BS 8888 is the British Standard for technical product documentation, defining how engineering drawings are created, dimensioned and specified. It aligns UK drawing practice with ISO standards and replaces the earlier BS 308 standard.
BS 8888:2020 provides rules for tolerancing, geometric product specification (GPS), symbols and drawing conventions used in manufacturing and design.
This page explains BS 8888, its key requirements, differences from BS 308 and how it is used in engineering drawings.
The current version, BS 8888:2020, ensures consistency in engineering communication by standardising symbols, tolerances, dimensions, and drawing conventions across design and manufacturing.
BS 8888 covers all aspects of engineering drawing and technical product documentation, including dimensioning, tolerancing, symbols and graphical representation of components.
BS 8888 Technical Product Documentation (TPD)This British Standard supersedes BS308-1:1993, BS308-2:1985 and BS308-3:1990, which are all withdrawn. Drawing conventions which applied to BS 308-1'2'3 in general
also apply to the European Standards referenced in BS 8888.
This standard is provided to unify all of the recently implemented ISO and EN ISO standards related to
Technical Product Documentation (it references them). Most designers and engineers should have no difficulty in working to the new
standards. BS 8888 references standards covering all aspects of technical product
documentation including:
An important difference between BS 308 and BS 8888 is in the marking of
the decimal place. In BS308 the decimal place is indicated with a
decimal point. In BS 8888 the decimal place is indicated with a comma
with each group of three digits from the decimal provided with a space e.g. 14 234,012 8 .
For manual drawings this is not really a
problem. For Autocad drawings on a Windows based PC it is most convenient set the decimal
point to display as a comma on the regional settings on the control panel (This option is available
if you set the Country to German or France). .
British Standards provide additional guidance on applying BS 8888 through supporting publications such as:
BS 8888 BookBritish Standards are supplying a book which provides clear information on the application of BS 8888. The book is titled
BIP 2155:2009 The Essential Guide to Technical Product Specification: Engineering Drawing . {Neil Phelps and Colin Simmons]
BS 8888 Nominative Reference
In Appendix A of BS 8888 a list of Nominative reference standards is provided. These standards contain the detailed requirements which must by met for claiming complience with BS 8888. The pages linked below include the majority of these standards
BS 8888 is the British Standard for technical product documentation, defining how engineering drawings are created and interpreted.
BS 8888 replaced the earlier BS 308 drawing standards and aligns UK drawings with ISO standards.
BS 8888:2020 is the latest version of the standard, covering dimensioning, tolerancing and graphical representation.
BS 8888 aligns with ISO and EN ISO standards but acts as a framework for applying them in UK engineering practice.
It is used in engineering drawings, CAD design, manufacturing documentation and product specification.
Summary: BS 8888 is the UK standard for engineering drawings and technical documentation, aligning design practices with ISO standards and ensuring consistent communication in manufacturing and engineering.