topic Re: New wire snap in AutoCAD Electrical Forum

New wire snap

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:24:47 GMT

I am new to AutoCAD Electrical and am just trying to get to grips with it. When drawing a new wire no matter what I do the end of the wire snaps to the end point of an existing wire nearby even though Osnap is turned off (just using normal snap to try and pick a point along a wire. Please help

Re: New wire snap

rhesusminus — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:41:32 GMT

And you are ABSOLUTELY sure OSNAP is off?
If you press "F3", what does it say on the command line?
What version AcadE are you running?

Re: New wire snap

jseefdrumr — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 15:00:12 GMT

Have you changed the value of the Feature Scale Multiplier? If it's bigger than 1, it will increase the size of your wire trap distance accordingly. You can find this setting in either drawing or project properties. (r-click on one or the other from within the Project Manager.)

The wire trap distance defines how close you need to be to an existing wire in order for ACADE to automatically connect to it. Unfortunately, you cannot assign it an arbitrary value, its setting is tied in to the radio buttons in the dialog box.

If you have indeed increased the value of this multiplier, and things have to stay that way, you may need to adjust how you draw your wires. Search this forum for 'feature scale multiplier' for more info.

Hope this helps,
Jim

Re: New wire snap

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2017 07:50:48 GMT

That's exactly what it was Jim. I have set it back to 1 and I can draw wires fine now. Many thanks for that. Just one minor thing, is it possible to set the size that the blocks come in at. I have set the feature scale multiplier to inch scale to mm but the blocks are just a bit too big for my liking

Re: New wire snap

Jon.Dean — Tue, 02 May 2017 11:01:57 GMT

Hi Andy,

Pleased you found a quick solution to your problem.

Can you accept Jim's reply as a solution?

Cheers

Jon.

Re: New wire snap

jseefdrumr — Tue, 02 May 2017 12:50:58 GMT

There are several ways to change the size of blocks. Which method you use will depend on your specific needs. Some options:

First, make sure you're using the correct library for your standard. If you're using IEC symbols on a drawing that was set up for a western standard (NFPA or JIC), you may face some size issues, even with the feature scale multiplier.

In general, select 'Inch' if you're using a western standard, and select 'mm Full Size' if you're drawing in IEC. I believe that the 'Inch Scaled To mm' is for bringing metric symbols into a non-metric drawing...but don't quote me on that. Even ACADE Help doesn't explain that one.

You can scale all blocks that you insert from the Icon Menu, there's a 'Scale Schematic' field at the bottom of the dialog. I've never had to use it, so not sure if you have to re-select it every time you open up the dialog.

You can change the actual size of an entire symbol library with the 'Modify Symbol Library' tool. It is found under Schematic>Other Tools>Symbol Builder pull-down. NOTE: back up your libraries before doing this. Also, go into the command already knowing what scale factor to change the symbols by...this command takes a long time to run, you don't want to have to do it more than once.

Hope this helps,

Jim

Re: New wire snap

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2017 13:00:48 GMT

What a great help, really good. Many thanks Jim. I will be OK now