Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
I applaud the full size draftings. The exercise serves many purposes. Spatial relationships, resulting dimensions, and the further understanding of how a bike frame is put together all are gained to a greater extent than a scale drawing. But scale drawings are better then nothing. I would suggest that the OP get a set up to do a number of full size draftings if at all possible as the leaning process won't be complete with #1. Fancy equipment is not needed. Enough floor space, paper large enough (I used brown sign paper BITD), simple adjustable protractor, meter stick, string attached to pencil for a compass. In time one gets more comfortable with the numbers and a full or scale drawing becomes less important. This is when an on line program (like BikeCad) comes in. Andy.
Andy; Completely agree. Of course as typical you have said what I meant to say, said it better, and in a third of the space. Kudo's on that. And thanks.
Andy; Re the paper;
Historically I had found white "butcher paper" to be the cats meow for this. Today can search Amazon for "butcher paper roll" (with no quotes) tol yield many listings in all sizes and lengths. Sometimes only one side is unwaxed. There is a $25 pull-off stand listed also which I would recommend. The other but a bit more expensive version of paper is "plotter paper" {search Amazon for "plotter paper roll" -- no quotes. 36" x 300 feet is a good size**. The diff with plotter paper is that it can be had up to about 40 pound thickness and 42 inches wide if needed. It is also much more find grained than butcher paper which can be helpful.
Reddog3; Re a compass for wheels... A cheap, more practical, easy to fold/store, and entirely old-school tool to just use a push pin at the axle center and add a length of string looped around your pencil and then around you go. Remember to twirl your pencil as you good around to keep the line on center. But imho, nothing beats using the specific rim you will later build into the wheels for the specific bike you are building. This can really help with getting canti studs and brake bridges just right as you can visualize the rims specific braking surface.
I would also recommend a 48" (or 72" if doing tandems) metal ruler for layouts. If you have a good table to work full-scale on (a sheet of 5/8" or 3/4" MDF will serve very well), recommend taping down your paper and use an aluminum "dry wall T-Square" indexed off the edge as it provides edge alignment, a precise 90, and a rule on both horizontal and vertical. Most home stores will have them at low cost. Keeping things aligned and baselined on accurate 90 degree vertical take-off lines can really helpful. Most of these stores will also have nice protractors with 1/2 degree or better marks which is good for doing the headtube and seattube take-offs.
Hope that helps some
/K