Saw a guy using the wrong scale on a blueprint today

I was checking in with the GC on a job in downtown Nashville and this younger drafter was trying to measure off a set of prints with a standard ruler instead of an architect's scale. He kept getting dimensions wrong by like 2 feet on door openings. I had to pull out my own scale and show him the difference between 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch scales. It was wild because he had been working there for 3 months and nobody caught it. His boss just said "close enough" but on a commercial build thats how you end up with walls in the wrong spots. Does anyone else keep a spare scale in their bag for moments like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

kim_hart74d ago

My buddy had a similar thing happen at his firm where a new guy used a mechanical pencil for markups on a mylar print and nobody realized until the eraser shavings smudged half the plan. They had to reprint the whole set like three times before someone figured out what was going on. Do you think that's just a generational thing with kids not learning drafting basics anymore?

the_john3d ago

That's a pretty specific breakdown, but honestly, are we surprised when people don't even know the difference between a drafting lead and a regular #2 pencil anymore? Mechanical pencils leave that fine graphite dust that just floats around on mylar, it's a nightmare for anything that needs to stay clean. You think drafting classes just skipped over that part of the manual, or is it more that nobody bothers to tell new hires the basic tools of the trade before they let them loose?