# drawing a stylized manufacturing process (tanks and things)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 6, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119 "2009-04-06T11:51:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119/1 "2009-04-06T11:51:35Z")

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I need to create or obtain (for free) a stylized drawing of a manufacturing proces for making a drug. I need to have things like barrels and flasks, big mixing tanks, something that I can call a centrifuge, cubes and cylinders and pipes connecting it all. I can probably cobble something together on powerpoint, but is there something available on line and free that I can download and piece together?

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119/2 "2009-04-06T12:26:55Z")

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IANA diagram expert, but if you have Visio there are template sets for just about every diagramming need. I’m not sure which flavors(s) of Office include Visio.

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119/3 "2009-04-06T12:29:21Z")

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You might have a look at Sketchup and Google’s 3D warehouse.

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**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119/4 "2009-04-06T12:40:55Z")

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Dia Its free and very easy to use and expandable too  
[http://live.gnome.org/Dia/Download](http://live.gnome.org/Dia/Download)

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**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawing-a-stylized-manufacturing-process-tanks-and-things/492119/5 "2009-04-06T19:24:56Z")

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> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> You might have a look at Sketchup and Google’s 3D warehouse.

I was going to say sketchup as well. Back around 1998 I wanted to make chemical layouts of the photolithography tools that I was training people to use. I also wanted to have animation to rotate between views and to build layers of dispense lines. I couldn’t find anything affordable at the time. Today, Sketchup is free and can more or less do what I want.