Scale off

[brlong]

I have run into this problem periodically throughout the last few years where my scale will be off by 12. Its like it goes from inches to feet or vice versa and is quite frustrating. Just curious if I am alone on this one or if anyone else has had this issue in the past. 

[Jeff_M]

Only when trying to work with Architectural drawings

[brlong]

I'm using C3D2013 but this has been an issue in 11 and 12 too. Not sure if I'm just being dumb and my units are off but I just downloaded 2013 yesterday, opened a file used in 2012 and now everything is off by a multiple of around 12 or so. Probably something simple and just having a brain fart...

[AllenJessup]

Check these three System Variables and make sure they are set correctly.

INSUNITS

Specifies a drawing-units value for automatic scaling of blocks, images, or xrefs inserted or attached to a drawing.

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE

Sets source content units value when INSUNITS is set to 0.

INSUNITSDEFTARGET

Sets target drawing units value when INSUNITS is set to 0.

0 Unspecified (No units)
1 Inches
2 Feet
3 Miles
4 Millimeters
5 Centimeters
6 Meters
7 Kilometers
8 Microinches
9 Mils
10 Yards
11 Angstroms
12 Nanometers
13 Microns
14 Decimeters
15 Decameters
16 Hectometers
17 Gigameters
18 Astronomical Units
19 Light Years
20 Parsecs

Allen

[brlong]

INSUNITS were at 2

INSUNITSDEFSOURCE and INSUNITSDEFTARGET are both set to 0.

[AllenJessup]

Make sure that's the way it's set in your template and check each drawing before you insert another one. Look in the lower right of the Insert dialog box. It tell you if it's going to scale the insertion.

Also make sure the Settings in your template are correct..

Allen

[brlong]

Will do. Just don't know what to do with this drawing that I am currently working on.

[Sinc]

Depends on what you're trying to do.

Architects like to work in inches.  Civils like to work in feet.

If you're a Civil, then usually the easiest way to meld both is to XREF your Archie drawing into your Civil drawing, and then move/rotate the Archie's XREF as-needed to fit your Civil plan.  The scaling should happen automatically (well, at least within reasonable tolerances, since AutoCAD STILL doesn't understand the difference between International and US Survey feet...  But over the size of a building, that difference is usually inconcequential).

The key is keeping your "1 MS Unit = 1 Inch" drawings separate from your "1 MS Unit = 1 foot" drawings.

[Sinc]

Oh, and not because I want to complicate things, I should probably mention the OTHER problem, because it can be significant...

It's becoming more-and-more common to design project "on the grid", meaning UTM or State Plane or something similar.  And when you project that up to ground, it can make a significant difference, depending on where you're at in the world.  For example, here in our local area in Colorado, it's very easy for a 500' distance on State Plane turn into a 500.3' distance on ground.  Doesn't seem like a big deal, up until you factor in that a lot of these new buildings involve pre-fab parts, created to VERY STRICT dimensions in some factory in some other part of the world.  And when they try to bolt these pre-fabbed parts together and end up with a 3" gap, well, that can easily run you MANY THOUSANDS of dollars in replacement costs for having new panels fabricated and shipped.  So it can actually be a big deal, for only a few inches.