GD&T Symbol in Drawing Template: Note or Drawing Symbol?

[sfarra]

Hi all-
I have an interesting problem in Pro E 4.0. We have completed some GD&T training at my company and decided to do away with our titleblock tolerances (i.e. x.x = +/- 0.1, x.xx = +/- 0.02, ect) and replace it with a note that says “UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED [profile of surface callout]” where [profile of surface callout] will be a profile of surface callout ranging from no datum structure (the profile symbol and a value) to tertiary datum structure (the profile symbol, a value, primary datum, secondary datum, and tertiary datum) in the datum reference frame.

I have set up 4 string parameters in all of my start parts: GTOL_VALUE, GTOL_PRI, GTOL_SEC, and GTOL_TER so I can control the values of each. I have also created a string parameter, GTOL, that is controlled via relations to concatenate the full text version of the note:

IF GTOL_PRI == ""
GTOL ="[profile symbol]" + GTOL_VALUE
ELSE
IF GTOL_SEC == ""
GTOL = "[profile symbol]" + GTOL_VALUE + GTOL_PRI
ELSE
IF GTOL_TER == ""
GTOL = "[profile symbol]" + GTOL_VALUE + GTOL_PRI + GTOL_SEC
ELSE
IF GTOL_PRI != "" & GTOL_SEC != "" & GTOL_TER != ""
GTOL ="[profile symbol]" + GTOL_VALUE + GTOL_PRI + GTOL_SEC + GTOL_TER
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDIF

My problem comes in implementing this note in a drawing. I tried using “@[&GTOL@]” in a note in the titleblock and got a single box around one string, which does not display the GD&T note properly. I tried coding the “@[“ + “@]” into my relation and found that when I display the GTOL parameter in the note it simply shows the characters “@[“ instead of creating a box around them. I tried creating the note “@[profile_symbol@]@[&GTOL_VALUE@]@[&GTOL_PRI@]@[&GTOL_SEC@]@[&GTOL_TER@]” but when one of the datum parameters is blank a small box appears which is incorrect as well. I created a drawing symbol that I made groups for each datum but don’t like that someone could fill in the tertiary datum but forget to activate it on the drawing. I also didn’t like the fact that text box containing each datum was of fixed size. The box should be different sizes if the primary datum was “A” or “A @mmc”. I know you can make parametric drawing symbols but can you control the length of a line by the number of characters? I didn’t see any possibility of relations in drawing symbols.

Of the solutions I have the drawing symbol is the only one that works in its current state. I’m hoping that someone may be able to throw out another idea. Ideally I would have a relation controlled note. Like my GTOL relation but controlling a note instead of a string parameter. Any advice on how to change the size of a line with differing string lengths in drawing symbols would also be appreciated.

Hope I didn’t ramble too much,
Steven

 

[dgallup]

You might want to try using a special GD&T font to create the symbol rather than the @[ way of creating boxed dimensions. I have used CyberMetrics GD&T Font in other programs like Word and Excel. There are others but I have not used them. One that caught my eye is

http://www.fontspace.com/micronus/y145m-2009,

it's free but you need some add on control programs to make some of the special composite frames, etc. which sounds cumbersome.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[pepsivscoke]

Have you tried using the Geometric Tolernace type under Show/ Erase?

 

[sfarra]

@dgallup-

With a little work, I got the GD&T font you suggested to work. Thanks for the tip!

 

[dgallup]

LPS?

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[sfarra]

I'm afraid I don't know what that means...

 

[dgallup]

Little Pink Star - It's how they keep score on this site, not that it matters. There is a spot to click and add a pink star for helpful posts. I'll probably get red flagged for soliciting pink stars. Not sure what they did with the yellow moons and green clovers.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.