Basic 2D drafting, quoted.
Also called: Early 2D views · Concept drawing · Quote drawing · Preliminary GA
A handful of clear 2D views pulled off the 3D model, carrying the sizes a supplier needs to understand the part and quote it.
Flatten the model into a few views. Add the dimensions, wall thicknesses and fits that drive cost, plus a short note on material and finish. Enough for a supplier to quote, not the full detailed drawing pack. That comes later.
What basic 2D drafting is
You have a 3D model. A supplier can’t quote off a model they can’t open, and a colleague reviewing it on a phone can’t either. So you flatten it: front, side, top, maybe a section through the part, on a sheet anyone can read. That is basic 2D drafting. It is the quote drawing, not the manufacturing drawing.
The whole point is to answer one question for the person reading it: how big is this, and what is it made of? Get that across and they can price it. Everything else, the full tolerance scheme, every radius, the GD&T, waits for the detailed drawings later in the stage. Putting it all on now slows you down and tells the supplier nothing they need at the quoting stage.
Keep it deliberately thin. Overall envelope. The few dimensions that move the cost. Wall thickness where it matters. The fits between mating parts. Material and finish in a note. That is the line: enough to quote, and no more. Here is what that one sheet looked like for the proofing box, so you can see the shape of a good answer rather than a generic template.
Five things on one sheet. The supplier can size the part, see what it’s made of, and quote it. That is the job done.
- A rendered view with no dimensions on it.
- Looks finished, tells the supplier nothing about size.
- Comes back with “can you send the actual sizes?”.
- A day lost before the quote even starts.
- Plain views with the cost-driving dimensions on.
- Wall thickness, the recess, the lid fit, all called out.
- One note on material and finish.
- Quote comes back, no follow-up email needed.
How it fits the bigger picture
Basic 2D drafting is activity 06.20.02 in the framework, inside Stage 06 Design. It sits on the 3D model behind it and feeds straight into marketing visuals (06.20.03), which take the same model and dress it up for the buyer rather than the supplier. Different audience, different drawing, same source.
What it can do
It turns a model nobody can quote into a sheet a supplier can. It gets a real number back fast, while the design is still cheap to change, so a costly wall thickness or a tight lid fit surfaces before you commit to detailed drawings.
What it can’t do
It can’t be the manufacturing drawing. The tolerances, every radius, the full GD&T and the finish callouts come later in the detailed drawing pack. A 2D pass that tries to be both ends up serving neither, and a supplier quoting off it will hedge the number to cover the unknowns.
See the full 10-stage process →
Try it yourself
Open your model. Drop the three or four views that show it best onto one sheet, plus a section if anything important is hidden inside. Add only the dimensions a supplier needs to price it: overall size, wall thickness, the fits that matter. Write one note on material and finish. Stop there. If a dimension wouldn’t change the quote, leave it for the detailed drawings.
Not sure your concept is ready to draw yet? Start the Free Sprint → and pressure-test it first.
Your 2D-drafting checklist
Project notes: one sheet to Stoke-on-Trent
▸ From the notebook · optional reading
One A3 sheet of ceramic-shell views got a real tooling number back from Stoke-on-Trent in days, not weeks.
2 min read · click to open
Dan and Anna Hartley, up in Stockport, had a model of the proofing box they were proud of. Dan wanted to send the supplier a rendered image. I asked him what a render tells a ceramic shop in Stoke-on-Trent. The answer is: very little they can price.
So we did a 2D pass instead. Front and side of the shell, a plan of the lid, one section through both. On it went the overall footprint and height, the 8mm wall, the cavity for two 1kg dough balls, and the recess for the element and PCB. One note: stoneware, food-safe glaze inside, must suit BS EN 61010 and UKCA. That was the whole sheet.
The supplier came back inside the week with a tooling figure and a per-unit price that landed the ceramic shell comfortably inside the £38–55 bill of materials we needed to hold the £149 retail. No render would have got us that. We didn’t draw a single tolerance at this point, and we didn’t need to.
The detailed drawings, with the full tolerance scheme, came a fortnight later once the quote confirmed the part was affordable. Drawing them up front would have been wasted effort if the number had come back too high.
— Design stage, project notes, 2026
— Next in Design → Marketing visuals