QCAD.org Forum

Hello,
I have a drawing with drawing unit set to mm, paper unit set to mm, size scale factor set to 1 and measurement system set to metric. I've worked through successive versions of the drawing with no problem. Objects in all previous versions are in the order of 10 to 80 mm in size (its a small mechanism).

After working on a new project and creating a completely separate drawing that was in feet, I went back to the mechanical mechanism project and now the objects in the drawing are like 5 to 7 feet in width. The drawing unit is set to mm, paper unit is set to mm, size scale factor set to 1 and measurement system set to metric. The drawing window is also showing dimensions in feet, not mm.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Hi, and welcome to the QCAD forum.

Curious problem.
Drawings don't change 'over night'.
There must have been some action, some reason for the 'conversion'.
Perhaps unattended.

First, in CAD everything is in unnamed units.
A value of 1.23 can mean 1.23mm, 1.23inch, 1.23feet or even meters, kilometers or ...
That depends on the meaning we give to 'one unit'.

Normally a drawing with the drawing unit set to mm can not have rulers in feet.
The drawing unit of one drawing should not influence another drawing there the unit naming is stored in the drawing.

Conversion between units is something different than simply renaming the drawing unit.
But then we would expect even smaller values expressed in feet than in mm.
10 to 80mm does not correlate with 5 to 7 feet (1524~~2133.6mm).

Size scale factor is a Dimension preference, the other 3 are Drawing unit preferences.
Dimensions are displayed in unnamed values, to my knowledge there is no default unit suffix.

Is it just a Dimension displaying issue or have the objects really become that big?
Is the drawing handled in another application meanwhile?
What is your QCAD CE version? Is that updated meanwhile?
...
..


With an example drawing we could help you more efficiently.
If considered too proprietary for a public forum you could attach it to a Private message.
Not interested in the content but rather in the technical aspect.
Treated with upmost confidentiality.

The easiest way is to click on my user name and take it from there.
Please include at least a known size or dimension of something specific.

Regards,
CVH

Hi,

Received your drawing per PM.
Format R15 (2000) is typical for CE but you didn't mentioned the QCAD version.
See menu Help .. About

In the PM you state:

All the numerical values of the dimensions are correct but instead of being in inches, they are in feet.

A: That doesn't agree with the above statements (feet vs mm).
B: In CAD all numerical values are in unnamed units, the values can be expressed in any unit.

The drawing unit is mm - Paper unit: mm - Measurement system: metric
Meaning that values are expressed in mm.

The linear format for dimensions is 'Decimal' with 2 decimal digits.
A dimension text height of 0.125 looks weird here, already too small to be readable in Auto Zoom.
That would point more to a drawing in inches with a text height of 1/8 inch.

As example references:
- The orange blocks in top and side view are drawn as 12.7 x 12.7 x 12.7mm (=1/2inch cubic)
- The largest rectangular shape is 308.4000 wide and 203.2000 high.
That is exactly 8 inch high and about 12 9/64 inch wide.

If these sizes sounds right ...
... And you want to leave the drawing to be in mm as it is, then I would at least adapt the dimension text height.
... But you want the drawing to be in inches:

• See menu Edit .. Convert Drawing Unit (CU)
  From: Millimeter To: Inch and hit the Convert button (The green V sign)
  -> This will resize everything down by factor 25.4, the orange blocks are now 1/2 in cubic (in inch)
  -> We also expect that this resizes the dimension Size scale factor down to 0.0393701
  Adapt this to be readable.

Otherwise define the expected reference sizes.

Regards,
CVH