First Angle Articles

October 27, 2026

A dimension tells the workshop what size a feature is intended to be. A tolerance tells them how much that size is allowed to vary. That distinction is one of the most important parts of engineering draughting. Imagine a shaft specified as: Ø50 mm At first glance, the requirement seems obvious. But is a finished […]

October 20, 2026

Two drawings can have the same drawing number, show the same component, and look almost identical. But if one is Revision 0 and the other is Revision 1, they are not necessarily telling the workshop to manufacture the same thing. That is where revision control becomes important. In engineering draughting, producing an accurate drawing is […]

October 13, 2026

A good CAD project starts long before the first part is fully modelled. It is very easy to open Autodesk Inventor, create a new part and start designing. For a small one-off component that may be perfectly adequate. But once a project grows into multiple parts, assemblies, subassemblies and manufacturing drawings, the way the project […]

October 6, 2026

A while ago, I was presented with a pump impeller that had completely shattered. There was no usable drawing and no CAD model to work from, so the only real reference I had was the damaged component itself. At first glance, it looked like there was very little left to work with. But once I […]

September 29, 2026

For many engineering, manufacturing and fabrication businesses, draughting requirements are not always consistent. One month may be relatively quiet, while the next brings a new project, a backlog of drawing updates or a sudden increase in production work. In situations like these, businesses often have to decide whether to increase internal capacity or outsource part […]