Back in the DAY!
Ron Gillingham
Consultant with 40 years of manufacturing, design and, engineering experience. Optimization specialist! Engineering is not just my job, it's my passion...
I come from an era of engineering which relied completely and the knowledge, hand skills, and visual acuity of a DESIGNER to assure that the data you see is EXACTLY what should be built! Real easy when you have straight lines... trying mastering the geometry of a 58 Plymouth body panels!
Before CNC was cutting tools, our "surface plates" would be photographed and expansion rates could be applied to the photo so when you went to check the tooling with templates it accounts for the plastic you chose. Or, in the case of stampings, make tooling modifications based on your knowledge of the material spring back or galvanic coating, and the part geometry. Lot's of calculations
We also used a Heavy Mylar, called a master draft. After tooling release, and the product launch these master drafts would be archived in a vault, literally a fire proof vault... When an engineering change was approved you could then check the draft out and do the work required to assure the master draft and the product tooling are in agreement. Then Sepias, and Blueprints were ran for the parties involved downstream...
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The KEY point is not to be nostalgic but simply to acknowledge that there was a whole wide world of inventions and products making our modern life possible, we did ALL of that without computers in the engineering office. It was a closely structured system of learning, validation, and advancement. NO ONE became a designer by taking a drafting course, and no one can become a designer by simply taking a CAD course.
To the next generation of designers I say this, study the product, the materials and the processes. Dig as deeply as you can into the drivers of each decision, try to understand how part geometry relates to tooling... NOT all die draw lines need to be square the the X,Y,Z coordinates!
Are there GREAT designers out there that never sharpened a gold stylus for working a surface draft... YES! And, it is my hope / suggestion that they spend the time they would waste erasing lines and sharpening their stylus to grow there knowledge and innovate!