Engineering  Steel Detailing & Drafting

It is observed  at various fabrication yards and construction sites that the faulty execution of many works were primarily due to drawings , which were poorly detailed and drafted. These drawings  contain wrong or inadequate data , or often data presented in non-engineering methods. Whether you are from America, Canada,  India , Srilanka or Zimbabwe , it is  always  Drawing , the unique language of Engineers all across the globe. If experienced engineers , who has both Construction / Fabrication experience and Design experience , concentrate on Drafting , I believe , there would be considerably   much less faulty construction / fabrication. And that is exactly what I am doing now - I engineer  Detailing & Drafting   Projects.

Let me introduce myself. I am Rajesh Madhusudanan, a graduate in civil engineering with 15 years of handful experience exclusively concentrating on IT enabled Consultancy Services  for top quality Drafting and Detailing Projects. I am pleased  to offer my services , all across the globe as per Client's requirements and International standards.

Needless to mention that  with the introduction of drafting packages like Autocad and other detailing softwares , drafting and detailing have become more interesting and less cumbersome.

Services :

 I offer my services in

i)   Simple drafting work : Converting hand drawn sketches to Autocad drawings. This  include both Architectural and Structural Drawings. This is done as per Client's requirements. 

ii) Structural Steel Detailing : Preparation of Shop-drawings and erection plans. Till date I have done for a number of  US projects ranging from 50 to 250 tons in Virginia - as per ANSI standards .  

iii) Rebar Detailing : I am associated with two independent Detailing firms who are taking up rebar detailing. They have completed a number of  UK Projects as per British standards.

Vision :

There is no limit for Drafting. It is the only man made language  that uniquely applies across the globe. With advancement in IT , manmade boundaries of nation and natural boundaries of continents have become obsolete. We can get a lot of projects outsourced across the Continents once we prove our reliability , quality and economy. 

We  have to redefine our narrow patriotic concepts. In my opinion, all of us belong to the globe. Mother earth is for the entire mankind.

No boundary is strong enough  to separate successful  Business men from competent Technical men.

Detailing Fundamentals 1:

Start with Anchor bolt and base plate  plan. You will get a feel of the project in the fastest manner. I prefer  not to detail base plate here. Number it as 001.

Only minor details   of anchor bolts are available in AISC manual 9th edition.( Page 4 -137). Please take care of embedment length  depending on uplift forces.

Detailing Fundamentals 2:

Better to detail baseplate along with columns . Fix view directions in your mind. Please mark salient elevations such as Top of Baseplate , Top of Cap plate and Top of Joists in all detailing. Clip angles and other shear plates shall be marked from the bottom of baseplate. Take care of connections.  Continue  Sheet numbering from Anchor bolt and Basepalte plan ( 00n - where n is an integer).

Detailing Fundamentals  3:

Dimension from one end only. If there is a clip angle at the extreme end , dimension from the outer edge of the same. Get informed about the practices of the fabricator as well. Ensure about the camber to be given , if any. Start with a round sheet number, say 050, after last Column sheet number.

Detailing Fundamentals  4:

Prepare separate erection plans for Columns , beams and other major components. You may split the building into parts to suite an appropriate scale. View directions should be made explicit here.

Number the drawings with prefix E ( E001, E002,....). Check for coordination with Column and beam drawings.

Check the drawings and handover it to Checker, who will recheck it and give it to the Fabricator.....