Changing hole command to round 3 decimals

[joe.iademarco]

I've seen similar questions from 2013 and 2015, but they didn't seem to offer a fix (one had a vague fix from, 2013. Maybe I didn't understand because I'm still fairly new).

I've added dowel press and slip fit sizes to the clearance.xls spreadsheet. 

The hole command rounds all values from the spreadsheet to 3 decimals.

For a 1/4" dowel, Nominal = .25     P.F. = .2495   --> which rounds back to .250

S.F. = .2515   ---> rounds to .252 (obviously not as bad...)

Is any way to change the default rounding of the hole command hole diameters?

Thank you,

Joe

[The_Angry_Elf]

Sorry, my first reply wasn't what you are looking for I think.

I don't think there is a way to adjust that off the top of my head.

Let me see if I can find something and post it.

[The_Angry_Elf]

If I understand correctly, you prefer a dim like the .2515 when set to 3 places, to read as ".251"?

Rounding the .2515 from 4 to 3 decimals is correct at .250, so just a bit confused.

(correction...it'll be .252....math is hard...lol)

[joe.iademarco]

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your response.

I'm not looking to change default for the hole call-outs on drawings (I think that's what you're referring to).

I'm working in the part file. We use a lot of dowels. Due to inconstancies from our venders, we callout dowel hole dimensions and tolerances (4 place decimals, inches). We also add a lead-in to our press fits. 

I've added an extra group called "Dowel Holes" to the clearance.xls spreadsheet and placed their dimensions in the counterbore columns. The hole command in the part file rounds down to three decimal places (from .2495 to .250), losing my 5 tenths press and making my press-fit dimension the same as my nominal dimension.

I hope this isn't too confusing. 

[joe.iademarco]

I guess also, important to note. It's not like in Excel when you round off a cell, it retains its full value. Here, after creating a press fit dowel hole and a nominal sized dowel hole, they are both same time when measured using the measure command (set to show 5 decimal places).

[The_Angry_Elf]

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@joe.iademarco wrote:

The hole command in the part file rounds down to three decimal places (from .2495 to .250), losing my 5 tenths...

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Are you saying the model is incorrect or just the output from say the measure command, etc?

I created a part, and inserted a hole of .2495.

The measure command defaults to 3 places and kicks back ".250" of course.

Setting the measure command to 4 places, kicks back ".2495".

Yet, inserting a 3D annotation hole note kicks back a 2 place with ".25"

But again, the hole in the model is accurate. But keep in mind, I'm just directly inserting a hole, no tolerances, no spreadsheet inputs, etc.

If I'm still way off the mark, I'll bow out and call it a day...;)

[joe.iademarco]

I guess correct and incorrect depend on your point of view (it seems to be operating as programmed). But the hole diameter in the model is a rounded version of the diameter I added to clearance.xls.

I can manually change the diameter in the hole command dialog box to a 6 decimal place number and it will make the hole accurately. The issue is, all default sizes for holes and counterbores come from that clearance.xls spreadsheet. Since the holes only need to be accurate to 3 places, any larger numbers are rounded down. 

I pasted a screenshot. The desired numbers are the ones Inventor is pulling from clearance.xls. The numbers are rounded to 3 places and holes are made based on those rounded numbers. Holes were measured using the measure tool (at 5 decimal places).

I realize clearance holes don't need to be more than 3 decimal places, so I understand why it rounds down. I want to know if it can be changed to 4 decimal places.

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi! I could be wrong but if the thread data comes from the Thread table, I don't think it should be rounded. In general, Model Dimension display precision is controlled by Tools -> Doc Settings -> Unit -> Model Dimension Display. But it is only for display and its actual value should be shown in nominal column in Parameters table.

Many thanks!

[joe.iademarco]

Johnson, it looks like changing the dim display precision has fixed the issue. Now, when I drop a counterbored hole in my model, the hole command dialog box shows 4 decimal places instead of 3, and it actually creates the hole with 4 decimal precision. When measuring the counterbored holes created (using measure command set to 5 decimal places), it is now showing the correct value found in clearance.xls (i.e. the hole sized .2495 in clearance.xls is now measuring .24950 instead of .2500) Thank you! Having the ability to easily add preset dowel holes will make our lives a bit easier.  

Weird thing though, I changed decimal precision back to 3 decimal places and the hole command continued to use 4 places. I closed the part without saving, went back in, still getting 4 decimal places in dialog box when creating counter bored holes. The extra decimal doesn't bother me, just surprised it didn't got back.

Thank you.