[Elecraft] OT: High school drafting class, ~1975

[Andy McMullin]

In the UK it was called “Technical Drawing” and was a compulsory pre-cursor to being allowed to take metalwork. You had to be able to convert between various projections and 3D representations before they let you loose on real metal in the workshops. Funnily enough, I seem to remember that woodwork and electronics were not included; but slide rules, “log tables”, and paper and pencil were the calculators of the age.

Regards
Andy, G8TQH

> 
> On Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 4:00 AM Joe K2UF <joe at k2uf.com> wrote:
> 
>> In 1955 we were the cool guys with a slide rule in a leather case hanging
>> from your belt and india ink stains on your hands.
>> 
>> 73  Joe K2UF
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
>> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Wayne Burdick
>> Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2021 1:09 AM
>> To: Elecraft Reflector
>> Subject: [Elecraft] OT: High school drafting class, ~1975
>> 
>> OK, I've really dated myself now.
>> 
>> Anyone remember "drafting"? A favorite class in high school: blueprints,
>> mechanical drawings, schematics, straight edges, hand lettering,
>> projections
>> and elevations. We invented things to draw that weren't real, but looked
>> like they should be. Did all the math by hand -- on a slide rule, if
>> necessary. Day-dreamed about what we might one day build.
>> 
>> 45 years later, we're using tools we couldn't have imagined. Modeling
>> circuits and objects with millions of parameters and vectors, realizing
>> them
>> in virtual space, manipulating them in real time. Testing finished products
>> before they're even assembled.
>> 
>> The transformation is mind boggling. Yet the best part now, as it was then,
>> is the occasional burst of creative energy that propels an idea forward.
>> The
>> feeling of pieces falling into place. Or forcing them into place out of
>> sheer necessity.
>> 
>> Most of the time, we think of our new tools and techniques as advances in
>> the state of the art. Things we can't live without. But those same defining
>> moments happened just as often in simpler times.
>> 
>> Case in point -- my first real project, a rendition of W7ZOI's
>> Micro-mountaineer. Carefully documenting it took several sheets of
>> 4-squares-per-inch grid paper, which may still be in my cellar, beneath a
>> lifetime of such drawings. With the schematic, I took a lot of pride in
>> making the circuits look well-organized, as if that would somehow improve
>> my
>> odds. On the PC board, I drew large traces and pads with the etch-resist
>> pen, as if that would somehow appease the electrons.
>> 
>> I etched the PCB, soldered two dozen parts, and connected a 12 V lantern
>> battery. Thanks to my paranoia about what would happen if I did it wrong,
>> I'd taken my time and done it right.
>> 
>> I was rewarded with a hiss of band noise and a few CW signals on 40 meters.
>> 
>> Here's to those moments, and to that timeless pursuit: turning abstractions
>> into reality.
>> 
>> 73,
>> Wayne
>> N6KR
>>