electrical drawing size

Hello everybody,

Could anyone tell me where I can find the standard for electrical drawing size? I believe we usually use A3 and A4 size for electrical drawing. But I'm working with mechnical guys who want me use A2 size border, then scale it to A3 or A4 to print. Is it a good way to make electrical drawing? I doubt it.

Any suggestion is welcome.
Thanks

In the US standard drawings are 8.5" x 11" (A), 11" x 17"(B), 17" x 22"(C), 22" x 34"(D), and 34" x 44"(E).

On the D and E sizes some companies go to 24" x 36" and 36" x 48" but I find this a pain.

Common standard drawing sizes are

A0 841x1189
A0V 1198x841
A1 594x841
A1V 841x594
A2 420x594
A2V 594x420
A3 297x420
A3V 420x297
A4 210x297
A4V 297x210
B0 1000x1414
B0V 1414x1000
B1 707x1000
B1V 1000x707
B2 500x707
B2V 707x500
B4 250x352
B4V 352x250

These are the most common ISO sizes, although the "A" sizes are far more common than the "B" sizes.

These are all standard sizes that are available in my CAD package.

Incidently, the size I use most is A1L (landscape).

The sizes Tom listed are what I am most familiar with.

I have checked schematics for Komatsu and Caterpillar that were several sizes larger.

What size should you use? Is there a company standard?

When I started drawing schematics on a daily basis (1972), scematics were C or D size, and parts drawings were typically A or B size. Interconnects between equipment were generally B or C size.

My first PLC progect, I drew 3 input or putput cards to a B size, which is nice for a three ring binder, just fold in the outer half.

I like to make an equipment binder for each machine, for the office and the shop, so I tend to use as much A and B size as possible, and D size to shrink down.

Some is personal preference, but as I mentioned, company standard playds a big part.

regards.....casey

Jeanne,

I usually make my drawings using a D size border, then print it on a B size sheet. Size B and D are proportionally the same, but a size B is much easier to handle than a size D.

If you are using ISO sizes, A1, A2, etc. then I suggest you stick to porportionally sized drawings. Eg A1 and scale when plotting to A3.
A2 proportions are a little awkward IMO for an electrical drawing and A4 is a little too small except for the simplest prints.

I print schematics on C or D-size sheets. Not everyone has a large format printer, so I make my sure my drawings are still readable if printed on an A-size (8½" x 11") sheet. You might need a magnifying glass, but they ARE readable. This way, if the original drawings get lost, customers can at least print out the PDFs on their standard printer.



-Eric

Eric also brings up a good point: PDF files. For every project I create a PDF document that contains all the electrical prints. It is inevitable that the print in the panel door pocket will get ripped or something will get spilled on it. If there is a PDF drawing set then a new copy can be printed whenever needed.

Thanks a lot for everyone. My problem is there is no company standard for electrical drawing. We just use one size, ie, C-size border for every drawing whatever mechnical, civil or electrical. I'm wondering if it's easy for manage drawings.
I know I can make drawing on C-size border, then print it out on B-size or A-size paper to use it. But I feel it's weird. Why not we make drawing directly on B-size or A-size border? Does it put more burden on drawing management?
Thanks for your kind suggestion.

Usual electrical drawing sizes I's seen in Australia are A4, A3 and A1.
Europeans usually seem to like A4, and will stretch a drawing over many pages with only a few connections per page.
A very popular practice in Australia is to draw the circuit in A1, and print it in A3 (as per BobB's post, which is also my companies standard). A2 to A4 could also work, but I haven't seen it used.

Why not we make drawing directly on B-size or A-size border? Does it put more burden on drawing management?

Click to expand...

Yes it does. For most drawing programs its the size of the components that make it difficult. They are too large on the smaller border sizes.

We use A2 scaled to A3, this works well for IEC drawings where the wires run top to bottom.
We also scan in to PDF as A3 so the customer can print it as A3 or A4. We never send out our drawings as RS-wire or autocad, either hard copy or PDF.

It isn't really the size of the border that counts, its the scale of the text and symbols on the printout. I try to optimize our drawings for printout on B (11x17). They are still legible on A (8.5x11) that way, but B size printers are fairly common. If you pick your text and symbol scale so they are readable at A and very good at B size printouts you will be OK.

Back in the dark ages, what you drew is what you prinnted. As the 70's closed, some copiers began to have a range of 50-129%, so there was some altering of sizes, but still dependand on the paper size of the copier, geberally legal or B-size.

Now that CAD is "starting" to catch on, and plotters are in a variety of sizes, and in many cases, large laser printers, drawing management is more a thing of the past.

Almost completely gone are a couple of file cabinets of A-size, with another several drawers of B's, several with C's, and a lot of D's. Maybe even some E's or larger.

Locally, drawings were PA, PB, PC, and PD to indicate "PLATE" and size "B" or whatever. When I was checking drawings at the "BIG" equipment manufacturer, the were just a 7 digit number, print out "standard" size, which generally was "C", or you could specify. An a-size print on standard would come out as a C.

I don't think I like progress. I miss sitting at the drawing board every day. I don't miss sepia's and mylar's, however.

Wile not very many, there are still a few places out there that are non-CAD.

I really liked the advent of the B-size ink jet and laser printer. Convenient, and somewhat affordable.

Once in a while I stil get stuck with E and F size wire harnesses, now if we could shrink them down to an A or B.......

regards.....casey

One of the reasons for drawing in a larger size is the symbol library. I use ACAD-Electrical. The symbol library is scaled for a .125 grid, which is just about right for a D sized drawing. Drawing a D size but printing to a B size leaves everything still very readable, but I don't have to redo the hundreds of symobls in the library.

I also use Autocad Electrical but I do everything on a B-Size in Layout space and scale the viewport so that everything fits and is legible. I use the .1 symbols but insert everything on .125 grid.