Converting a metric drawing to imperial

[Casey]

How do I convert a metric drawing I received into imperial? I use AutoCAD 2008 and CAP. I have to be able to insert furniture w/ CAP and do a square footage take-off.

[ReMark]

All you have to know is that 25.4mm = 1" 254mm=10". The rest is just math.

[Casey]

Thanks, but it's the steps I need to follow in AutoCAD to make the conversion.

[ReMark]

Read this thread.

 

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6643

[todouble22]

Thanks, but it's the steps I need to follow in AutoCAD to make the conversion.

Can you just change the units of the drawing?

[dbroada]

Can you just change the units of the drawing?

NO. IF YOU HAD AN ITEM (sorry, workmode=on) that measured 25 units long and you set units=mm it would be read as 25mm. Changing the units = inches it now measures 25" long.

 

Dipali has posted ways of doing this using the INS* variables but I still do it the way outlined in the post Remark flagged.

[Dipali]

open a blank drawing with IMPERIAL template.

go to tools>options>user preference> & under 'insertion scale', set 'source content unit' to 'milimeter' & 'target drawing unit' to 'inches'. Also make 'insunits' value '4'(inches) and

than bring in this exisitng drawing there using insert comand.

[SuperCAD]

Scale metric geometry by 0.03937 to convert it to imperial.

[Tankman]

How to convert a drawing from inches to centimeters (or vice versa)?

 

First of all - an AutoCAD drawing in the modelspace is unitless. A drawing unit can be anything you wish. A square of 10x10 units can be 10mm, 10m, 10", 10 feet, whatever. The real physical units are required only when you want to represent the drawing model for the real world - for dimensioning, plotting (plot scale), paperspace and annotation functions.

 

But if you really want to scale your drawing from inches to millimeters, centimeters, meters - or vice versa - e.g. from centimeters to inches, you can use the SCALE command.

 

When going e.g. from inches to centimeters, you have to scale up your drawing 2.54x. Run the SCALE command, select All objects, specify 0,0 (global) as the reference point and enter 2.54 as the scale factor.

 

You can prepare a menu macro button to perform this conversion operation automatically (menu macros use ";" instead of Enter) - some examples:

 

[inches->CM]^C^C_SCALE;_All;;*0,0;2.54;

[inches->MM]^C^C_SCALE;_All;;*0,0;25.4;

[CM->Inches]^C^C_SCALE;_All;;*0,0;0.3937;

[ReMark]

In a test of converting a metric drawing to an imperial drawing I WBlocked out everything in model space of a metric drawing I created (using the tutorial_march.dwt provided in AutoCAD 2010). I then opened a new imperial scale blank drawing (acad.dwt) and inserted the objects. They automatically assumed the proper dimensions without any need to scale. Can't get much simplier than that. No math, no conversion factors, no nothing.

[Tankman]

Sounds great for those who have '10. When did you upgrade ReMark?

 

I'm so used to '07 on my desktops, laptops are all using '05.

All my junque is simple plan and elevation views; tanks, pipe, valves.

 

At 62+, and on early SS, I don't feel the need to upgrade.

Someday, maybe.

 

Cold in Pennsylvania today, past month freezing, no end in sight.

But, I just saw wind chills in the Midwest of -52°F. Ouch!

I better bundle up and bring in more firewood for the wood stove.