Best way to do engineering dimensions (0.0001")
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Hi All!
I'm finally building out my layout document and had read on here that it is best to produce the dimensions within LayOut itself.
However I have run into a small issue.
It appears as though I can set the dimensions to "Decimal" rather than fractional and that I then have the ability to set the number of decimal places.
However unlike Sketchup LayOut appears to only go to the hundredths rather than the thousandths or ten-thousandths.Since I will be working with another machinist in making my projects everything we do is in ten-thousandths with a varying tolerance based on what the piece is intended for (scale steam engines etc).
Is it possible to set up LayOut to do this correctly or am I better off creating the dimensions in Sketchup?
Thanks very much
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I think the dimensioning looks better when done in LO and you have better control over what the arrows and so on look like so I would still be inclined to do the dimensioning in LO instead of SU. It wouldn't be ideal but you could manually enter the dimensions to whatever precision you'd like. I might put in dimensions in SU so I could read them in the viewports in LO, create the dimensions in LO, delete them from the SU file and update in LO. Again, not ideal but it would work.
I believe it was suggested to you previously that you scale your model up and work in metric but omit the units display. Perhaps that could work for you here?
I would also suggest that you put in a wish list request for higher precision in dimensions in LO so that perhaps the next version would have that capability.
By the way, what scale are you working in? My son and I spent some time this afternoon working on our n-scale layout plans.
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Hi Dave -
I'll try the sketchup dimension then relabel in layout suggestion.(btw - how do you go about submitting a feature request?)
I may be able to do the scaled up version (but I'll need to understand that a bit better first!)
As far as scale goes, I am doing a few different projects. I'm building a couple of the PM Research castings for steam engines and then eventually hope to build a G scale fully functioning steam locomotive.
My ultimate would be to figure out the best way to make a HO scale functioning steam engine. (there are some japanese companies that make them but they are super expensive...)
How do you like N scale?
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I think those small steam engines are pretty cool. I would like to have something like that but I've got no room. A couple of years ago I went to the Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, Minnesota. The was a lot of huge steam stuff but I like small steam powered stuff best.
N-scale is nice for the space we have but I can't see to work on the stuff. I have this little donkey engine made by Arnold that is about an inch and a quarter long. Amazing amount of power out of that little motor but I'd like to take it apart and clean it. I can't see the little screws though. I need microscope.
As to the scaling thing, you ought to be able to use the Tape Measure tool to measure something of a known length, say 1 inch. Type 1m and hit Enter. I haven't investigated though. It may be that you still won't get the kind of precision you want.
There's a "wish list" thread here that you can add to. Or just make a new thread. One of the Google folks will see it. I'm hoping for some big improvements in dimensions for the next version. I work in Fractional inches for most projects and I would love to have hyphens put in before fractions so something like 1-1/16" wouldn't get confused with 11/16". I'd also like to see better options for handling arrows on small dimensions.
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I just ran into the same problem! The model is drawn to 0.001" precision but there's no matching precision in layout. I can't simply convert to metric because Layout's mm precision is limited to 0.1mm. sigh
I did post a reply on the Layout wish list; so, hopefully that will help get it fixed.
regarding the topic of dimensioning & SketchUp for engineering, I thought producing a dimensioned and annotated 3D PDF would be a great & simple way to pass the model along to collaborators and contract manufacturers
unfortunately, it seems the current 3D PDF export pluggins don't work so well for this:
The SimLab 2.4 pluggin exports only 2D plane 3D geometry; it does NOT export points, lines, guides, text, nor dimension entities - which makes it practically impossible to create a fully commented/annotated 3D model in PDF.
However, with Adobe Acrobat, you can enable the 3D PDF for analysis & measurement within the free Acrobat Reader which is pretty cool. ...but measuring is still a pain compared to having the dimensions already called out...
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