Scaling Symbols

[jwlynn64]

Is there any way to scale a symbol. I am trying to put a surface finish symbol in my Drawing formats but it is too big to fit within the line of text that I would like to put it in.

Thanks,

John

 

[MadMango]

You have to change the Annotation Font for Surface Finish (in Document Properties).

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[jwlynn64]

OK, I played around with the font sizes and learned that you have to adjust the fonts in two places.

1. The size of the actual surface finish symbol is controlled by the note font size. You can adjust this as you create the callout by unchecking the use document font check box.
2. The size of the roughness value (3.2 in a metric designation) is controlled by the surface finish font. You cannot change this as you are making the note. You can only do this in the options - document properties - detailing - Anotations Font dialog box.

I haven't actually tried to use this format in a real drawing yet and don't know if my symbol will be chanted to by the anotations font setting in the new document.

If this blows up I will post that information here.

 

[jwlynn64]

OK, I just saved my format and loaded it into a new document and the surface finish fell apart. The roughness value reverted back to the new documents Anotation Font for surface finishes.

I was able to make this work for me by having the surface finish symbol and roughness callouts as two separate notes. By doing this, I was able to control their font size by unchecking the Use Document Font checkbox. Then I just moved the two separate notes where I wanted them so that they looked like one note.

This isn't exactly like I want this to work but I was able to make the symbol small enough to fit into my format. In the final analysis, that is all that matters.

John

 

[MadMango]

If you were just looking to use the symbol in a title block or something, perhaps you could have just drawn it as a sketch and then inserted it as a block.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[jwlynn64]

Seems to me that for a few thousand dollars, I shouldn't be reduced to having to draw symbols that are already in the program.

The solustion I found works OK but it just seems that I should have a little more control over the symbols than they give me.

Thanks anyway.

John

 

[ctopher]

OK, I just saved my format and loaded it into a new document and the surface finish fell apart.

Was it save as a dwg template? Then the template brought into a new dwg? It should have worked.
If you copied the note with the modified font size into a new dwg, it could revert back because of the new dwg settings.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[jwlynn64]

Yes, the symbol was reproduced with the font size I specified since it was not attached the the document font but the roughness value was reproduced with the font size specified in the annotation font control box for surface finish font for the new document much larger than I wanted).

There is not a way to specify a different value for this type of font. The one setting controls all of the surface finish fonts for the entire doucment.

By leaving the roughness value blank when I added the surface finish symbol in a note, I am able to get the symbol to the size I want. I then created a separate note with the roughness value and sized it to the font size that I wanted.

I then placed the two notes so that they looked correct.

Although this seems like a work around to me, it did give me what I wanted without me having to redraw the surface finish symbol.

Thanks,

John

 

[ctopher]

The surface roughness symbol font should be the same size as the notes font.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[jwlynn64]

I understand that. What I was running into is that I needed it to be 2 point size in the format notes box but if I need a surface finish symbol in my drawing I need it to be point 10.

When I set the font size for the surface finish symbol in the options dialog box, all of the surface finish fonts for the entire document are that size. You cannot have two different font sizes on the same document.

That is why I had to do the symbol and font as separate entities.

John

 

[ctopher]

Oh, I see.
Make sure you "format notes box" is part of the drawing template. Change the 'document' Options for the dwg template to the 2 point size.
Now, in your new drawing, change the Options to 10 point.
It worked for me.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[jwlynn64]

I've tried it now about four times. When I add my format with the 2 point surface finish symbol and roughness value to a template that has the default set to 8 points, the formats surface finish symbol doesn't even show up.

When I change my template to have a default of 2 points, the format and template open fine, but when I add a surface finish note to a part and change the documents default surface finish font to 8 points, the symbol in the format changes as well.

I think that the only way to do this is to create the roughness value and symbol as two separate notes like I explained above.

John

 

[ctopher]

Where is your text on your format? Do you open your dwg template, then do "Edit Sheet" and add the text?
I have my template with the text added this way then saved as the template. All options are set to how I want them.
When I start a new dwg, the options are set there also for that file. When I insert the dwg template, everything comes in correct.
Can you show a screen shot of what yours looks like?

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[jwlynn64]

All of my text is included in the format. In order to change it, I have to select "Edit Sheet Format".

Since my last post however, I have made a couple of extra discoveries about how SolidWorks hangles these symbols. (Sorry but I would include screen shots if I had a program that lets me do this.)

1. You can change the font size of just one surface finish symbol.

Before you place the note, you can adjust the actual surface symbol size by unchecking the "Use Documents Font" check box and then selecting the size font that you want.

You then place the note and select the surface finish symbol. This brings up the surface symbol dialog box. Below this dialog box (where you enter all of the information you want to accompany the surface finish symbol) there is a another font check box that adjusts the size of the font used with that particular symbol.

2. Any stand alone surface finish symbol put into the drawing format will not save with the format. It does save with the drawing template but not with the format.

If I start a new generic drawing and insert the saved template, the surface finish symbol mysteriously disappears. There is a text box where the symbol was but it is empty.

On the other hand, if I include some text before the surface finish symbol, it does save with the format. In my case, this didn't work for me because the text and symbol are bottom justified and I need it to be middle justified (In order to match the current format style.) As far as I can tell, there isn't a way to change this justification.

After many hours playing around with this, I have just drawn the symbol inside my format as suggested by several people earlier. I still think that I shouldn't have had to do this but it is the only way that I have found to do this.

Thanks for all of your suggestions and comments. They have helped me learn a little bit more about SolidWorks strengths and weaknesses.

John

 

[ctopher]

I guess I should have asked earlier.
What SW version are you using? I can see the problem with 2004 or 2005.
With 2006, I do not have a problem doing what you are asking.
To get a screen shot, "Alt/Print Screen". See faq559-1100.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[jwlynn64]

I am using SolidWorks 2006, SP3.4 Here is a image that shows a couple of things that I am talking about.

Here is the surface finish dialog box. The bottom font box is for the surface finish annotations just for that symbol.

Here is the new surface finish symbol that I created and put into my format.

Here is the new format that I put into a drawing file.

What you cannot see in these images is the surface finish symbol that I broke down and drew myself. It shows up just fine in all of my formats. I don't know why the SolidWorks created surface finish symbol disappears but it does. I guess that there are certain symbols that you cannot use in a format.

 

[ctopher]

Must be a bug there. I can do it no problem here. Maybe update to the latest SP4.1?

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[jwlynn64]

I'll give that a try. I knew that this was way too hard to do. There had to be an easier way to do it.

Now just so we are completely clear. If I create the surface finish symbol in my format and I save the completed format as a drawing template, when I create a new drawing using the template, the symbol shows up just fine. Even if I reload the format, it stays there.

If I open a new generic drawing and insert the format into that, then the symbol disappears.

I'll download the latest service pack and try it again. Thanks for all the help.

 

[ctopher]

Clear.
I created a new dwg and loaded the new template. It stayed the same size.
Good luck.

Chris
Systems Analyst, I.S.
SolidWorks 06 4.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 06-21-06)

 

[J-C]

Considering this is somewhat of an unconventional use of the surface finish feature.....manually drawing it into the sheet format is best way to do this....afterall...it's only two lines and some text.

Jason

UG NX2.02.2 on Win2000 SP3
SolidWorks 2006 SP4.0 on WinXP SP2