AutoCAD - Issue with Object Scaling on Copy/Paste Operation

[19stuberd]

Hello there! I have a bit of an interesting issue for those of you who might be interested in trying to solve it. A fast rundown of what I'm doing is I'm trying to make something with gears in it which autocad cannot make easily and so I went into a separate software (Vectorworks) and used its gear tool to generate the gear I need. I then exported the file as a .DWG file which I then opened in Autocad, copied, and pasted into my document. I made one gear in this fashion with no issues.

The problem I am facing now, though, is with a different size gear. I made a second gear in Vectorworks, exported as another file of the same type, opened it in Autocad, and paste it into my project and something VERY odd happens. The gear shrinks non-uniformly. Some more troubleshooting details:

-The gear is perfectly normal in the exported document. I created a circle of the nominal pitch diameter and overlaid it and the teeth extend beyond the circle, as they should. I then left this circle as a reference to see what scales right.

-Upon pasting into the destination document, the hub diameter stays the same, the aforementioned reference circle stays the same, but the gear's overall diameter SHRINKS such that it is now perfectly circumscribed by the circle. This is problematic because now the teeth will no longer mesh as intended.

-I have made sure the units are the same. One dissimilarity was that the exported document matched Vectorworks in using fractional inches, but I corrected that and then verified that the gear was still scaled correctly.

Any input on this issue is greatly appreciated as this has been driving me crazy. I'm sure I could do something else and that would be nice but I would ideally also like to know why this is happening. Thanks in advance! 

[ The subject line of this post has been edited to include the product name by @handjonathan ]

[whitney_jeff]

What happens if you insert the second gear (instead of pasting) and then explode it?

Or in the second gear drawing make it a group and then paste it?

[dmfrazier]

In the DWGs exported from VectorWorks, are there block inserts? If so, do the DWGs share block names?

If so, I think you can figure out the rest.

[19stuberd]

How would I import it? I have tried this by going to file - import - other file, selecting all file types, and clicking on my gear .DWG file, but when I do it, it doesn't insert anything. It could be a case of the imported parts being somewhere far from the origin but I looked and didn't see anything, I will try this later when I get home though.

[19stuberd]

Hello! I have no idea what a block insert is. I also have no idea what a block name is. Therefore, I don't think I can figure the rest out. What does all of that mean?

[19stuberd]

I will also try making it a group. I don't remember how to do this offhand but I will look it up myself and let you know how it goes when I am back at my desktop later today.

[whitney_jeff]

IN autoCAD there is an INSERT tab, click that and the insert ribbon appears - on the left is Insert.  On the drop-down, select From Library - navigate to the folder where your second gear is and select that, then pick an insertion point, and just press enter until the gear appears,

OR - using explorer go to the folder where the 2nd gear is, click and hold on the file and drag it into your drawing

OR - type "insert" on the command line,  on the dialogue select the 2nd gear and same as above, or type "-insert" and then the name of the 2nd gear file (don't include the .dwg extension).

open your 2nd gear drawing and type "-insert" then the ? - then press enter.  A text window will open and list any blocks in the drawing.

?

[whitney_jeff]

Open the gear drawing, type "base" at the command line and pick a point at the center of your gear

[paullimapa]

would you be willing to share both of your gear .dwg files here for us to take a look at?

[dmfrazier]

"I have no idea what a block insert is. I also have no idea what a block name is. Therefore, I don't think I can figure the rest out. What does all of that mean? "

I'm sorry. I assumed you were familiar with AutoCAD.

I don't know how VectorWorks works (no pun intended), but when it exports its "stuff" out to AutoCAD (DWG) "stuff", it has to make objects that are compatible with AutoCAD, so that AutoCAD can open the file.

My theory is that maybe Vectorworks exports some of those objects as blocks. Blocks (to keep it simple) are named groupings (but not groups) of things that stay together and behave like one object. Blocks are named. If a DWG has a particular named block within it, and you copy/paste stuff from another DWG that includes a block with the same name but different things in it, the block will be "converted" ("re-defined") based on the existing block, so it will look exactly like it even though it was different in the DWG it came from.

Please post a copy of each gear DWG that you exported from VectorWorks, so someone here can help you get to the bottom of the issue.

[19stuberd]

Sure! Here are the two projects. Ignore the horribly messy incompleteness of the first one. The gear file contains the larger gear, which I have already successfully added, as well as the smaller gear and its reference circle.

[19stuberd]

I have tried the first method listed, and it has scaled incorrectly again. I also did the -insert thing and it lists three blocks. This was the result:

Command: -INSERT
Enter block name or [?]: ?
Enter block(s) to list <*>:
Defined blocks.
"A$C36b3dae6"
"Spur Gear-3D"
"Spur Gear-3D-1"
User Unnamed
Blocks Blocks
3 0

[19stuberd]

I have just tried this, the issue persists.

[19stuberd]

Also I have just tried making a group of the gear and circle and pasting that, it has the same issue.

[dmfrazier]

There are matching block names between the drawings.

Before inserting stuff from the second gear DWG, rename the blocks in one DWG (or the other) so that they don't match block names in the other DWG.

[whitney_jeff]

Start a new drawing, copy/paste from gear2-5 - is it correct?

If it is, then you have a pre-existing block in the project1 drawing that has the same name as the gear in gear2-5

[whitney_jeff]

Sorry - if it is INcorrect then - - - 

[19stuberd]

Got it. How do I view and delete blocks conveniently? I am looking online and it seems to be a bit convoluted. Also, how do you rename blocks?

[dmfrazier]

Use the RENAME command.

(So much to learn...)

[whitney_jeff · Accepted solution]

to rename blocks and other items - the command is "rename"

In the dialog on the left side select "blocks", then on the right side select the block you want to rename, down below the old block name will appear. below that type the new name and then click on "rename to" button