Help. Autocad 2012 doing something I don't understand

[Murphy625]

Trying to draw a 16 inch long 4 inch pipe using 3d modeling. Been doing it the same way for years with no problems.

Create a cylinder 4.5 inches in diameter x 16 inches long. Then create another cylinder inside that one that is 4 inches diameter and 20 inches long. Subtract the small cylinder from the fat cylinder, and presto! I have a 4 inch pipe drawn to Sch40 standards.

Except now, after drawing the big cylinder, my cursor won't go to the center to draw the 2nd cylinder. If I move the cursor outside the circle then it looks like it is centered, but as soon as I move the cursor to the inside, its as if my UCS grid snap gets shifted over and the cursor won't center on the first cylinder.

What the heck is going on?

[Cad64]

That's weird. Do you have Snap (F9) enabled? Maybe your cursor is jumping to the nearest grid point?

 

An alternative would be to create a 4" dia. circle, offset it to create the 4.5" circle and then use Presspull to extrude the pipe.

[Murphy625]

Grid enabled, snap-to-grid enabled.

When I draw the cylinder, I just picked a random grid point to start.. when I try to draw the inner cylinder, my cursor won't snap to the grid if the cursor is INSIDE the first circle.

When I move the cursor outside the cylinder, it snaps to grid fine.

Also, if I just draw a 2D circle, this doesn't happen.. I can easily snap to the grid point in the center of the circle and draw a 2nd circle.

I don't want a workaround, I want it to work correctly.. this has to be a setting somewhere. I tried changing my grid from a 6 inch grid to a 2 inch grid but it had no effect on the cursor problem.

[Murphy625]

Why does my UCS look like this?    Doesn't look normal...
 

[Murphy625]

 

After drawing a cylinder, my Y axis snaps to grid correctly inside or outside the cylinder circle.    My X axis only snaps correctly if the cursor is OUTSIDE the cylinder..  it will snap to the grid fine..  Once the cursor is inside the cylinder, it won't snap to grid and is always just off to the left or right of the grid dots.

What the heck is going on?     15 years of using Autocad and I've never seen this behavior.

[Dadgad]

I sympathize completely.

 

Should you have never watched this Tutorial video, give it a look.

 

Old dogs, old but under utilized tricks.  

 

https://www.cadtutor.net/tutorials/autocad/extrude-and-press-pull/

[Murphy625]

3 minutes ago, Dadgad said:

I sympathize completely.

 

Should you have never watched this Tutorial video, give it a look.

 

Old dogs, old but under utilized tricks.  

 

https://www.cadtutor.net/tutorials/autocad/extrude-and-press-pull/

I love tutorials, but I've been using autocad for 25 years, and while I'm certainly no expert, I know how to draw what I need to draw.    Somewhere in my settings or program, something is broken..  Not sure if its a software problem and need reinstall, (probably not), or if its a setting that inadvertently got clicked or unclicked.    But one thing is for sure, I can't work with it this way..

If I draw a cylinder, the problem shows itself.   If I just draw a 2d circle, there is no problem.

If I try to draw a 2d circle inside the 3d cylinder, or even position my cursor in the middle of the cylinder's diameter, I can't.   

What is causing this?

 

[Murphy625]

Going back to drawings I created years ago, autocad is exhibiting the same behavior problems.

I can't work like this.      Can anyone in this forum help?    Is there another more popular forum or something I should go to?

 

 

[Dadgad]

I sympathize completely.

 

Should you have never watched this Tutorial video, give it a look.

 

Old dogs, old but under utilized tricks.  

 

https://www.cadtutor.net/tutorials/autocad/extrude-and-press-pull/

 

 

[Dadgad]

Presumably, after 25 years, you will have saved an .SVF  file, to protect against such a catastrophic inevitability.

 

Therein will be save ALL of your favorite System Variable Settings.

SYSVDLG  will lead you to the System Variable Dialog, look at the bottom of the box and LOAD your safety .SVF, and you will be back on the tracks.

Unless you have failed to create such a file for 25 years of near daily use.

Click on the READ button, and reload the aforementioned  .SVF file and you should be back on the tracks.

 

[Murphy625]

1 hour ago, Dadgad said:

Presumably, after 25 years, you will have saved an .SVF  file, to protect against such a catastrophic inevitability.

 

Therein will be save ALL of your favorite System Variable Settings.

SYSVDLG  will lead you to the System Variable Dialog, look at the bottom of the box and LOAD your safety .SVF, and you will be back on the tracks.

Unless you have failed to create such a file for 25 years of near daily use.

Click on the READ button, and reload the aforementioned  .SVF file and you should be back on the tracks.

 

 

25 years of using autocad and I have no clue what an SVF file is.    All my drawings are started from the same "MyNewDrawing.dwg" file where I have preset grid spacing and other customized things..    Then I just "Save As" to whatever new file I'm working on. 

Working on figuring this out, I discovered something interesting.   

In world view, setting grid lines to 2 inches, snap to 2 inches.   I then choose cylinder and snap to a random grid dot, choose "Diameter" and set the diameter for 4.5 inches, then any random length.
This will result in me not being able to snap to the center where I started the cylinder.  I also noticed that as soon as I move the cursor into circle, the cylinder is highlighted by autocad and it won't center inside the circle.

However, if I draw the circle to an even number divisible by my snap setting, then I have no problems getting to the center.   Its as if autocad is adjusting my 2 inch snap settings to be object orientated and to use the edge of the object as the zero point for the UCS.      Once I move the cursor outside the boundaries of the object, it acts normal again. 

