Topic Title

I'm wondering if any knows where I can find information about numbering drawing sheets. A designation from the AIA possibly?
thankyou.

I believe there is a section at the back of the Graphics Standards that was set by ANSI for sheet numbering. If I remember right, there is also an ANSI standard for layers and there naming. However, it has been my experience that these are not used typically and that each office adheres to its own preference for sheet and layer numbering/naming as it will vary from project to project. I would suggest looking at a number of sets at a builder's exchange to get a consensus of arrangement and numbering, then adapting them to your needs.

If you have not yet set any personal standard I would recommend looking on the CSI or AIA websites for the National CAD Standard. This set of manuals provides standards for sheet and layer names as well as many other areas of drafting convensions.

Their intention is to get as many groups as possible to addopt this standard and hopefully it will become a true industry standard. Thus far it has been a slow process but it hasn't died either.

Jon

It appears that it is going to cost at least $250 to get a peak at this, provided one is an AIA member.

I set up my sheet numbering system based loosely on AIA's list a long time ago. I'd be happy to e-mail a PDF of it to anyone interested - just ask and I'll send it out.

I'm just curious to know how someone is supposed to look at the NCS without buying them. If they want as many groups as possible to adopt this standard, then how do they expose them to it?

Dick -

I think that it's a standard AIA motto: "If we say that you should use it, then send us the money and we'll let you see it. THEN you decide if it was worth your money (but you can't have any of the money back!)."

I'm just curious to know how someone is supposed to look at the NCS without buying them. If they want as many groups as possible to adopt this standard, then how do they expose them to it?

You might ask your local library to purchase a copy of it. Also you could contact your local AIA or CSI chapter to see if a member has a copy you could look at.

Jon

You might ask your local library to purchase a copy of it. Also you could contact your local AIA or CSI chapter to see if a member has a copy you could look at.

It's not I that should take the initiative to complete their marketing by seeking to borrow a copy. If they want to sell it to me, then they should allow me to evaluate it. Isn't there a demo version?

It's not I that should take the initiative to complete their marketing by seeking to borrow a copy. If they want to sell it to me, then they should allow me to evaluate it. Isn't there a demo version?

You seem to be thinking of it as a piece of software which it is not. It is (2) books. If you want to read a book either you get it at the library or you buy it yourself before you read it. If you want to look at it without purchasing you have to go the bookstore and browse thru it. In this case the book store is your nearest AIA bookstore.

Jon

We looked at the NCS system and decided we would rather shoot our self in the head then have to decrypt codes for each drawing. But hey we're big fat lazy slobs. I could see for large scale complex jobs using a system similar to the NCS, but that thing is so complex and long winded it did not make sense for us to adopt it.

But hey we're big fat lazy slobs.

And yet you look like such a petite go-getter in your avatar.

As for the NCS I agree that it is complex in some areas.

The sheet numbering system, however, can be pretty straight forward. We use it at the general level. One leter designating trade and a three digit number that designates the sheet. (A-101, A-102, A-201, etc.)

The layering, which was developed by the AIA, is ... not good. It has some potential but they put to much emphasis in the wrong areas and much is missing that seems fundamental. (I have seen much worse. I have received on a few occassions files that used nothing but numbers to designate layers. How am I supposed to know what layer 236 is?)

The drafting conventions for the most part are probably 75% what you are doing already or are at least very similar.

The plotting standards should be ignored completely. They have no place in a DataCAD world. DataCAD's pen assignment process would need to be completely changed before you could implement this standard efficiently. And even then much of the standard seems quite arbitrary.

All of these comments are of course just my opinion. We have implemented only the parts that we feel are of value to us and don't add to our burden.

Jon.

We looked at the NCS system and decided we would rather shoot our self in the head then have to decrypt codes for each drawing.

I agree Josh. Probably more about the layer naming system as I recall than the sheet numbers. But basically what I have seen of the NCS pretty much sucks. What I have seen of it seems totally useless. If I had to deal with that crap every day, I would be afraid to be around sharp objects let alone a gun.

So, for those of you who have reviewed it, did you buy the books? I can't see anteing up the bucks to review a system that so many detest. There must be some merits to some parts of it, but my question remains "How do they get companies to adopt it?" Do they all just throw $$$ into the bucket and wave it goodby.

We did not buy the books, but I think we had a demo and some paperwork on them presented by a local AIA chapter group at my old job. I was not in the presentaion at the time, as I was low man (tech/draftsman) on the totem pole at the time. When we reviewed it as an office meeting there was nobody who wanted to use it. We ended up using some ideas from the AGS, but for the most part our small office had no need for that complexity nor the time to learn such a system, as ours was not that busted. Xrefs now manage the tie with subs and associates who work on projects files. We just turn on layers we need on xrefs and they do the same. But what works(ed) well for us might not work for others.