Line weights for Sections & Wall Details

Can anyone help me?

Im new at doing sections & wall details and my issue that I have are the figuring out which lineweights to use. I know that we have to use thick lines represent structural materials like beams and plates that have been cut by the cutting plane, but does that include small structural materials too? (ex. shelf angles etc..)

Thanks

i've not noticed ppl using varying lineweights at all these days.

It depends on what country you live in and what standards the company you work for follows.

Where are you located?

Oh wow, I thought it was all the same because elements that your cutting through should be shown darker.

From Canada.

Are there no company standards in place?

I believe there is something called the Canada National BIM Standards.

An example of company CAD standards as specified by Bell Canada. Refer to page 14 for line "thickness" (not sure why it isn't referred to as lineweight ).

http://www.nexacor.ca/cad/downloads/Nexacor%20CAD%20guidelines%20vers%206.0%20-%20eng.pdf

This is just crazy. The Port Authority for New York and New Jersey here in the United States has a CAD Standard, updated January 2015, that covers 388 pages in PDF file format!

i've not noticed ppl using varying lineweights at all these days.

You must be seeing color plots all the time. Without lineweights, most of our drawings would be near impossible to read.

Razor, answering your question is very hard without knowing what you are drawing. If your field is structural, then yes structural elements would use thicker lines. Scale would also be a contributing factor. Finer details that need to be shown at a smaller scale might want to be thinner lines. My MEP drawings have structural elements thin and sometimes shaded.

I do structural. Sometimes I have to show detail connections eg. columns to floors etc...

I think in general, structural elements that are cut are shown with a solid line anyways, unless its a joist thats parallel to the cutting plane.

But im curious for small structural elements like a shelf angle or other small elements.

You have four choices as I see it.

1. Follow company standards assuming you aren't a student.

2. Follow national standards.

3. Follow the standards as set forth by your client.

4. Create your own standard.

Pick one.

4. Create your own standard.

You can find many fine examples of this type of drawing on the internet. Have yourself a look around and you will get an idea of what is typically done.