.svg)
Author / Editor
Annual Student Impact
1,085 students | 242 high school students | $219,791 student savings
Blueprint Reading is a practical guide designed to help students learn the essential skills needed to interpret and understand technical drawings and blueprints. This book covers the basics of blueprint reading, including symbols, dimensions, and notations commonly used in industries like construction, manufacturing, and engineering. With clear explanations, examples, and exercises, it provides a hands-on approach to mastering the ability to visualize and work with complex designs. Whether you're preparing for a career in trades, architecture, or engineering, this resource is a valuable tool for building the foundational knowledge required to succeed in technical fields.
Course Competency 1: Differentiate between drawings and prints
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the difference between drawings and prints
- Describe engineering drawings
- Demonstrate how to handle prints correctly
Course Competency 2: Define terminology and abbreviations associated with print reading
Learning Objectives:
- Define print reading terminology
- Explain machining terminology
- Interpret abbreviations
Course Competency 3: Interpret the layout of views of an object
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the primary views of an object
- Select the placement of views on a print
- Differentiate between pictorial and orthographic projection drawings
- Demonstrate the use of projection lines
- Determine appropriate dimensions of length, width, and height related to views
- Differentiate between first and third angle projection on prints
- Visualize basic shapes of objects
Course Competency 4: Interpret the types of lines found on prints
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the types of lines found on prints
- Describe the use of lines found on prints
- Locate corresponding lines or surfaces in various views
- Relate line types to part feature sizes
Course Competency 5: Sketch objects in different views
Learning Objectives:
- Visualize how actual part features should appear based on print features
- Sketch drawings, incorporating the alphabet of lines
- Sketch simple orthographic drawings
- Draw missing views of objects based on given views
Course Competency 6: Differentiate dimensioning systems
Learning Objectives:
- Describe methods of dimensioning drawings
- Relate dimensioning systems to mathematical concepts
- Explain how baselines will be used for locating a part for manufacture
- Explain how coordinate dimensioning is used in CNC machining
- Convert dimensions to other units
- Demonstrate the rules of dimensioning a part
- Calculate the dimensions on a print
Course Competency 7: Interpret dimensions on prints
Learning Objectives:
- Determine overall part sizes for stock selection
- Apply mathematical concepts to interpret print dimensions
- Determine part feature locations
- Interpret angular measurements on prints
- Calculate missing dimensions
- Interpret part feature sizes
- Identify critical dimensions
Course Competency 8: Interpret title blocks
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the information found in a title block
- Identify other elements of information found on a print
- Identify the current drawing revision and the changes that have occurred to the part drawing
- Apply tolerance information found in title blocks
- Differentiate between specified and unspecified tolerances
- Define tolerance terminology
Course Competency 9: Calculate tolerances on dimensions
Learning Objectives:
- Define tolerance terminology
- Apply mathematical concepts to determine tolerances on dimensions
- Determine tolerances on dimensions
- Determine limits on dimensions
- Describe how tolerances affect mating parts
Course Competency 10: Explain symbols and notes found on prints
Learning Objectives:
- Identify symbols found on prints
- Interpret machining symbols found on prints
- Interpret surface texture symbols found on prints
- Interpret common geometric symbols found on prints
- Interpret notes commonly found on prints
Course Competency 11: Analyze machining details
Learning Objectives:
- Define machining terminology
- Identify machining detail
- Determine the location of machined details
- Determine the sizes of machined details
- Explain the machining processes used to achieve the detail in the part
- Specify the size of a contour
- Calculate distances between machined details
- Discuss order of operations related to machined details
- Determine order of operations based on print specifications
Course Competency 12: Interpret section views
Learning Objectives:
- Define section terminology
- Identify various section lines
- Interpret different types of sectional views
Course Competency 13: Interpret working or detail drawings
Learning Objectives:
- Identify one-view drawings
- Interpret details on one-view drawings
- Identify multiple view drawings
- Interpret details on multiple view drawings
Course Competency 14: Interpret auxiliary views
Learning Objectives:
- Identify auxiliary views
- Interpret details on auxiliary views
- Determine dimensions on auxiliary views
Course Competency 15: Interpret industrial prints
Learning Objectives:
- Identify assembly drawings
- Identify parts lists
- Interpret parts lists
- Interpret sub-assembly drawings
- Interpret detail drawings
- Interpret working assembly drawings
Course Competency 16: Layout dimensions and detail locations based on print specifications
Learning Objectives:
- Select material for layout
- Apply layout die per procedural guidelines
- Select baselines for layout (select appropriate surfaces)
- Calculate dimensions
- Scribe lines for appropriate dimensions and detail
- Compare layout to print specifications
Course Competency 17: Develop a production process plan from a print
Learning Objectives:
- Determine processes needed to make part
- Select tools
- Calculate speeds and feeds
- Discuss fixturing and work holding methods
- Determine critical dimensions for inspection
- Complete a process plan table
This textbook is part of the WisTech Open collection and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
You are free to:
– Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
– Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under the following terms:
– Attribution — You must give appropriate credit to WisTech Open, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests WisTech Open endorses you or your use.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
You are free to:
– Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
– Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
Under the following terms:
– Attribution — You must give appropriate credit to WisTech Open, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests WisTech Open endorses you or your use.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Funded by State of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Technical College System funding for Open Educational Resources
WisTech Open, including the Open RN and Bright Beginnings series, does not provide ancillary or instructor materials. You can instead create free, customized supplementary resources—slides, quizzes, worksheets, study guides, and more - on demand, through our generative AI platform, WisTech Fusion: https://www.wistechopen.org/wistech-fusion. Fusion only uses content from WisTech Open, Open RN, and Bright Beginnings resources.
To help keep print textbook costs low for our students, please consider using the electronic version, or purchasing a personal print copy, rather than requesting a publisher/desktop version from our printing partner. Orders can be placed through Kendall Hunt: https://he.kendallhunt.com/catalog.