Masterspec includes record transparencies as a method for delivering Record Drawings. Does anyone still use them and/or spec them?
No. With the advent of CAD and large format copying, transparencies are archaic. The Federal Government still might require them…but I don’t do Fed work.
It is not just that transparencies are archaic, it is that the diazo printing technology that uses a transparent (or translucent) original obtain a direct print is generally unavailable.
I believe that sometime last year, the stopped making the diazo paper (the paper with the yellow stuff on it that turned blue or black). Up until that point printing companies were maintaining some diazo machines for die-hard clients who insisted on “real blue prints.” These machines, however, had ceased to be manufactured. This may not be true all over the country, but it is true in the Houston market.
I believe the newer printing technologies are not only less expensive, but safer for those operating the machines and more environmentally friendly. I also understand that there were some environmental issues with the manufacture of the diazo paper.
I believe that you will see this option dissappear in when ARCOM releases its next update of this section.
I must admit that, with a certain nostalgia, I associate the faint smell of ammonia with the production room at an architect’s office.
Some government master specifications need to be edited; I’ve seen documents that required “reproducible sepias” as recently as last year!
Peter,
If you are going nostalgic don’t forget the wonderful “sepia” and it’s eradicating fluid that smelled like a cats _____.
Also, don’t forget the flies that were attracted to the ammonia odor.
Wayne
I remember being responsible for refilling the diazo machine and spilling a whole bottle of ammonia when I worked for my Dads AE firm while in college (about 1972 if I recall correctly). Remember the square plastic bottles that had a hose attached? You had to feed the (short) hose into a receptor into the top of the machine. The bottles had to weigh 50 pounds and I had to lift it over my head to reach the top of the unit. I dropped the bottle and the top came off. Not fun. The entire office had to be evacuated. Not an experience to forget.
On the other hand, smelling ammonia the first this in the morning after a long night of entertaining usually woke me up quickly.
Thats why in WA architect’s offices were listed as hazardous places of work per the state industrial safety bunch WISHA (not hazardous occupancies)