Block size is driving me nuts

[King Stevo]

Hi all,

Ok, so I am a newbie here (and to AutoCAD). I did attend a beginners 4-day course a few months ago (before I got CAD in work) and I've forgotten half of it.

I started on a new template - changed 'units' to architectural as this project needs to be measured in feet & inches. I started a general floor plan (mainly by using straight lines to mark out rooms etc.) All fairly simply. Then I came to putting in doors and went straight to 'blocks' only to find that there obviously wasn't any there.

Through the help of online tutorials, I've drafted a new block called 'door' designed it (straight line & arc etc.) and edited the block to apply 'stretch' and 'flip' commands. All ok.

I set up a new layer called 'Doors' (just in case I want to hide them at some point) and set it as 'current'. When I inserted a block of the door - the scale of it is totally wrong?

I went back in to block editor and the door is set up properly. The properties say all measurements are correct, but the inserted door is tiny. (I can obviously adjust it on screen to look right, but when I use the measure tool to check - what should be a 3'6" door it only measures 1'10" - even though it looks right?)

I've tried block editor a million times - and tool palettes too, but I can't figure out why the door is not inserting into the drawing to scale?

Please help - I'm hitting my head off a brick wall here...


Thanks in advance.

[bill_borec]

Welcome to the forum, your highness! And welcome to AutoCAD!

My first stab at this is to have you check for metric vs. imperial on both drawings (the door block and the building) and on the inserting of the block.

Check the properties of the block for insertion scale and insertion metric/imperial.

That's the easy and first thing to check.

If those don't work, I would ask that you post the dwgs and let some of us take a look.

Good luck!

[nestly]

Could be several things: Insert Units ... Metric block being inserted into an Imperial Drawing or vice-versa, Tool Palette automatically assigning scale... etc

Posting a sample drawing, including the block will probably yield the most complete solution.

To upload a drawing, use the "Go Advanced" button under the Quick Reply window, then "Manage Attachments"

[King Stevo]

Hi all,

Sorry for the late reply - having issues with IT rights assigned to my work PC. Hopefully the drawing attached ok to this message. It's obviously the best option as both of your replies sounded German to me

I checked the properties of the block for insertion scale and insertion metric/imperial, but couldn't even find those properties?

Thanks.

[Stefan BMR]

Type INSUNITS on command line and set it to 1.

[nestly]

+1

Long answer:
Your block is drawn in inches, but it was scaled down because it was inserted into a drawing with Insertion Units set to feet.

[King Stevo]

Hi Stefan BMR,

Thanks so much for that - I supposed it's so easy when you know how...

The scale is spot on now and I'll remember that if the same issue ever pops up again.

The only thing now appears to be the accuracy? i.e. In block editor (when I was setting up the door block to stretch & flip) when I go to 'Value Set' and changed the 'Dist Type' to 'List', and the 'Dist Value List' to 2'6", 3', 3'6" & 4' lengths (to allow me to stretch the door size). When I insert the door block into a drawing now - although the scale is perfect, when I use the measure tool afterwards to check a door width of say 3'6" - the actual measurement comes to 3'-6 3/8"? Or if I use a 4' door width, the measurement is reading 4' -1 7/16"?

Any idea why the measurements are off a small amount if the scale is right now?

Thanks again.

[King Stevo]

Thanks Nestly - that makes sense. (I was actually working on an exercise to draw this door block from scratch and how to stretch it, flip it etc., but when I got to the rotate command - the instructions were way too vague and I couldn't figure out how to do it - so I ended up copying and pasting the finished article from the instruction page. Hence why one was in inches and the other was in feet.) I did notice that the door was in inches in the block editor, but it wouldn't let me change the measurement from inches to feet - nothing would happen.

The more I use AutoCAD, the more respect I have for the guys who can breeze through it effortlessly. It's mind-numbing to me at the moment.

[Stefan BMR]

I guess your block is scaled uniform, something like 1.009.
The scale showed in properties palette is just truncated to 1.0.
Try to insert a fresh new block.

[King Stevo]

No worries, I got it sorted (it appears). Just typed *UNITS* into command line, and brought precision down to 0,0. Happy days............for now!