Changing dwg units from meters to millimeters without changing the coördinates

[t.brouwershaven]

Hello All,

I have a question and I hope you can help me.

I'm making a drawing for a land surveyor in meters on coördinates. This way he can put it into his equipment and use it on location. I have made this drawing in meters, but it has to be millimeters. 

How can I change my drawing units from meters to millimeters without changing the coördinates?

I've tried the "-dwgunits" command, but this way it will scale my drawing 1000 times bigger and then the coördinates are not in the right place anymore.

I hope you can help me.

Thanks in advance.

Tim

[pendean]

Why not just XREF this file into yours and leave in intact as an option?

[t.brouwershaven]

Thanks for your reply,

The problem is not that they cannot use my drawing, it is just that if they want to edit it themselves, they can type 1000 for a meter instead of 1. Do you know what I mean? 

In other words, I want the entire drawing to be the same, but only change the units from meters to millimeters.

[Anonymous]

Choose not to scale drawings upon insert.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I've tried the "-dwgunits" command, but this way it will

>> scale my drawing 1000 times bigger and then the coördinates

>> are not in the right place anymore.

One of the last questions within the -DWGUNITS command is if you want to scale the objects in modelspace to match the new units ... say NO instead of YES.

- alfred -

[dbroad]

You do realize that by not allowing the scaling action to occur, you will actually be shrinking the drawing, considering units.  When those editing afterwards enter 1000 for 1 meter, the added objects will be 1000 times larger than your current drawing.  

Scaling the objects is usually the right approach.

[t.brouwershaven]

Hello thanks for all your help,

It still does not work the way I want to.

If I draw a rectangle in meters with dimensions 10 by 10.

My rectangle is now 10 units by 10 units.

I then want my drawing units to become millimeters.

I use de -dwgunits command, change the units to mm, chose decimal display format, then choose linear display precision 3, then choose yes to scale objects inserted from other drawings, choose yes for INSUNITS to match my drawing units, then choose no (as you suggested) for scaling the objects (in this case the rectangle) in current drawing.

When I try measuring the sides of the rectangle it still says 10 instead of 10000 and when I load a geolocation map below my rectangle it actually shows like 10 meters instead of 10000.

I hope this explanation explains my problem better.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

ok, you have to decide:

1) a line should be scaled by 1000

... or (according to your first post)

2) the coordinates should not change

Having 1 AND 2 is impossible as scaling a line by 1000 means either startpoint or endpoint will get different coordinates.

- alfred -

[cadffm]

tilt

[Anonymous]

Try to change the scale factor to 1000.

[sepideh.m]

There is a trick that I use for the same reason and works for me:

I start a fresh drawing and I make sure the unit is in millimetres (call it file 1).

Then I attach the file which I have drawn in meter (file 2) as an Xref to file 1.

It comes with a correct coordinate.

Then I copy file 2, open it, and scale the contents 1000 times bigger, and change the unit to millimetre. (file 3)

Ensure the layers are all on and unlocked, before scaling the contents. You can group/block all the contents to make it easier and keep them all together.

Now I have my model file one as correct dimensions in millimetres (file3), and one in the correct coordinates.

Now I xref file 1 (which has file 2 with the correct coordinate in it) into file 3.

And, I move all of the scaled contents and locate them in the correct location.

You can now detach file 1, and enjoy file 3 drawn in millimetres, with correct unit sets in millimetres, and correct coordinates.

It might sound complicated as I described, but is really not.
Hope it helps.

[sepideh.m]

The easier option also would be to pick a point of your model coordinates using the ID command, write it down, and after scaling the contents, move them using that specific point as the base point and locate them on the correct coordinates.

[Simon_Weel]

Use the Scale command. Use 0,0 as base point and scale factor 1000.