Option to display lbmass units as simply lbs

[Anonymous]

The issue: Inventor displays imperial weight units in lbmass rather than simply lbs.

Inventor allows you to choose which units you want to use for weight: lbmass, slugs, grams, and kilograms. But lbmass is displayed as lbmass rather than lbs.

lbmass - technically accurate, but more confusing than useful

lbs - it simply makes sense in our everyday language

In the U.S., when we say something "weighs 491 lbs" people understand that. But when we start to define if we are talking about pounds-force vs pounds-mass, the average person gets very, very confused. In my case, that person is a client who needs to sign off an approval drawing and wants to know if special equipment will be required to lift whatever it is they're purchasing. Their concern shouldn't be "do I need to put this in a formula or something?" I know this sounds like a silly scenario, but it does happen and it makes a mess.

This issue has come up several times in the forums and suggestions for work arounds are listed, but the root of this issue still has not been addressed. Look through the forums, I know I'm not the only one looking for a permenant solution here.

My suggestion:

My suggestion is for an option to display "lbmass" as just "lbs". Recognizing that distinguishing something as lbmass may have importance for some users, I would not eliminate it entirely, but just add functionality to abbreviate it the exact same way that most people do in conversation, lbs.

Example:

Can we all agree that an option to simplify this unit to just "lbs" would make life a whole lot nicer?

[Anonymous]

Latex condo... Man, I'd really like to live in one of those!  Just like I'd like to see a "lb" instead of "lbmass" near my title block where I list the weight of my parts in my .idw's.  

[t.fransman]

No idea why weight has to be lbs mass. 

[DRoam]

Where in Inventor is the weight listed in "Lb mass"?

In the iProperties, the mass is listed in "Lb mass", which is correct. If we were talking about weight, the unit would be "Lb force". Putting just "Lb" is ambiguous because it could be either "Lb mass" or "Lb force", and depending on the local gravitational acceleration, those two could be different.

Specifying "Lb mass" erases any possibly of ambiguity, as "Lb mass" is a constant and unchanging unit of measure regardless of of the local gravitational acceleration.

[t.fransman]

I just want lbs on my drawing when I import the weight to display on the drawing. Thx

[t.fransman]

I just want lbs on my drawing when I import the weight to display on the drawing. Thx

[jtylerbc]

To achieve that, you have to write the Mass property out to a custom property without including the units (generally by using a simple iLogic rule), then use that custom property instead of Mass itself.

[t.fransman]

I have already done that. But it complains on iam with LODs. It's annoying.

[Anonymous]

I can't see what all the fuss is about. Gravity is 'relatively' constant so lbs mass will give you lbs force wherever you are on the planet. Unless of course, you are designing equipment to use on the moon! 

[Anonymous]

I am using Inventor 2017, not seeing this option
See the attached snapshot.

[jtylerbc]

@Anonymous,

This is the Inventor Ideas board.  The purpose of this thread (and all the others on this board) is to propose the addition of this feature to Inventor, not to show something that already exists.

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous Go ahead and click that Vote Up button at the top though and maybe together we can make that option a reality

[Anonymous]

@Anonymous  Nobody here is disputing the science being used. It's all about real estate on a drawing - mostly in the title block. The model's Units parameter only allows for the option of grams, kilograms, slugs and lbmass. There's no simple option for editing the displayed text string for whichever of the options you choose. It would be nice to be able to abbreviate them to:  g, kg, lb etc. Also, you cannot change the case to all caps. It's purely an aesthetics thing.  For example: <TYP. ASSEMBLY WT. = 31 lbmass> looks like a mistake on a drawing because there's no separation between lb and mass, and because its a mix of upper and lower case.  Neither of which, are currently editable.

[Cadmanto]

This idea is long over due.  I agree whole heartedly.  We are all looking for iLogic rules to replace the lbmass with LBS.  This so needs to just be implemented.  Seems to me it is an easy fix in the programming aspect of the software.  If you know how to program that is. 

[Anonymous]

Yes please. As a student of ME, I know most of my colleagues can't figure out that a pound weighs a pound, the whole world round. But I know that the weight and mass are numerically equal, and it is just nice to see that this railing will weigh 230 pounds, rather than let someone else make a mistake and think it will weigh 32 times that.

[Anonymous]

Added a vote. To me this just seems ridiculous to force the addition of lbmass when referencing the physical properties when an option exists to disable mass units in parts lists. The programming is clearly pre-existing, it just needs to be made available in other contexts.

[Anonymous]

just got an email update

it's 2021

elon is landing on mars

still lbmass?

This is why tesla uses catia

[kbear2AYYK]

This is my first week using Inventor.  Used Solidworks and NX mostly all my life. I knew there were going to be minor boohoo's but this shouldn't even be an issue. 

[To_Efficiency_and_Beyond]

Luckily, there is an official fix, sanctioned by Autodesk 😂

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-t...

[Anonymous]

@To_Efficiency_and_Beyond that's hilarious. So if you just type up this special code it'll work for you! Why didn't I just do that?

[To_Efficiency_and_Beyond]

@Anonymous I have been using it for years. I added some extra bits to the rule to auto refresh weight before drawing save (so it is always up to date in drawing), uses a certain number of sig figs so the number is reasonably precise, ect ect.

The current state isnt as user friendly out of the box... but for more in-depth users, a rule for weight is useful anyways. let me know if you would like my jazzed up rule 😋