & the machine does exactly what she needs. Kinda dominates her space, tho....

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

berkshire

I've been looking for a Hamilton with a Vemco.  Found several but distance has been the deal breaker...
until now, that is.

I'm in Palm Springs, have room in the Land Rover and room in my studio.

The way I look at it, when the "long overdue" big one hits the valley the computers will hit the floor.   I'll ride it out under the Hamilton and with a few strokes of the drafting brush tucked in my GO BAG (also under the Hamilton, naturally) I'll be set to go in no time.

Seriously, this is exactly what I've been looking for and can guarantee it won't gather dust.  Not even when the big one hits.

I'm available at your convenience.

Alec

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
Alec
The table is currently out on the front porch.
You may have a hard time getting it into a land rover.
I could drive it out there if you would pay for the gasoline.  I have a pickup truck.
B. E.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

Drafting table?

My first job between semesters in eng school was on the board in a large architectural office doing HVAC. The boards were placed over saw horses, and we had large T squares.

We really graduated when the parallel rule came along.

RE: related to the 60's, drafting tables

(OP)
plasgears (Mechanical)
I started that way too with a large T square and plastic 30/60 and 45 degree triangles and a protractor.
 When I first got my hands on a Bruning drafting machine in the very early 1960s I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
B.E.

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