Prints are handled in a manner appropriate for their current status. Prints of drawings for active projects are generally placed on STICK FILES for easy reference. Stick files are either manufactured metal components or locally prepared strips of wood. Inactive prints, such as those from completed projects and some as-built drawings, are either stowed flat in shallow-drawer file cabinets (fig. 16-3) or folded and stowed in the standard deep-drawer-type cabinet (fig. 16-4). Extra sets of project drawings are sometimes rolled and stowed in some type of cylindrical plastic or cardboard tube.

Figure 16-4.Drawer of cabinet used for filing small original drawings, tracings, and negatives.

A print larger than size B is folded in accordion-pleat type folds in such a manner as to ensure that the drawing number is outside after the print has been folded. Final folded size should be 8 1/2 by 11 in. You should make yourself a plastic or plywood 8 3/8- by 10 7/8-in. "folding guide" or procure a ready-made one. The steps in folding a large print are as follows:

1. First, fold the print into 10 7/8-in. length-wise accordion-pleat folds. Lay the print face-down, and start by turning the edge containing the drawing number, using the folding guide, as shown in figure 16-5. Use a small block of wood, like the one shown in the figure, to compress the crease.

2. Turn the print over and make the next lengthwise fold, as shown in figure 16-6. Continue turning over and folding until the width of the drawing is used up.

3. Place the lengthwise-folded drawing so that the side on which the drawing number appears is down. Begin at the end that contains the drawing number, and make the first 8 1/2-in. crosswise accordion-pleat fold, using the folding guide, as shown in figure 16-7.

4. Turn the print over and make the next fold. Continue until the length of the drawing is used up.

Data related to drawings discussed above, such as correspondence, should be filed according to SECNAVINST 5210.11 (series), or if a limited number of drawings are affected, they can be filed by drawing numbers in a separate drawer or cabinet. If a separate folder for each project is

maintained, such data must be filed in the related projects folder.