Come on, that has to give you guys a hint.    I tried WORLD UCS and SET TO VIEW, and no change.    Is there some object setting I'm missing?

[Dadgad]

I have hundreds of drawings on my desktop and am under the gun.

Personally I never use Grid.

 

An .SVF file enables you to easily reset ALL of your system variables to how you prefer them.

Good luck with it, hopefully somebody else has more time than I do at the moment. 

[Murphy625]

8 minutes ago, Dadgad said:

I have hundreds of drawings on my desktop and am under the gun.

Personally I never use Grid.

 

An .SVF file enables you to easily reset ALL of your system variables to how you prefer them.

Good luck with it, hopefully somebody else has more time than I do at the moment. 

Thank you for trying.. 

[Dadgad]

Too bad you won't watch that video.

 

Go into an isometric view, and use the press pull functionality.

Learn a better way to work maybe?

[Murphy625]

44 minutes ago, Dadgad said:

Too bad you won't watch that video.

 

Go into an isometric view, and use the press pull functionality.

Learn a better way to work maybe?

I don't understand..   What's in the video that addresses my issue? 

I use Sweep, PressPull, Extrude, Revolve, and a bunch of the other modeling commands quite frequently.  

I use sweep most often as it allows me to easily draw hanging hoses or cords, drain piping, and other objects.  

Is there something in that video that addresses my snap-to-grid problem?  

[Dadgad]

No, I thought that you might be unfamiliar with PRESSPULL, lots are, and it is a very user friendly way to extrude items which might be problematic (AKA nonclosed polylines).

 

Snap to grid Problem, sounds redundant to me...just joking I know it isn't.

I scrupulously avoid using snap to grid and points, but hey, everybody works in their own way.

Loads of ways to skin the cat.

Whenever I 3DModel, I prefer to do it in an isometric view.

 

Should you ever ascertain what has changed, and manage to restore the variable settings which might have gone walkabout?

 

Do yourself a BIG favor and save yourself an   .SVF   file, in anticipation of having this problem again sometime in the next 25 years. 

 

[Murphy625]

17 minutes ago, Dadgad said:

No, I thought that you might be unfamiliar with PRESSPULL, lots are, and it is a very user friendly way to extrude items which might be problematic (AKA nonclosed polylines).

 

Snap to grid Problem, sounds redundant to me...just joking I know it isn't.

I scrupulously avoid using snap to grid and points, but hey, everybody works in their own way.

Loads of ways to skin the cat.

Whenever I 3DModel, I prefer to do it in an isometric view.

 

Should you ever ascertain what has changed, and manage to restore the variable settings which might have gone walkabout?

 

Do yourself a BIG favor and save yourself an   .SVF   file, in anticipation of having this problem again sometime in the next 25 years. 

 

The solution was F6  (UCSDETECT)

Just got the answer from the autocad forums at the the autodesk website.    1st answer I got was perfect and it solved my problem.

I must have somehow pushed F6 on my keyboard or maybe a clipboard or something pushed it.   

I think my blood pressure just dropped 15 points when I saw it worked.   Thanks for trying..    

Would saving the SVF file and then restoring the saved copy have fixed the problem?

[Murphy625]

40 minutes ago, Dadgad said:

No, I thought that you might be unfamiliar with PRESSPULL, lots are, and it is a very user friendly way to extrude items which might be problematic (AKA nonclosed polylines).

 

Snap to grid Problem, sounds redundant to me...just joking I know it isn't.

I scrupulously avoid using snap to grid and points, but hey, everybody works in their own way.

Loads of ways to skin the cat.

Whenever I 3DModel, I prefer to do it in an isometric view.

 

Should you ever ascertain what has changed, and manage to restore the variable settings which might have gone walkabout?

 

Do yourself a BIG favor and save yourself an   .SVF   file, in anticipation of having this problem again sometime in the next 25 years. 

 

I'm not a super advanced autocad expert, but I'm no amateur either..     Here are some drawings I've made in the past.. (Edit: I guess the forum won't display a BMP file so here's a JPG of a drawing. )

I have a folder on my drive called my "Hardware Store"  with thousands of individual 1:1 scale drawings of everything from steel, pvc and brass pipe fittings, electrical controls, nuts and bolts of all sizes, cotter pins, pillow block bearings, roller bearings, blower fans, cinder blocks, dimensional lumber, hinges, gauges, heaters, filters, pumps, etc.       All drawn to actual sizes of the real part specs and checked against an actual part.

But damn..  that F6 just punched my lights out..   That doesn't happen often.



 

 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Murphy625

[Dadgad]

I didn't mean to suggest that you were a newbie, nice looking models.

 

As it turns out having had an .SVF file wouldn't have gotten you out of that particular conundrum, as UCSDETECT setting is saved in the drawing, not the registry, as explained in this screenshot from the SYSVDLG   (SystemVariableDialog)...wherein one can learn plenty.  I favor just using my cursor arrow to scroll down through any parts of the list which seem intrigueing.  Done that way, each variable and available options will be displayed until you click it again to scroll to the next System Variable.  If you have such a file and are working at another machine, you can instantly tweak it to your personal preferences.  Have a heart though, and if you are on someone else's machine, make sure you save their >SVF file before installing yours, so you can restore them before exiting the machine.

 

Edited April 12, 2022 by Dadgad
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