Expert: Bob - 1/7/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
my problem is that I am working on a plan and I would like to have the measurements of itīs components on it, although the lengths and dimensions are correct, when I try to do a linear dimension, the length is completely off.
Iīve tried to change the dimension style to fit my project, but Iīm not sure if thereīs something Iīm not doing right, or is there a scale factor I need to enter?

Hopefully I didnīt make a mess explaining the situation.

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi-- You didnt make a mess, but you (sorry) left out most of the information I need to help intelligently.
-- your experience and field, country, what you are drawing, the AutoCAD release, and so on.

Briefly-- if the drawing is at 1:1 scale, the dimensions are correct, no matter what the (normal) dimension style is.
However BEST GUESS??? --- maybe you have a metric drawing and Imperial dimensions, or?????? (if the dimension is off by a factor of 25 or 1/25, roughly -- it's the metric thing)

Did you check UNITS and see if it got messed with?????

If you have AutoCAD 2008, you can set dimensions to scale with the layouts, but NO release lets you dimension with false numbers without tricks (of course, you can override the dimension text in the properties palette, if you need to)

So if you have a wall that is 24'-10" --- all dimension styles with Imperial units will be accurate. I trust you are paying close attention to where the dimensions snap to when you create them.

Write back with more clues and I will try to find where you went wrong.

BOB

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey itīs Mara again. I forgot to give you an example of how off these measurements are:
I have a distance of 0,76m and the dimension line indicates: 0,03.

Answer
Mara --- you didnt read my reply well enough.
____________________________
quote ----However BEST GUESS??? --- maybe you have a metric drawing and Imperial dimensions, or?????? (if the dimension is off by a factor of 25 or 1/25, roughly -- it's the metric thing)
Did you check UNITS and see if it got messed with?????
____________

Your dimension is off by about 25 --- that means you likely have the dimension style set for decimal - but the units of the drawing are Imperial, not Metric, at present.

If you type UNITS and the dialog box shows inches as the units, that is your problem. If it shows meters, you have done somthing else I cant figure out at the moment, so more clues please.

BOB