I finally saw the difference between manual and digital drafting after 2 years on the job

Switched from hand drafting to AutoCAD about 2 years ago when I started at a small firm near Portland. Boss said I'd catch up in a month. Took me 6 months just to feel decent. But now looking back at my old hand-drawn blueprints... man, the accuracy jump is huge. My wall alignments used to be off by 1/8 inch sometimes. Now I'm nailing 1/32 tolerances. Anyone else notice a big change in their work when they switched tools?

2 comments

2 Comments

felixfisher3d ago

I read a study last year that said hand drafting error rates averaged around 3 percent while digital tools cut that down to less than half a percent. Your 1/8 inch to 1/32 inch jump matches what they found with most people switching over. The precision difference really sneaks up on you when you go back to look at your old work.

claire_walker2d ago

Three percent error rate sounds low enough that I wouldn't lose sleep over it, wouldn't you agree?

-1