Why 2D Drawings Are Still Important
In our increasingly digital world, many companies have switched to entirely 3D CAD environments and now think of 2D part representations as the “old” way of doing things. 2D drawings are often viewed as a time-consuming, zero value-add step in the manufacture of custom engineered components. What many engineers fail to realize, though, is that 2D part drawings are arguably the most important step of designing a component. 2D drawings communicate information that is difficult, messy, or even impossible to express in a 3D environment. Better yet, most 3D CAD software packages have built-in 2D drawing suites that can convert 3D models to 2D prints in only a few minutes.
Here are a few reasons why 2D drawings are still useful:
Clear communication – Details such as surface finishes, post processing requirements, critical tolerances, and even subjective information are much more effectively communicated by 2D drawings.
Critical tolerances – Let’s say you have a part with a ½” hole in it. Is it a clearance hole for a ½” bolt? Or is a tight-tolerance bore for a ½” bearing? If either is incorrectly assumed, your part is scrap, or was much more expensive than necessary. This can lead to costly rework, project delays, or excess expense. This risk is easily nullified by accurate 2D drawings.
Reduction of design mistakes – Drawings can be extremely helpful to the part designer. They force the engineer to review their part from multiple angles and can result in the identification of design mistakes that were not noticed in the 3D environment. Drawings can also serve as concise and compact form of design revision history for other engineers on your team.
Faster lead times – With 2D drawings, your parts will be better defined, which means less emailing back and forth with questions and answers.
In our experience, customers who provide 2D drawings in tandem with 3D part files make fewer design mistakes, get their parts faster, and are more satisfied with the parts they receive. The time saved by foregoing 2D drawings is highly outweighed by time and money lost by rework and project delays due to poor communication of expectations.