Line Weight

Printing at 1:200 scale on A1 paper can someone recommend what line weights I should be using for 2D architectural work. (Planning Drawings, plans and elevations.)

ARe there any conventions for outlines windows etc in terms of line weight?

Thankyou to anyone who takes the time to reply.

It doesn't matter what scale you print, your lineweights will always be the same thickness according to the ctb plot style you choose. There are architectural lineweight standards, but you will find that these vary from office to office and everybody just adopts their own internal office standards.

Check this link: ISO/DIN line weight color coding system

It doesn't matter what scale you print, your lineweights will always be the same thickness according to the ctb plot style you choose.

 

Check this link:

What you say is correct, however from my searches there is no such ISO or DIN standard. What is often quoted as a standard is the Rotring technical pen nib colour coding. The pens were called Rotring ISORapid technical pens and the ISO led people to believe that it was an ISO (International Standards Organisation) standard. I have not been able to locate any ISO standard number for any document. The problem with the so-called ISO/DIN standard is that it does not follow the Rotring colours anyway. Brown (for a 0.5 mm pen) is not a standard colour and it is difficult to see on a white background so red is substituted but red is actually the colour for a 0.18 mm pen, magenta is substituted for red because red is used for what should have been brown, blue for a 0.7 mm pen is difficult to see on a black background so cyan is substituted, yellow for a 0.35 mm pen is also difficult to see on a white background so a colour is substituted for it, and so on. In the end there are not many colours that actually match the technical pen colours anyway.

The resource that anyone should use as their first point of call when preparing technical drawings is their local national standards bodies standard. In Australia/New Zealand it is the AS/NZS 1100. Part 101 is the General Principles applying to all disciplines, 201 is Mechanical, 301 is Architectural, 401 is Survey, and 501 is Structural. Such standards set out what line weights should be used where, the size of dimensional elements, and standard text sizes and fonts, among other things. Anyone preparing technical drawings should have a copy of the standard relevant to their discipline.

Sound interesting. Do you hae a link to the architectural 301 standard. (I have so far been unable to find one.)

Hi grain just wondering if you ever found a link for the architecture lineweight standards??? exactly what I am looking for!??

Line weights are generally modified from the old days of manual drafting:

0.13, 0.18, 0.25, 0.35, 0.5, 0.70 mm. People who have not had this pleasure tend to use rounded up decimal widths:

0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0 etc

Line weights are varied depending on the purpose of the drawing, ie a roof plan will have the roof outline in a heavier linetype, and possibly the walls supporting it in a faint line. Structural Engineers tend not to show windows, but have heavier wall lineweights.

BS EN ISO 128 gives some guidance also.