drafting machine - Schimdt & Haensch

Hi,

Hope someone may be able to help with this german drafting machine.

Have been asked to sell this for a friend.

It has been well maintained over the years.

The ruler is stable at most positions on the board except for the bottom left and I would like to adjust the arms so it operates correctly.

Haven't been able to find any manuals online so hoping someone may have experience with these.

thanks
sapphire120

Not sure what you mean by "not stable"?

Do you mean the clutch slips in certain positions but not in others? That would be kind of odd.

I have several drafting machines though none of your brand.
Generally the detent and the 2 clutches are separate functions. There will be a clutch to set the scales. Basically, rotate the big knob to free the index and rotate to put the scale in a detent, say -0-. Probably every 15 deg. but it could be other. Then with the index solidly in a detent, find the clutch lever that lets you rotate the scale head so the scales are horizontal and vertical. Set the scales, lock that clutch.

next, try rotating the detent out of -0-, (H/V) to say 7° using the scale, now find the clutch that will lock and hold this.

(Note: If the clutch that locks the head to the scale instead of letting it detent is currently engaged, you will have to find and release it to do the above steps.)

Once you have identified those 3 functions, you can determine which clutch to adjust and probably start to get an inkling of "how" to do it from inspection.

Another thought - if what you meant by "not stable" is that the detent does not engage fully at some points, then you probably have to clean the fuzz out of it, or give it a shot of penetrating oil to loosen some gum in that area? Usually just wiggling the knob will cure it, though.

smt

its sad but i have seen a lot of drafting tables go in the scrap lugger. engineer would be embarrassed to use as everything is CAD now. even if engineer did a drawing that way he would get criticism from other engineers for using it

I'm not a professional CAD person or engineer so I find it much faster to noodle away sketching designs on paper first before CADing em. Personally, I'd like to have a vertical drafts table like the OP's friends. Old fashioned? Yup!

Lucky7

lucky7 said:

I'm not a professional CAD person or engineer so I find it much faster to noodle away sketching designs on paper first before CADing em. Personally, I'd like to have a vertical drafts table like the OP's friends. Old fashioned? Yup!

Lucky7

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most CAD you have to do a tutorial following a book or ebook. then it is 100x easier to do CAD. literally not do tutorial and you can be bad and slow at CAD for decades. i have also done tutorial and after a few days i could do CAD on my own. many different programs i have done each having to do or learn the tutorials first. if i had no tutorial literally many programs i could not figure out how to use software ever. too many hidden features

Making a living with a generic one

DMF_TomB said:

engineer would be embarrassed to use as everything is CAD now.

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I'm in the middle of engineering school right now, got "certified" in AutoCAD in highschool and last semster had a 3D modeling class with Creo.

I'd love to have that drafting machine myself. Really should practice my engineering/architerual handwriting. Never quite got the hang of it unfortunately.

alskdjfhg said:

I'd love to have that drafting machine myself. Really should practice my engineering/architerual handwriting. Never quite got the hang of it unfortunately.

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Matt -

The OP machine is a beauty. I'm one of the last of the slide rule engineers - graduated in 1970. And I actually did much more complex drawings in the 2 years of drafting I took in high school than I did in college. I was never great at lettering - and arrow heads gave me fits - but then I had a very demanding high school teacher. But it paid off later. And I was always amazed at the engineers I ran into over the years who could not draw at all - nor read a print. Not many, but they do exist.

I just enjoy using a board - have a 60s vintage in the shop that is a refugee from the IR plant that used to be here years ago, surplussed when they went CAD. I'm technically literate on a computer but just seem to enjoy it more on a board and for me it helps the thinking/designing process.

But then a retired engineer does not have to make rate anymore, nor please anyone but myself when it comes to the drawings.

Dale

I sold my A0 drawing board - parallel motion only, but still have my Rotring Rapid A3 Rotring Rapid Drafting Board A3 52243 + Drawing Head 522345 | What's it worth

I can't recall how much but I know it was a lot of money when I bought it, around about 1972, virtually ''had'' to have it for my apprenticeship Tech College homework, .....along with the Rotring pens.

alskdfhg I wouldn't worry about the lettering too much, .....there used to be a saying (and not without foundation) along the lines of ''good neat clear lettering and numerals? - this drawing will be rubbish.''


Anyone notice how the tracing girls in the drawing offices always used to be a bit broad in the beam

stephen thomas said:

Not sure what you mean by "not stable"?

Do you mean the clutch slips in certain positions but not in others? That would be kind of odd.

I have several drafting machines though none of your brand.
Generally the detent and the 2 clutches are separate functions. There will be a clutch to set the scales. Basically, rotate the big knob to free the index and rotate to put the scale in a detent, say -0-. Probably every 15 deg. but it could be other. Then with the index solidly in a detent, find the clutch lever that lets you rotate the scale head so the scales are horizontal and vertical. Set the scales, lock that clutch.

next, try rotating the detent out of -0-, (H/V) to say 7° using the scale, now find the clutch that will lock and hold this.

