Organizing and Protecting Blueprints On the job.

[sparky220volt]

I am an electrician for 18 years. I just started running a little surgical center job. My apprentice and I built a small print table out of wood. I keep getting new sets of prints as changes are approved. My question is what is the most efficient way to protect and organize the prints. On good idea I just recently learned is to fold duct tape around the edges of the prints and that keeps them from getting torn. I'm a little new at management and any advice in this area would be appreciated as far as organizing things and delegating work planning tasks.

 

[btharmy]

For larger, engineered projects with large sets of drawings, I don't let them leave the print table. On smaller remodels where a guy is typically carrying them around, I NEVER fold them. The creases just wear out and encourage holes and tearing. Duct tape folded over the edges does help to prevent tearing. I will typically do this to a copy of a single page or two that I send out with a couple guys to work off of away from the print table. Between rolling and taping, they tend to last longer. Keep them dry and as clean as possible. Only make changes in pencil. Lock them up for the night as well. I learned this the hard way when a customer walked the job after hours and decided to mark up my drawings with a sharpie. What a tool.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

I have covered them with clear contact paper...sometimes making them two sided with the power on side and special systems on the other side.

 

[Smart $]

... On good idea I just recently learned is to fold duct tape around the edges of the prints and that keeps them from getting torn. ...

... Duct tape folded over the edges does help to prevent tearing. ...

Get clear packing tape and a dispenser, and do back side or back and front. Much easier than folding duct tape.



That is, if you are not going to use the clear "contact paper" to cover the whole page.

 

[Fulthrotl]

I am an electrician for 18 years. I just started running a little surgical center job. My apprentice and I built a small print table out of wood. I keep getting new sets of prints as changes are approved. My question is what is the most efficient way to protect and organize the prints. On good idea I just recently learned is to fold duct tape around the edges of the prints and that keeps them from getting torn. I'm a little new at management and any advice in this area would be appreciated as far as organizing things and delegating work planning tasks.

you can laminate them, but it gets pricey quick like.

i ask, very nicely, for the autocad drawings the prints come from, with the x-refs.
then, i print out 13x19 on my inkjet, or half size at kinkoes around
the corner. mark em up with as builts and notes, transfer those back onto the
drawings i was given, and print them... so my as builts are up to date as the
work progresses. re print them as needed.... it's a few bucks a sheet at kinkoes.
i usually do them 24" wide, and usually all i need are the panel schedules, and
floor plans.

usually they will just want to send you a PDF, and not the autocad drawings.
that sucks. then you can't do asbuilts on a layer, or get dimensions, etc.

it's awesome for pad work.... i draw what i want to put in the slab, then dimension
it, and print it..... then i have an outline of the slab, with control lines, and i just rock.

 

[USMC1302]

I agree with Don, clear contact paper works well...or a laminator if not too pricey. One nice trick I have mentioned before is if you do use contact paper or laminated sets for anything, find some map pens. Staedtler makes them, and most office supply stores can get them. You can make all your notes on your drawings and they won't rub off(unless you use an alcohol wipe). Pretty handy for sets you drag around in the weather.

 

[mjf]

So I googled images of "hot secrataries" and was going to post a pic, but I didn't really think that was the answer the OP was looking for:angel:

 

[wirebender]

If you don't laminate them, make sure no one leans on them with their sweaty arms, including yourself, or you won't be able to read them by the end of the job.
Things were better when they were actually "blueprints".

 

[DesignerMan]

We have a folding table that goes to the jobsite that is for electrican's only (need a place for the coffee pot after all). We always get three copies- two to work from and one master copy that never leaves the table and is locked-up at the end of the day. This works well for us. :thumbsup:

 

[cowboyjwc]

PVC pipe (size depends on size of plans) glue on cap at one end and a male or female adapter and a screw on cap.

 

[GUNNING]

I have heard Laminate and that works but not if you need as builds. Little copies work and I have done that, scan and print out sections.

Threats, tell the crew the prints are important and when they cant be read they are done and gone. That works well, a little personal responsibility.

Put them under the code book, nobody will go near them.

Want to see hot secretaries link....

 

[SG-1]

In the past we would sometimes supply mylar prints when requested. This may be more expensive than laminate now.

 

[Rewire]

take two one inch strips of wood the width of the plans and make an end binder. Get a piece of plexiglass the length and width of your proint table and hinge it to one side.

 

[Cow]

The first thing I like to do when I get a set of prints is to make a copy, before they hit the jobsite and get wrinkled or torn, etc. If you have several guys running different parts of the job, make extra copies of the E sheets specific to what they are working on.

We take new revisions and slide them into the main print set on top of the pages they are replacing. Make sure you write "REVISED" across the older revisions they replaced.

 

[weressl]

I am an electrician for 18 years. I just started running a little surgical center job. My apprentice and I built a small print table out of wood. I keep getting new sets of prints as changes are approved. My question is what is the most efficient way to protect and organize the prints. On good idea I just recently learned is to fold duct tape around the edges of the prints and that keeps them from getting torn. I'm a little new at management and any advice in this area would be appreciated as far as organizing things and delegating work planning tasks.

PDF and IPad. On the long run it is cheaper and you can also as-build them.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

PDF and IPad. On the long run it is cheaper and you can also as-build them.

In my opinion, that would be way too small of an image to work with in the field. Yes I know you can zoom in and out, but it is so easy to miss something when you do that.

 

[kwired]

PVC pipe (size depends on size of plans) glue on cap at one end and a male or female adapter and a screw on cap.

They are hard to read when rolled up in there

take two one inch strips of wood the width of the plans and make an end binder. Get a piece of plexiglass the length and width of your proint table and hinge it to one side.

Have done similar to that before and it works great. Can even write on the plexiglass with a marker and remove it for later projects. Laminate works too but depending on conditions they do blow away easier. We used to also laminate maps for in the field when I was still in Army, we could write on them with a marker and still erase them for future use. Don't know what was in the insect repellent they gave us but it erased permanent marker on these pretty well.

 

[mgookin]

PVC pipe (size depends on size of plans) glue on cap at one end and a male or female adapter and a screw on cap.

Install it vertical and drill a drain hole at lowest point so the dew/ condensation does not saturate them. Cheap, quick & it works.

 

[Smart $]

Install it vertical and drill a drain hole at lowest point so the dew/ condensation does not saturate them. Cheap, quick & it works.

Hmmm, can't say for certain, but I'm thinking the prints would already be saturated, or at least substantially damp, by the time any drainage occured through the drain hole. :blink:

 

[kwired]

Hmmm, can't say for certain, but I'm thinking the prints would already be saturated, or at least substantially damp, by the time any drainage occured through the drain hole. :blink:

same here. If it is to condense inside it will happen on the enclosure walls, guess where the rolled up absorbent paper inside is resting against?