Searching The Engineering Drawing Database
Author: Ken Froggatt
Revision 1.0 Date 27 February 2000
These manual search procedures have been developed to meet the needs of ING staff, enabling direct access to mechanical (and electrical) drawings. It also provides a vehicle to integrate the various existing systems into a single format.
The system is flexible, to a degree and can (if approved by the Head of Mech. Eng.) be amended to better meet the requirements of the end user.
To access and operate the system you will require a combination of the right equipment and appropriate skills/knowledge.
To use the procedures you will require access to a PC, which has a network link to SCORPIO. You will also need personal access rights to SCORPIO. In addition you will require software capable of viewing AutoCAD 14 drawings.
Whilst most members of staff will already possess the necessary skills to operate the system, knowledge of the system structure will be required for everyone. This document is intended in part to meet that requirement, however we intend to provide demonstrations/training where this is identified as being appropriate.
Up until the early 1990’s mechanical (and electrical) drawings were done by hand, some being produced in house whilst the majority were produced by outside contractors. This immediately created a somewhat unstructured process with each party having their own numbering system.
It became apparent that accessing an original drawing was an unwieldy task, given the size of the drawings and the storage system and that a more ready access was required particularly by the ING. Consequently a project was undertaken to copy the original hand drawings to A3 size and produce the now famous (or infamous) grey books, allowing copies of these books to be provided for the ING.
Although at a somewhat later stage, but still in order to assist in the process of easier access to drawings, a project was undertaken to copy all the drawings on to microfiche.
It is impossible to say for certain whether either of these processes were 100% complete. One may speculate that gaps existed even then and certainly over time the situation has been exacerbated with drawings going missing or being misplaced.
From the early 1990’s drawings have been created directly via electronic media and this has provided considerable advantages not only in terms of efficiency and quality but also for transfer and access. As a consequence original telescope drawings tend to be scanned in and newer instruments will be in CAD form.
The first stage in creating these was to scan the 8000+ drawings, which existed in microfiche format and transfer them to electronic media. This was done at the RGO and transferred to the ING via CD Roms. Whether due to the original drawings being poor quality or the scanning process itself, regrettably, the end result is drawings of mixed quality, ranging from very clear to virtually illegible. It is difficult to quantify the number of these drawing which are difficult to read, however it is certainly less than 10% and may be as low as 5%.
The second stage was to covert the information on the CD Roms to AutoCAD’s native DWG. This involved vectorising the original image file.
Stage three was to develop a system, allowing for easy access to individual drawings.
Stage four involved integrating the existing electronic drawings (both RGO & ING) into the system.
They has been structured firstly with a ‘main’ folder for each of the telescopes, WHT, INT and JKT and then ‘main’ folders for the various ancillaries e.g. electrical/electronic drawings.
Each of these ‘main’ folders has been divided into ‘sub’ folders to reflect the major elements of each subject e.g. telescopes according to Main Structure, Instruments and Building & Dome.
Each of these ‘sub’ folders has then been divided into further, easily recognisable, ‘base’ folders. These ‘base’ folders contain the associated drawings.
When you wish to access these procedures there are four possible starting positions.
A - The most common position is that you will have detailed knowledge of the component you wish to view and in this situation you simply follow through the directory structure.
For example; if you wished to view a drawing of the Oil Dispersal Unit Bracket, on the Drive Side of the WHT base, then you would follow the straightforward process of: -
B - You know some information but not all the detail. E.g. you know the telescope and the main area (lets say the INT dome) but are unsure beyond that, then you would: -
Follow the process:
From this point you will need to scroll through the ‘base’ folders under dome until you identify the appropriate folder. You would then open that folder and review the drawings found there (as above).
C - You have the file name and possibly no other information then you can access the drawing using that name.
The process is as follows: -
Note: The file name and the drawing number are not always the same.
D - You have the drawing number and possibly no other information then you can access the drawing using that number.
The process is as follows: -
Note: The drawing number and the file name are not always the same
E - If you do not have any of the information detailed in A to D above then the only options are to ask for help or browse the system.
There are a number of options for viewing the drawings, these include:
1 AutoCAD 14
This allows access to view the drawings and also provides the facility to preview drawings without the need to open each drawing. It also provides the facility to batch print drawings from a folder allowing drawings to be reviewed from paper copies.
However licences for AutoCAD 14 are expensive and purchase it not recommended for view only purposes.
2 AutoCAD Light
This allows the same view facilities as AutoCAD 14, however the licence cost is much less. This system is recommended for situations where regular viewing of drawings is required.
3 Volvo View
This system is freely available on the network. However Volvo View does not have a preview facility and therefore drawings have to be opened individually to view. This can be a somewhat slow process, if there are a large number of drawings in a folder. Never the less this should be satisfactory for anyone not making regular use of the DMS.
4 TurboCAD
Offers the same facility as Volvo View and is also available at no cost.
To preview drawings proceed as follows;
The drawings in the required folder will now be displayed, click on the first drawing to open the preview box. To preview other drawings simply key, up or down, as required.
To open any drawing first highlight it then click the open button. The toolbar provides the facility to zoom in and out on the drawing.
To print, a copy of a drawing, just click the print button as normal.
Clicking file/open will take you back to the drawing list.
It is our intention to hold one master set of the Grey Books at La Grama and only copies of the most frequently used books at the mountain site.
However it is important that everyone is aware that the Grey Books are only for reference and cannot be relied upon as containing current drawings. The only drawings, which can be relied on as being up to date and containing all modifications, are those in electronic form on the network.
THE GREY BOOKS WILL NOT BE UPDATED AND CAN NO LONGER BE RELIED ON AS CURRENT COPIES OF DRAWINGS
The original hand drawings are stored in ‘plan chests’ at La Grama. Anyone wishing to have access to one or more of these drawings should contact the sea level Mechanical Engineering Office. Original drawing may not be removed from La Grama, however the facility to make copies is available at La Grama.
If you believe that an amendment to the system is necessary then you should seek agreement with your line manager who should make a recommendation, in writing, to the Head of Mechanical Engineering, providing details of the proposed change(s).
Should you wish to add or amend any official drawing (i.e. any electronic drawing stored on the network) then you should seek agreement from your line manager or project manager. The amended drawing must be forwarded to the Head of Mechanical Engineering who will arrange for the drawing to be uploaded.
Whilst we have made every effort to provide a system that will be a benefit to ING staff, we cannot guarantee;