Introduction to SolidWorks

Lesson 12 – Creating Detail Drawings
Section V – Creating Engineering Drawings 12.3 Creating a Drawing Template

12.3 Creating a Drawing Template

We will create a drawing template to customize SolidWorks. Drawing templates must follow
standards, for example ANSI or ISO.

Step 96: Open a new document and specify Drawing as the type of document. A new drawing
document is shown in Figure 12.1.

Figure 12. 1 – New Drawing Document

The Need for Engineering Drawings

Communication is what makes us human. The ability to communicate is not unique to our species, but

we do it better than any other species on earth. Our ancestors were able to hunt efficiently, and

transform their societies from small clans into city-states because of their extraordinary ability to

communicate. They could organize their resources to build walls to defend their cities, or to mount

expeditions to conquer their enemies. Eventually, because of their amazing ability to communicate,

humans were able to organize themselves into regional empires that controlled great amounts of

wealth and resources and could afford some of the ancient and present world’s technological

wonders. Stonehenge, the pyramids, the Great Wall of China and, more recently, the Apollo program

would have been impossible without wealth and the ability to communicate ideas, instructions and

commands.

Stonehenge, the pyramids, the Great Wall of China, and the Saturn V rocket that took us to the moon

are similar in the sense that their creation involved the organized effort of thousands of people. In all

examples, the finished product would have seemed impossible to the previous generation. Socially, all

such mega-projects require complex organizations. These organizations can function only with well

developed and efficient communication between people. The leaders of the project must communicate

their vision of the completed structure all the way to the lowest level and across specialties. If they fail

to do this, confusion and low morale are the immediate result and eventually, the project will fail.