Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Riddled with inaccurately dimensioned exercises! May 21, 2009
Here in the Bay Area (SF Bay Area)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When originally published, this decades old book had exercises dimensioned in inches only. When the authors decided to include some exercises with metric dimensions, they reused old drawings, converted the measurements from inches to millimeters, rounded off to one decimal place, and DID NOT CHECK FOR ACCURACY. Every chapter has exercises with inaccurately dimensioned drawings.
My AutoCAD teacher has taught this class for 27 years. Years ago he wrote the authors with corrections. Nevertheless, each new edition reproduced the same errors. My instructor gave up trying to get the authors to correct their work.
As an AutoCAD student, I find the sloppiness of this book appalling. Technical drafting requires a high degree of accuracy. The whole point of drafting is precision, whether you're building a house, designing a chip, or modeling an object. This is like a color theory book published with only three out of the four colors necessary for full color.
I paid a premium for the latest edition, the 13th. Don't make the same mistake! Try to find an old edition, published by the original Giesecke, with dimensions in inches only. As my teacher explained in disgust, every new edition costs a lot more for no additional value. The 13th edition has full color photographs, and for that I paid an extra $25 over the 12th. One of my classmates has a 5th edition with only line drawings, no photos, no color, but IT HAS ACCURATE DRAWINGS. It would probably cost a lot less than the $80+ I paid for the 13th edition, too.
 Good combination! September 18, 2008
GB (Rome, GA USA)
This book is a good book to learn basic drafting pratices. It is also a good referance book to keep in your bookcase beside your desk.
 Excellent text for technical drawing March 22, 2008
Julian Gardner (Las Vegas, NV USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is an excellent reference for anyone needing an introduction to or a reference for technical drawing. Most of the content concerning machine component drawings are geared (no pun intended) more toward traditional methods for technical drawings (i.e. compass, ruler and pencil), but the methods given are well suited to modern computer-oriented methods of solid modeling. Engineers in the manufacturing industry will find it especially useful, as it can be a helpful reference for weldment drawings.
 great examples that work poorly March 2, 2008
SW guy
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The thing this book does best is demonstrate the inferiority of 2D drafting when compared with 3D modeling. In several parts, the 2D documentation of the parts glosses over some of the more complex implications, and simply leaves it to someone else downstream to figure out. If you try to build some of the example parts in 3D, you see that the dimensions in probably 40% of the parts I worked through simply don't add up.
Shouldn't the book at least describe the concept of draft on example parts that are for the most part cast and forged parts? Some of the example parts become extremely difficult if you consider draft.
Also there is the combination of some very dated material with some semi-modern entries, especially when covering computer hardware. This kind of thing is almost impossible to cover in a published hardcopy because the computer hardware has gone through two generations between writing and distribution of the book.
On the plus side, it does have some nice examples, but this is far from complete if it is being used to prepare college students for jobs in the 2000's.
The true value of this book . . . August 9, 2005
Fuller Stallworth, IT Infrastructure Analyst (Washington, DC Metropolitan Area)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
I can only speculate that this book is, as was one of the previous editions I've read, used and loved, is bound to provide an exceptional foundational education in the skill of technical (engineering design) drawing/drafting for those with the natural aptitude for freehand drawing. Readers will indeed learn about and develop precision drawing skills--whether drawing with instruments or computer.
The true value of this book is in its ability to guide and therefore transform the natural artist's raw talent into that of a professional grade design artist--capable of rendering technical depictions, representations, or designs, at any time, with little effort, and without error. As with learning to walk, this of course takes time, patience, and practice.
I have personally witnessed the struggles of many whom, having necessity to complete a course of study based upon this book, were ill-suited by their own admission for the discipline required of the eye, hand, and attention (or mind) as demanded by the capable sketch artist--to say nothing of the trained detail design drafter.
If realizing the instructional value of Technical Drawing, 12th edition, seems to come at great pain and effort, the obvious question clearly becomes one of aptitude for drawing. However, while the aptitude for drawing is extremely beneficial, proficiency in technical drawing can still be achieved by sheer tenacity.
Technical Drawing, 12th edition, as with previous editions, is therefore highly recommended for the tenacious engineer, designer and drafter. It has stood the test of time as a solid component of engineering design instruction in this nation's premiere academic institutions.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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