Illustrated Repair Guide
A single-page repair or maintenance sheet in pen line — device, exploded detail, tools, numbered steps — held to the consistency check these sheets quietly fail. Six fields.
We made two examples: an espresso machine gasket change and a boat's raw water impeller change, with five tools and one part against five tools and two parts. In both, every code in the tool row is called for by a step, and the assembly is seen from the same angle in all five panels.
Every tool and part on the list is called for by a numbered step, and none is left unused. The object is drawn from the same angle in every panel, so you see what changed without having to find it again. Write each step as a single action: the picture follows your fields to the letter, so a step that says clean and grease will come out that way.
Generated for this library
Input
Job replacing the group head gasket on a commercial
espresso machine
Safety turn off the power and let the machine cool
Part the group head gasket - between the group head body
above and the shower screen below
Tools T1 4mm hex key · T2 pick tool · T3 brush · T4 cloth
· T5 silicone grease · P1 gasket
Steps remove portafilter · remove shower screen (T1) ·
lift out old gasket (T2) · clean and grease the
groove (T3, T4, T5) · press in new gasket (P1)
Check run a short brew cycle and look for leaks
Returned 1 sheet · 3:4 · black line on white
top title, subtitle, and a boxed safety note
scene the machine drawn in line with an operator, the
target area circled and led out to the detail
detail the part exploded between its neighbours, each one
labelled on a leader
tools six icons in a row, coded T1-T5 and P1
steps five panels, one action each, the same view of the
group head throughout, arrows for direction
audit every code in the tool row appears in a stepYou fill in 6 fields — the braced lines at the top. Everything below them is fixed.
- 1The job
- 2The safety note
- 3The target part, and what it sits between
- 4The tools and parts
- 5The five steps, one action each
- 6The final check
Illustrated Repair Guide
What this makes
A single-page repair or maintenance sheet in pen line — device, exploded detail, tools, numbered steps — held to the consistency check these sheets quietly fail. Six fields.
The whole template, in one piece. The steps below are the entire workflow.
How to use it
- Copy the whole template with the button above.
- Replace the six FIELDS lines. Write the steps first, then build the tool list from what the steps actually name — not the other way round.
- Paste it into any image-capable agent or model, in one message. One run returns the sheet.
- Cross off the tools before shipping: read the steps and tick each tool as it is called for. Anything left unticked should not be on the sheet.
What you swap
- The job
- replacing the group head gasket on a commercial espresso machine
- The safety note
- turn off the power and let the machine cool before starting
- The target part, and what it sits between
- the group head gasket — between the group head body above and the shower screen below
- The tools and parts
- T1 4mm hex key · T2 pick tool · T3 cleaning brush · T4 clean cloth · T5 food-grade silicone grease · P1 group head gasket
- The five steps, one action each
- remove the portafilter · remove the shower screen (T1) · lift out the old gasket (T2) · clean and grease the groove (T3, T4, T5) · press in the new gasket (P1)
- The final check
- run a short brew cycle and look for leaks around the group head
Before it runs
- A job you have actually done, or a manual to work from. This sheet reads as authority, and a plausible-looking wrong procedure is worse than no sheet.
- A tool list you have reconciled against your own steps. Writing the steps first and listing the tools afterwards is what keeps them honest.
- A part with a clear position in an assembly. The exploded detail needs something above it and something below it to be worth drawing.
When to reach for it
When somebody has to do a job with their hands: replace a part, service a machine, assemble a kit, change a consumable. Templates in this style produce a handsome sheet whose tool list and step list disagree, so you fetch something you never use.
What changes
- One instruction sheet: title, safety note, the machine with the target part circled, an exploded detail, a tool row, and numbered steps.
- The tool list and the steps reconciled — every tool listed is called for by a step, and every tool a step names appears in the list.
- One action per step, so the numbers mean something and nothing gets bundled at the end.
- The same viewpoint on the part across every step, so a reader can see what changed rather than re-finding the object.
- Codes on the tools and parts, used by the steps, which is how real manuals stay unambiguous without more words.
Pairs with
- Exploded Product ViewAn exploded product view on white — parts strung along one axis in assembly order, with anything that passes through drawn long enough to reach everything it passes through. Five fields.
- Concentric Capability ModelA concentric capability model — one subject, three rings, four sectors — where depth means prerequisite rather than decoration. Six fields.
- Converging Causes DiagramA convergence diagram — several causes funnelling into one hub and out to its effects — governed by the rule that keeps such a diagram true rather than merely tidy. Six fields.