Fonts per Y14.2 2014 standards

[ieshadover]

I would like to confirm that Arial Narrow meets the standard y14.2-2014? My understanding of rev 2014 we now don't have a min size on fonts (only a mim recommended .12) in title block it just needs to meet the one stroke, spacing between letters and be legible?

 

[drawoh]

ieshadover,

I do not have a copy of that standard?

What are you trying to accomplish? Your font must be readable by the end user. I would make the following assumptions...

[ol]
[li]E[ ]sized drawings (44[×]34") solve all sorts of problems on drafting boards. They don't solve problems in 3D[ ]CAD.[/li]
[li]The printers in modern offices can manage A[ ]size and B[ ]size. There is no need to create title blocks larger than this. Even if you have a big plotter, it is unlikely your vendors have them. Your fonts should be optimized for these smaller sheets of paper.[/li]
[li]I am 66 years old. I can read 0.08" (2mm) fonts on drawings printed 1:1[ ]scale. I find them fairly readable on a B[ ]sized sheets printed at A[ ]size. I can easily read them on a 1080p monitor (1920[×]1080).[/li]
[li]0.1" (2.5mm) fonts on a B[ ]sized sheet are easily read on an A[ ]sized print, and on a cheap laptop with a 1368[×]768 screen. How do your vendors and other people you communicate with, plan to go paperless?[/li]
[li]The traditional 1/8" (3mm) lettering is readable on traditional, large drawings if they are on your desk or workbench.[/li]
[li]D[ ]size and E[ ]sized drawings do not fit on desks and workbenches. Usually, you hang them on walls, and read them from a distance. 5/32" (4mm) lettering is readable under these circumstances.[/li]
[li]5/32" (4mm) lettering is readable when a D[ ]sized drawing is printed B[ ]size. On E[ ]sized drawings, less so.[/li]
[li]If have a 24" plotter, you can print your B[ ]sized sheets doubled sized. Your fonts will be an easily read 4 or 5mm.[/li]
[/ol]

Good drafting is like good writing. You are trying to communicate. Anything you do to obfuscate communication will succeed gloriously.

--
JHG

 

[3DDave]

The latest is ASME Y14.2-2014, restamped for 2020. I think there is no '2012 version.

https://www.asme.org/codes-standards/find-codes-standards/y14-2-line-conventions-lettering

It's sad. It was mostly about making drawings clearly drawn enough to survive microfiche reproduction, but time and technology have moved on. It used to have a bunch of unnecessary concessions to CAD software; at least I had a CAD admin stick to settings that, two decades before, saved 10 seconds on making a pen plot but made the drawing significantly less legible by setting the line widths too small. He justified it 'cause 14.2 said making garbage was allowed for CAD.

I have too many floaters so anything that helps by not being a small dot is an aid. It sucks. When I was a kid I could read microfiche without a magnifier.

 

[ieshadover]

Sorry I got it right in the subject but miss typed in post I am referring to 2014.