Alvin Architect’s Scale
Most of my analog design tools now sit longingly in a cabinet, but one I still use daily is my architect’s scale. Aside from a pencil, my scale is the most versatile tool on my desk.
I use a three-sided Alvin brand imperial unit model with inches and ten different fractional scales. It’s a handy basic ruler and straight edge for drawing or cutting, as well as for measuring and creating scale drawings. The aluminum model also makes a fairly intimidating weapon during heated meetings (the corners do tend to bend if it’s dropped).
Though so much of my process is digital now, I still use this tool for drafting and measuring drawings almost daily. It’s far quicker and less cumbersome to pull out a scale and create an accurate drawing on the back of a document right in a meeting than going back to a workstation and building a digital model. Sometimes I’ll need to explain why something will or will not work because of scale without breaking the flow of a conversation.
Our analog tools were once so precious. Designers built collections over the course of their careers. The most prized ones were cherished and passed down from mentors and older family members in the field. Who cherishes his copy of AutoCAD -- much less carries an old floppy disk around in a velvet-lined box?
I still cherish my aluminum Alvin ruler. And it rules.
Favorite (15)
Greg
I still have mine, just like the one in the photo, that I used in my highschool art class. It has a notch sawed into one end. This allowed me to hook a rubberband onto it and use it as a railgun for launching crayon chunks.
Dustin
My favorite architectural scale had a white finish and a real wooden center.
I've got a solid aluminum one now, and I agree that it can be intimidating! (Mine's Alumicolor instead of Alvin.)
But I would love to get my hands on a wooden-centered one again... any tips on a stocking distributor, or even a brand name?
Patrick
I got a Alvin also. And also want a wooden center one. Still The Alvin works very week. A very good second choice. (Never try to use it with rubberbands)
Doyle started this review with a comment about analog tools that do not get use much. I been training Geologist students this summer in a internship. I been making them, use the older tools and methods. I think it important to know how to do things with out the use of Digital Mesuring and Computer base equipment. I run into stituation in my job where we been unable to use the high tech equipment and had to do the work the old fastion way. It good to know how to use the analog tools. I think that it make understanding the data easier.
Patrick Randal
matt
you call it both a scale and a ruler, its not the king of England, its a scale, and a good scale should never be used as a straight edge. using it to draw lines or cut with will destroy it, that's why in the drafting world we have straight edges. Scales for measuring only please.
Dave
I still have my Dad's college Dietzgen Architect (wooden) scale, and also his Engineer's scale. I get a kick just from the concept of "decimal inches." Kinda like metric, but for Real Americans. ;-)
JohnJ
I keep the heirloom scale at home and use the less-inspiring all-plastic art-store models at the office... because my boss keeps borrowing them and they end up in the conference room, his office...etc..
I still muse upon the idea that In manual drafting, the drawn lines were only as precise as the scale would allow, but that the dimensions were exact.
Today, in digital drafting, the linework is exact and the dimensions are just a notation generated from the linework. Their precision is even adjustable.
The dimensions, not the graphics, were once the "primary" information. Many old drawings explicity stated, "Do not scale!" because last-minute changes were sometimes made to the dimension, without redrawing the lines.
Now the linework is the primary information, because the drawing is really a two-dimensional model of the design subject.
I had to stress this to CAD students back when they were initially trained as "board" drafters. They were somewhat careless wih their lines because they expected to label them with a dimension after the fact. Drawing the line exactly and then "measuring" it with the dimensioning tool was a major head-shift.
Bruce W. Fowler, Ph.D.
Bonzer! FK! My deep thanks. I lost my triangles and French curves from UG school in a conflagration and had been wondering where I could replace them in my neck of the woods. Horrible withdrawal. Had them since I was a sophomore and bought them for drawing data plots in laboratory. Then went with me all through grad school and beyond. And despite all the wonderful SW these days they still don;t do as well as a hand-eye fair curve on K&E graph paper.
Lynda
Surely I'm not the only female drafter who remembers the old analog tools! I worked for years with paper and pencil, with AutoCad from version 2.4 to present, with early Intergraph, Solid Works, Pro-E and AutoDesk's Engineer 3D system. Loved the improvements and the design ease with true 3D systems, but have worked with so many "ACAD techs" who know every little trick with Acad but don't have the least concept of ASCII standards, creating accurate, to scale shop drawings and saleable customer presentations. I've had to train so many tech school grads; some who didn't even understand the need for using the correct line types in drawings - using dashed or dotted lines instead of center lines, etc. I agree that at least one semester of board work should be a requirement for all drafting and design students. Yes, I have all my original tools, still in their black leather briefcase, and often use them since I've retired for quick sketches and to test accuracy of designs,
Andrew S
Don't mix up decifeet and inches!
Henry M.
Using an architect's scale as a straight edge for drawing or cutting invites wear and damage. There is, however, one "off label" use that it's excellent for and won't damage it. It's perfect for tearing paper along a straight line.
Squidlow
I've been using Staedtler's scales (Made in Germany), but will have to check out the Alvin, which I didn't know about. Thanks. S.
furtive
I've been using one of these as a ruler, but couldn't figure out what the odd measurements were. Now I know! I inherited it from my grandfather, a construction foreman.
michaelm
I used to use Staedtler "cheater" scales where you could take a plan in metric scale and read it off in imperial measurements. I also had a Staedtler roller scale where the number were on a eight-sided internal roller that would read off in different scales as the barrel was rotated.
lsd4all
I use mine for propping up my laptop so it won't overheat.
James, PhD, too
One trick that I learned in studio was to use a binder clip on a scale to "mark" which of the 6 scales you were using. Put it on the RHS and you always pick it up on the right scale without looking.