NCS Standards

[tuggertoo]

Any suggestions on setting up office CAD standards? Our designer/drafters are always having conflicts=it's borderline ridiculous. How do we get them all to compromise and agree to a standard that will ultimately result in uniform plans?

 

[PSE]

In the US, ASME Y14 would be a starting place. There may also be a few ISO standards out there which you could use as a starting point. A complete standard may/may not apply but it may give the designers/detailers a common foundation from which they may agree to disagree. Good luck.

Regards,

 

[ajack1]

Are you looking at drawing standards or office standards?

At least in theory it should be fairly simple to implement drawing standards, be they ASME or ISO.

If you are looking at office standards you really have to lay them out, if people are left to do what they think is best that is exactly what they will do, but do not expect them to agree or do the same thing.

For example it really doesn’t matter if you call something drawing1_customer or customer.drawing1 it will however make it a nightmare to find.

Start with a fairly simple set of standards and let it evolve, templates for drawings, file names and layering standards for example. But be warned people do not like to be told what to do, you will probably face resistance.

At the end of the day if you have no chief the Indians will do as they please.

 

[ewh]

CAD standards are more difficult to enforce than drawing standards, but are just as important, IMO. The key (here we go again) is proper checking. Have a written standard of what is expected (ours is a "living document", as there always seems to be issues popping up that we didn't foresee) and keep sending sub-standard files back to the originator. Eventually, if you stick to your guns, they will tire of having to revisit the same files over and over.
We utilize a checking program to check the actual model and it helps immensely. The drafter can check the file before sending it for check, where it is again verified. This ensures ease of modification and understanding for someone not familiar with the file.
If you use peer review for checking, my condolences go out to you.

 

[KENAT]

Agree with what the others have put. I'm part of a group created to introduce standards and improve quality of documentation. Even after 2 years it's still painful. Not all managers are fully on board and even those that are sometimes are either scared to upset their engineers/designers or willing to not comply with standards if they think it helps meet a short term deadline etc.

If you mean general drawing standards for mechanical in the US then ASMEY14.5M-1994/ASME Y14.100 and associated docs are a good place to start. If you use model based definition 14.41 may be of interest. (I'm pretty sure you're US from other posts but in the UK start with BS8888, can't recal the ISO number)

However, based on another post of yours I've seen and the NCS in the title are you more in the Civil/Construction type field? If so I'm not sure on the relevant drawing standards, a while back somone posted a link to some but I can't recall details. May want to ask on the structural or Civil/Environmental forum.

For internal standards such as drawing numbering, file naming etc. You pretty much need to decide yourself although there are some resources for guidance (e.g. dumb V smart numbering reports etc.) Agree with others to start simple and evolve, make sure it is a living document though at the same time be careful not to change it just to suit the most vocal complainer at the expense of others/function!

Agree that standards without enforcement are meaningless and checking is probably the best way to do this. If you can't justify a dedicated checker at least only let one or two most qualified/suited people do it. General peer review is pretty poor.

ewh, checking? Madness.

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

 

[KENAT]

http://www.nationalcadstandard.org/

knew I'd seen NCS before.

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