I've done more hand drafting than CAD drafting. In fact, I made a living as a draftsman for a short while.
But I can see no advantage to knowing hand drafting in this computer oriented world today. If you learned on the computer, you certainly can sketch on a napkin--that's not really hand drafting. If you learned on a computer, the course should have been set up so you learned how to read the drawings as well.
CAD takes a fair amount of proficiency. I actually think it's a little harder than hand drafting in some respects. I would rather see a student become even more proficient in the tool they will ultimately use than be half proficient in hand and half in CAD.
I think the manual machining point is a little different one, and would strongly recommend manual machining. I say that because there are things of value to be learned there and carried over to CNC that are hard to get any other way. Particularly an understanding of how the machine sounds and feels when it is cutting properly versus when things are off.
Cheers,
BW  |