Expert: Bob - 5/12/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello Bob, I have come across your name on the internet and would appreciate any help with the above sublect.  I am a retired mechanical engineering consultant who used ACad LT for more years than I care to remember...........that was 15 years ago.  I can do the drawing etc but just cannot remember hoe to increast the text size of dimensions...............please can you help ??

Regards, Alan Munro  UK

ANSWER: Hi--

Good for you for sticking in there -- but without your telling me the AutoCAD release, and the REASON AND CIRCUMSTANCES, I would have to write a chapter of a book to reply.  I cant tell whether you want to fix one drawing or always use larger text, whether you are trying to get the dimensions to be readable in a scaled viewport, etc.????

The short answer is to edit the dimension style --- or to change the dimscale.  Normally, one would make the dimension scale larger, so that the text and all parts show up better.

If fixing one drawing-- I will tell you a shortcut, if I know how you are trying to plot -- scale of viewports, etc???


But write back more fully --- and I can give a precise answer tonight. Must run-- late for client now.


BOB

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

QUESTION: Hi Bob, many thanks for that swift reply.  The version of ACAD LT that I am using was released on 16th November 1993.
Surprised it still functions at all !

I am trying to produce on page with a simple layout of a proposed elevator shaft within a building.  I only need a maximum of 5 dimensions on the layout for a meeting.  I will print it onto A4 sheets....bit it does need to be legible (We are all quite old here with me at 75..still going strong!

Look forward to your reply and many thanks for your assistance.  Where in the world are you Bob?

Alan Munro

Answer
Hi--

So, are you saying you have progressed from scratching the drawings on the rocks at Stonehenge?  In West Hollywood, we use mink lined paper, taken from old movie star costumes.

My mother was a British subject from Bermuda. You have just a dozen years on me. so dont call it old, lol.

I learned AutoCAD later -- 2nd career -- so I can only guess what the antique will do. If I had only five dimensions to fix, I would try one of these...

1-- explode the dimensions, so you can select only the text, and use SCALE to make each piece of text 1.5 or 2 times larger. Or explode and make the text a bolder-printing color.
2-- scale up the entire dimension, one at a time, and use the grip to move the end back to the right place.
3-- (more correct) edit the dimension style and update.

Reply if these dont work, and I will ask a friend who used AutoCAD on a chipmunk powered computer in the 80s.

Cheers!

BOB