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Can't scale DWG imports


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I live in a 99.99% AutoCAD world and can't figure this out, or get help from my manufacturer.

One particular factory send me DWG drawings which will not scale. If I bring in a piece of equipment from one of these to a 1/2" or 1/4"th scale plan, these show up as little postage stamps.

I have tried to create symbols, copy and paste, but still get the same thing. They have sent me DXF format and it's the same thing. They design everything in ProE and convert to DWG, so it's something in that process. Their answer is "it works in AutoCAD", but I can't import these successfully.

Is there something I can adjust in the Import process? Is there something they can do in the Export?

Thanks.

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i have this all the time, usually its to do with what units you import in, i have had things in decameters before!

on occasion i get a dwg that will not import correctly no matter what units i try, the solution to this is to find something you know the length of (may have to make a call to the person who sent you the dwg), find out what it is actually measuring once you import it, and then select all and use the scale objects command to either increase or decrease to scale.

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All a bit confusing especially for newbies

It is not really Scale that is being discussed

Scales are things like 1 to 1, 1 to 10, 1 to 100 etc

Or a thing you stand on to tell your weight

What is really being discussed here is size or real size from known dimensions and resizing to them

Makes me wonder if Scaling should really be called Resizing in this context

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I can't tell what the units are in the drawing, it doesn't seem to match anything. The closest that I could find is importing with the units as Feet.

The sneeze guard measures 108", not the 144" as noted in the drawing. Opening in Autocad shows the same.

In a blank file import the drawing. In the DXF DWG Import Options dialog box under Model Space Units>Units Settings In File: set to Feet. Under the Graphic Attributes tab I like to Set Colors to Black and White.

Once the drawing is imported, dimension the same points as the 144 existing dimension. I have my drawing units set to inches so it reads 108". If your drawing units are set to feet it will read 9'.

Select anything then go to Menu Bar>Modify>Scale Objects. In the Scale Objects dialog box check Symmetric By Distance. Enter 108" as Current Distance and 144" as New Distance. At the bottom check Scale text and Entire drawing.

The sneeze gaurd will now measure 12' (144").

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i never ever trust VW to import things and choose the units automatically, NEVER, it always comes up with the wrong units, i receive lots of surveys from various companies, all of which use meters as their units, i know this because i have asked.

VW seems to decide that things are in feet, inches, mills etc etc, it very rarely gets the meters unit right.

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Here is a sneeze guard structure that is 12 feet. If you see anything, it would really help me get this into 1/2" scale. I have dozens of files from this factory that I use to design cafeteria counters.

I scaled the entire drawing by 16 and seemed to get dimensions right.

The factory obviously does not draw in real world dimensions. Find a better supplier.

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I scaled the entire drawing by 16 and seemed to get dimensions right.

The factory obviously does not draw in real world dimensions. Find a better supplier.

1:16 is 3/4" = 1'-0"

A common scale for detailing.

Releasing CAD files which exactly match paper documents to third parties is a sensible step toward reducing liability exposure.

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