Setting new dimensions

[Worthless n00b]

Hello!

 

I inherited a drawing, starting point drawing with an outline than I can change to fit any business or need, which is set to draw at 3/4" = 1'-0". This was great when I was drawing kitchen equipment but now that I am more or less drawing site plans, that setup will not work.

 I am running AutoCAD 2004, and would like to re scale the entire drawing to something more along the lines of 1"=20' or 1"=50'. 

 

Also, when I draw, I would like the lines to automatically draw out in feet instead of inches where it is currently set.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks! 

[CyberAngel]

The recommended way to create a "starting point" drawing is to start with a new drawing. Change the settings to whatever you like, e.g. units, scales, layers. Save it as a template. Whenever you need a new drawing, open the template so you don't have to go through that same process every time.

 

Another way to create a template is to finish a project that has everything you need, erase the project-specific features, and save that as your template.

[ammobake]

Under options menu you can also tell AutoCAD to use your template anytime you create a new DWG in the program.

 

in the options it's...

File tab, Template Settings, Drawing Template file location

 

You would just point to the DWT you want to use as the default template and keep it in that folder/directory.

 

You just want to remember what drawing units are set in that template.  My common practice is to label my templates by sheet size and drawing units.

If you anticipate using metric units at any point it can be good to create separate template for that.

 

ChriS

[Worthless n00b]

The dims of my sheet are set at 48' x 32'. Should I just increase those dims until I can fit whatever I need into it?

If I re scale the dwg. as is, I can go down to 1/8"=1' which would work, but that also re scales the dim text and I would have to change those manually to the correct measurements.

Maybe I should start from scratch, but it seems that this should be a fairly simple fix.

[tombu]

Is there a reason you're not plotting paper space layouts?

[Worthless n00b]

Not sure I understand. If I plot this dwg @ 3/4"=1' , it will scale on paper as it should.

 

One thing I don't get is that the SC command asks for a factor but if I type in 1:50 or whatever, it won't change the dims on pre existing lines.

I need to somehow "Master Scale" this DWG and then make sure that lines are default drawn in feet.

[ammobake]

dimensions have two different scaling "options" if you like.

One is dim scale overall which just resizes the dimension with a multiplier.

One is dim scale linear.  dim scale linear will scale the dimension length.

So if you have a dimension showing 1'-0" but you want it to show 12'-0" you could change dimscale linear to 12.0 in the properties to reflect what you want.

However, that is not common practice.

 

Usually everything is dimscale linear 1.0 and everything in model space is 1:1 scale.

 

The only place you will normally need to scale stuff is in the viewport in the layout (paperspace) so that it scales to the sheet size at a standard scale.

So when you go to print an 11x17 PDF for example it comes out at a standard scale and it can easily be measured or scaled by others.

 

Basically, if you are getting wrong dimensions for something you've drawn in model space, it's because the object itself is not scaled properly.

 

If you are using decimal units make sure you have drawing units set to inches or feet as you require.

 

ChriS

 

[Worthless n00b]

How do you access or format the linear setting as opposed to the overall?

 

If I'm understanding you correctly, the overall is changed by using the SC command, selecting the objects, and then going up or down in half steps (.5) or whole steps (2.0) etc.

 

[Cad64]

18 hours ago, Worthless n00b said:

I inherited a drawing, starting point drawing with an outline than I can change to fit any business or need, which is set to draw at 3/4" = 1'-0". This was great when I was drawing kitchen equipment but now that I am more or less drawing site plans, that setup will not work.

 I am running AutoCAD 2004, and would like to re scale the entire drawing to something more along the lines of 1"=20' or 1"=50'. 

 

 

I'm not sure I understand exactly, but it sounds like you're drawing at a scale? Not 1:1? If that's the case, this is the source of your problem. If you draw everything in model space at 1:1, you can then put your title block in the paper space layout and set the printed scale in your viewport. If you're not sure how layouts and viewports work, here's a Tutorial.

[Worthless n00b]

Thank you, yes. I wasn't using the correct terminology. I inherited a title block drawing scaled at 3/4"=1'.

 This is the industry standard for food service drawings, which used to be my line of work. Plan and elevation were drawn at 3/4, while sections were drawn at 1 1/2. So when I would finish drawing a section, I would use the SC command and "2.0" on the section drawing only to bump it up to the correct scale for submittal. I would have to go back and DDEDIT the dimension line numbers on that section drawing though because they automatically double in distance when you do that.

 So ideally, what I'm trying to do is take that existing title block drawing, and convert it to a more usable scale for lot surveys.

 So, I'll check out the tutorial you provided and I thank you very much!

[BIGAL]

2nd using layouts, as you say take your title block and rescale to a 1:1 size in inches. if you want to use a 48x32 then make it that size, allow for a printing edge clips of say 1/2" all round. So it will be 47x31. Then make views inside the title block at the scale you want "Mview" or MV

[ammobake]

On a side note, if you have dimensions like you describe and the dimensions are showing twice the number they should, one workaround would be to select all of your dimensions and change "dimscale linear" to "0.5" (similar to how I described in an earlier post).

 

That would be much faster than editing or overriding each of the dims to show what you want.

 

But keeping everything 1:1 in model space is what you really want to aim for to avoid having to do that in the first place. 

 

ChriS

[tombu]

We use feet as a unit of measurement for Civil & Survey drawings, but Structures are dimensioned in inches.  We use two annotative dimension styles. One with a Suffix of ' for feet, with an Angular child style with the Suffix removed. For dimensioning in inches I've added a Structures dimension style with the Scale factor on the Primary Units tab set to 12.  Having a dimension style for every need makes using dimension overrides unnecessary.