(Note: If the clutch that locks the head to the scale instead of letting it detent is currently engaged, you will have to find and release it to do the above steps.)

Once you have identified those 3 functions, you can determine which clutch to adjust and probably start to get an inkling of "how" to do it from inspection.

Another thought - if what you meant by "not stable" is that the detent does not engage fully at some points, then you probably have to clean the fuzz out of it, or give it a shot of penetrating oil to loosen some gum in that area? Usually just wiggling the knob will cure it, though.

smt

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ok thanks for your feedback

I am not familar with usage of the drafting machine, its a fantastic item and hope an engineer or architect may end up with it

just to discuss further, the machine is stable/solid

so the black knob with rulers attached to it should rotate which puts pressure against the board and holds it in a position or do you do work with it all over the board and just leave it sitting in a position like in the photo's?

any video links on how they operate would be of a great help

thnks again
sapphire120

It sounds like I totally misunderstood what you meant by "not stable"

It sounds like what you really mean is that you want to place the arm in any position, remove your hands, and it will stay there, balanced?

If that is all you mean, it probably is not going to happen "everywhere". Just the nature of things. (Menaing someone could have designed one such, but the extra cost would be more than what a "normal" machine cost at the time.)

No, don't press on the black/dk brown knob. You can use that for a hand grip fo moving. On all 3 of my different syle and brand machines, the hand knob is rotated to release the angle detent, to rotate the scale head without losing the -0- position for return. I assume it is the same on yours. On all of mine, there is a clutch release or other facility to adjust the scales to horizontal/vertical when the detent is in any position, presumably -0-. There is a separate clutch mechanism to lock the rotating head with the knob to any degree other than the detent positions.

I thought you must be having a problem with one of those. On re-reading, I get the impression that is not what you were asking. Apologies.

Beautiful machine, BTW. My 2 big board machines (a K & E, and a Vemco) are parallel track machines with the same style scale head as yours, running up and down (& lockable) on the vertical track. The smaller machine (Universal "Boardmaster") that I grew up with in grade and HS is a broken arm style very similar to yours. Except mine is based on steel bands inside the arms tensioned around wheels at the joints and scale head (you can't see them, just describing the principle). Yours is based on the parallelogram/pantographic principle.

smt

Like some others I prefer the board and drafting machine to CAD. We had earlier versions of different CAD programs where I worked. Our original was Auto Trol. It was a great program but relied on a mainframe. When the mainframe went away we switched to Auto-Cad. In reality the early versions had less features than the old mainframe based program, and were not user friendly.

At work I had a PC based version of Auto Cad for several years. I also bought a drafting table and return for use at home. At that time everyone was switching to CAD so boards and machines were a dime a dozen. I purchased a 72" Mayline board with an adjustable base, and a desk return, a Mutoh drafting machine, over a dozen different scales, a drafting light, and all the tools and supplies I could fit into my truck for $50.00. At the time just the table and desk were still listing for over $3,700.00 in the Mayline catalog. Today the only ones in the catalog are a few stand alone boards meant for artists and layout work.

When I retired the Auto-Cad couldn't be updated because it needed to be connected to the corporate network. After a while I went back to using the board. Fortunately for me drafting classes were a requirement as a freshman engineering student. It was a skill that was left dormant for many years. However just like riding a bicycle it all comes back quickly. I still love the board and still use it today. Now that the shop is getting over crowded I sometimes think I should have purchased a smaller board.

A little off topic but I was taught to call that a drafting arm. A drafting machine,at least I in my local was the type that has a rail on top and a vertical rail that slides on it. The head / scales slide in the vertical rail.

JR

that is a beautiful piece, I still use my Vemco with the Vemco lamp and prefer to work out designs on paper and then pass it onto Solidworks guy. about 6 years ago I had a large counterweighted Hamilton Standard drawing table with the machine but no scales that I got 450 bucks for. But that was a very long shot.
this may be more salable as restaurant art than a functional drafting machine,

alskdjfhg said:

I'm in the middle of engineering school right now, got "certified" in AutoCAD in highschool and last semster had a 3D modeling class with Creo.

I'd love to have that drafting machine myself. Really should practice my engineering/architerual handwriting. Never quite got the hang of it unfortunately.

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I have a drafting arm you are welcome to.. It's been in the shop for years might need some cleaning up.. Just the arm, no table, have to make your own.

swatkins said:

I have a drafting arm you are welcome to..

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Cool, thanks.

No idea when id be able to get it. Getting wisdom teeth pulled Wendsday and then summer classes start June 6th.

thanks for info on this, i know it has been well maintained over the years and I have the confidence to sell it knowing everything is fine