related to the 60's, drafting tables

[berkshire]

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.

 

[hokie66]

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.

 

[oldfieldguy]

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

 

[casseopeia]

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!"

 

[berkshire]

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

 

[BJC]

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.

 

[IRstuff]

Might start by not calling it a drafting table.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[berkshire]

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.

 

[Skogsgurra]

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

http://www.gke.org

--------------------------------------
100 % recycled posting: Electrons, ideas, finger-tips have been used over and over again...

 

[IRstuff]

Now, you're talking. That's the product of an expensive engineering education.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[unclesyd]

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.

 

[berkshire]

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.

 

[unclesyd]

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.

 

[berkshire]

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.

 

[IRstuff]

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

 

[DarthSoilsGuy]

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!

 

[KENAT]

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...

 

[Hoxton]

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.

 

[drawoh]

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

 

[DarthSoilsGuy]

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