Dimension resolution limits

[divingdoug]

Is there any way to force IV to allow more than the 5 decimal place resolution that is listed in the Units drop down box?

And is there any way to force the result in the distance command to show all the decimals even if they are zeroes? When I specify 6 decimal places in the distance / measure command, I want to see 6 decimal places. If I don't, then I don't know if the rest of the digits are zeros or if it just didn't accept my choice to show 6 decimal places.

Very frustrating on both issues.

[divingdoug]

I have read many of the posts in this thread that I started with amusement. But I will try to alleviate any confusion that appears to have developed.

First, I work for a living and don't have a lot of time to spend debating, or defending, the methods that I employ. Meaning that I am not going to keep posting to a thread that has become a conversation that I have no interest in.  I have been doing what I do for over 30 years and I do it well and my compensation would contest to that.

Second, being absorbed into a large corporate entity, I am directed to use IV and was provided very little training, and the IV help file is pretty useless. So I go to the next viable source for what I expect to be a fountain of information. This forum.  I expect to be able to ask a question and get an answer, good, bad, yes, no, Here's how....   Can't be done....  whatever. Just an answer to my question.  I don't expect to get raked over the coals as to why I am asking it or why I want to know or be told that I am doing it wrong and don't need to know the answer.

Third, and someone made reference to this, garbage in, garbage out. My design WILL be exactly what I intend it to be. If I have to see 8 decimal places to make sure this happens, then I want to see 8 decimal places.

I verify my work carefully.  If I look at a sketch and I see fewer numbers than I know I entered, then I have to spend more time to verify the information. In my opinion, the sketch operation in IV is lacking (compared to SW at least) and I don't have 100% faith that the system is creating what I intend for it to create.

To this end, I expect to have the resolution in the display (the resolution in this context is how many digits are available to see) that enables me to verify in as detailed a manner as I want.

Lastly, resolution should not be confused with precision. Resolution is the level of change that can be seen or detected. Higher resolution = more digits = smaller changes are identifiable. Lower resolution = fewer digits = smaller changes are not identifiable.

The term IV uses in the Measure command, Precision, is the ability to reproduce the same result in repeated iterations.  If the software is not going to be precise, I don't want to use it. Just like it had better be accurate. That being the level of correctness of the results.  Precision and Accuracy had better be dead on or I'm getting junk from the get go.

So in the end, all this conversation about why I want to see more decimal places has nothing to do with how I can see more decimal places which is what my question was. Only rdyson was able to provide any insight to my actual question (thank you).

My recommendation would be, and not to sound like a jerk about it but, if you don't know the answer to a question, don't feel like you have to respond just to question the OP's motives.  I say this because this is the result I get more often than not when I post a question to this forum. Instead of answering my question, I get a 'Why do you need to do that' or 'Why are you doing it that way, it's not right'.

Didn't plan on spending this much time on a reply but again, all the "the OP disappeared" and "The OP didn't respond" is like an attack because I am not engaging in your debate.  Like I said, I work for a living and stay VERY busy.

If this answers your questions then great. If not then I doubt there is anything that will.

[rdyson]

Were you working with drawings or 3-D models on the shop floor?

Was QC using a 3-D model or a drawing?

I'm not saying that correct documentation isn't important, just that it's not at the model level where it should be.

CAM packages will only use standard cutters, unless the programmer creates a special cutter size. Not something he will do often and keep his job.

[swhite]

In machining decimal places are critically important, but even the space shuttle is built to 4 decimal places, not 12. And resolution  is irrelevant if its .003 or .00300000. Those extra zeros mean NOTHING and add no precision. And frankly if you are going beyound 4 decimal places if you are not building Hubble telescope parts, no shop in the world is going to get much closer than 6 max, even with high dollar electric machining. I used to be a machinist working both aerospace and automaotive, only a few times over the years did I have tolerances over 4 places, and never over 6. Not that I care why you want 15 places, but you are building tolerances into parts that can never be matched in the real world, asking for errors in your parts when built in the real world as they will never be able to match your precision.

[gsmith9810]

Thanks for your reply (I think).

Many folks who find this forum useful do so because JD provides useful answers. He has been using Inventor for a LONG time.

It is OFTEN helpful to understand WHY somebody is asking a specific question.

MANY times those users who have been FORCED to use Inventor but who would rather be using SWX have a grudge against their employer for forcing them to use a tool they'd rather not. In some cases, understanding the root of the question would allow an answer that would illuminate the differences that are known to exist between how you'd approach a problem in one environment v. the other.

A lot of folks don't understand the differences between precision and accuracy.

In any event, I don't believe that anyone was intentionally disparaging you. Of course, you never did explain what you were doing.

Computers are inherently bound by the limitations of the chip-level processors. Certain calculations can only ever be approximated with digital technology. If the pure mathematics are the issue then you're right having this debate is a waste of everyone's time (since we all likel work for a living).

Our shop routinely works to sub-micron tolerances and our time routinely pushes the edge of the available hardware. Our ME's use Inventor.