Drawing in mm.

[tonika]

Hello,

I would like to know how to set up my settings so that I can draw in mm. As of now when I draw lines etc. they are in inches. I can use the scale factor to make the dimensioning in mm but don't know how to set AutoCAD to draw in mm.

Thanks a lot.

[Strix]

type UNITS at the command line and see what options it gives you?

[tonika]

It was decimal inches. I changed it to mm but when I tried to draw a 35mm line it draws it as 35 inches.

[Strix]

that'll be because one unit in autocad is one unit - changing the units doesn't scale what you've already done, it just 'defines' the drawing sheet

 

you'll need to change your dimstyle to suit or if you've not drawn much, start from scratch so you know how to set up a drawing correctly from the start

[tonika]

Your explanation makes sense. But then, does it mean that if I am working on a drawing that someone else had started and that person had established units and dimension style I can’t make changes to this document? For example, in SolidWorks the preferences of the document can be changed at any time. You can start a drawing in inches and switch in finishing it in millimeters if you have to.

[Strix]

you can draw it in inches and dimension it in mm if you know how to set up the dimstyle accordingly, but there will be some loss of accuracy in the reading (AutoCAD will stay spot on, but you'll have to set an accuracy within the dimstyle which will give a margin of error)

[tonika]

Thank you very much.

[tkelly]

As mentioned earlier go to units -- go to Type--length -- Decimal - set the precision whatever you want.

Below that there is insertion scale --set that to millimeter .

 

Then draw as per dimensions in millimeter

 

Tom

[tonika]

I did that last time but did not help. The drawing I am working has been set up in inches by someone already. I had to add elements to it. The elements were with specs in mm. When I tried to draw them in mm. they were coming in inches. For example, I drew a line 3mm and it came up 3 inches long. I had set up my dimensioning to dimension in mm. So, when I dimension the 3 inch line on the drawing shows up as 76.2mm (which is fine). So what I had to do is convert manually with a calculator millimeters into inches and draw in inches and then I was able to dimension it in mm. My question was -----is there a way of saving me the step of converting manually mm into inches and draw straight in mm. in a drawing that has been started by others and it is has been set up in inches.

[idavid]

i think 1 unit can be whatever you want.

 

The person who started the drawing didnt 'set up' the drawing to be inches, they just accepted 1 unit to be 1 inch. Now you're saying you want 1 unit to be 1mm... so changing the dims won't mean anything.

 

Scale the drawing up - there are 25.4mm in an inch.

[tonika]

This was a great concept explanation. I am trying it right now. Thanks a lot bro.

[tonika]

Thank you all. I appreciate your help. I am sure I will be back soon because I am new to AutoCAD.

[Strix]

or you could block the drawing out into a new drawing - this will involve setting a new drawing as mm, then setting INSUNITS as inches

 

should be more accurate than trying to scale between the two, and shouldn't mess up your dimensions at all

 

anybody feel free to correct me btw - I've never had to actually do the above :wink:

[Coosbaylumber]

I dunno if this helps, but I often work drawings in CM and MM dimensions.

 

Not wanting to change anything, especially the settings on the plotter ( 1=1)

I simply do the drawing in MM or CM then XREF that same drawing into yet another, which was done in PaperSpace. Then plot from the PaperSpace drawing.

 

Go back add or revise the originals done in Metric. Can be done to one drawing or a fleet of them. Just set up the original ModelSpace drawing in MM instead of the default Inches.

 

 

Wm.

[Alnaibii]

if you want to be very accurate, you can start a new drawing in mm, and import the old inches drawing. autocad will scale it automatically.

[rbeldua]

or you could convert the drawings with quickcalc......i tried it many times like drawing a line in inches then clicking the lines and then converting it to mm using quickcalc...it convert it automatically...