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What determines what scale the first view is

Question asked by Mark Greenwell on Mar 26, 2015
Latest reply on Mar 27, 2015 by Mark Greenwell

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Hi All

What determines what scale is used on placing the1st view on a drawing.

Generally we us A3 size paper for single component drawings.

When I bring a part into the drawing I usually (but not always) have to go to the model sheet properties and change the scale so it looks better on the drawing.

For example on one part I brought it in and the scale was 20:1 so it looked tiny on the drawing.

So I had to change this to 10:1 to make it look better.

What determines the initial scale on placing the 1st view?

Thanks

Mark (SolidWorks 2015 sp2.5)

Deepak Gupta Mar 26, 2015 7:37 AM

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IMO, it decides based on the sheet size vs model size. I've no idea as what goes in the background.

It could be nice enhancement to set the scale from a given list or something like that which is more of a standard scale.

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Alex Holt Mar 26, 2015 6:39 AM
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The scale of the drawing sheet. Right click and select properties, and it's displayed there. If you want it to always be a certain scale, set it on your template.
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- Mark Greenwell @ Alex Holt on Mar 26, 2015 6:57 AM
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  Hi Alex,
  
  All my A3 templates have an initial scale of 1:1, the problem is when I bring in a part, the scale then goes from 1:1 to 20:1 when a scale of 10:1 would be better.
  
  My question is what determines the initial scale of 20:1 rather than say 15:1 or 10:1 or 5:1 or even 30:1.
  
  Thanks
  
  Mark
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  - Deepak Gupta @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 26, 2015 7:05 AM
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    Go to Tools > Options > System Options > Drawing and uncheck Automatically scale new drawing views. Now your views should not auto scale abd be driven by the sheet scale set int he drawing template..
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    - Mark Greenwell @ Deepak Gupta on Mar 26, 2015 7:26 AM
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      Hi Deepak,
      
      Don't think that solves the problem.
      
      My Templates are all set at 1:1 to start with.
      
      When I bring a part in depending on it size SolidWorks decides what scale the view should be.
      
      So In the example I posted the part is approx 2000mm long, and SolidWorks decides that the best size to fit onto this A3 page is 20:1.
      
      How does it decide this, why not use 10:1 which give a better (in my opinion) size?
      
      If I have this un - checked then the model will come in at 1:1 as that is the scale of the Template sheet.
      This would mean a 2000mm part would be bigger than the paper and would overlap the paper edges.
      
      Thanks
      
      Mark
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      - Deepak Gupta @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 26, 2015 7:37 AM
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        IMO, it decides based on the sheet size vs model size. I've no idea as what goes in the background.
        
        It could be nice enhancement to set the scale from a given list or something like that which is more of a standard scale.
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        Mark Greenwell @ Deepak Gupta on Mar 26, 2015 7:46 AM
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        Hi Deepak,
        
        Yes that is the conclusion I have come to.
        
        Not sure how you would determine what is the best scale to use for a particular size of part.
        
        Some people may like the 20:1 scale for the 2000mm part other might want it at 1:15 or like me want 1:10.
        
        I Suppose its all subjective. I will just keep on changing the scale manually when I need to.
        
        It would be nice to know how SolidWorks works it out, what is the ratio they use for paper size against actual model size.
        
        I will mark you down as correct (you look like you need the points ).
        
        Thanks
        
        Mark
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        Deepak Gupta @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 26, 2015 7:49 AM
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        Mark Greenwell wrote:
        
        I will mark you down as correct (you look like you need the points ).
        Thanks for those 50 points.
        
        Well I'm sure someone made a macro using which you should be able to change the scale more quickly. The macro is somewhere on this forum.
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        Deepak Gupta @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 26, 2015 12:53 PM
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        Here is the macro I was talking about: macro to change sheet scale
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        Mark Greenwell @ Deepak Gupta on Mar 27, 2015 3:49 AM
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        Hi Deepak,
        
        Thanks for the link to this macro, I will check out properly later on, had a quick look and it looks ok.
        
        Maybe SolidWorks could add a similar function to the core product for the next release .
        
        Thanks
        
        Mark
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        Mark Greenwell @ Deepak Gupta on Mar 27, 2015 7:30 AM
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        Hi Deepak,
        
        I have had a chance to look at this macro in a bit more detail.
        
        When I run the macro and move the he scale bar it goes up or down in part decimals not whole.
        
        I would have expected it to sale by a factor of say 1 or 5 all the time, this seems to go 0.1, 0.2 ,03 etc depending on how far you move the scroll.
        
        So when starting at a scale of 20:1 when I move the bar it goes up or down 0.01256 or some such number depending on where I move bar to
        
        I thought it might t go from 20:1 to 19;1 then 18:1 etc or move in groups of 5 20:1 15:1 10:1 et.
        
        Am I doing something wrong or is this as it should be and how would I say accurately reduce the scale from 20:1 to say 10:1.
        
        Thanks
        
        Mark
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        Deepak Gupta @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 27, 2015 8:17 AM
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        Mark Greenwell wrote:
        
        Am I doing something wrong or is this as it should be and how would I say accurately reduce the scale from 20:1 to say 10:1.
        I looked at the codes and this is how it should be. But I'm sure the macro can be edited to have the scale values like 1:1, 1:2, 1:5, 2:1, 5:1, etc.
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        Mark Greenwell @ Deepak Gupta on Mar 27, 2015 8:23 AM
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        Hi Deepak,
        
        Any chance you could edit the macro for me so it goes in whole increments (I haven't a clue about macro's or programing).
        
        No urgency for this and anyway I am off home in about half an hour.
        
        Thanks
        
        Mark
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        Deepak Gupta @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 27, 2015 8:29 AM
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        Can't promise anything soon but will see what can be done.
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        Mark Greenwell @ Deepak Gupta on Mar 27, 2015 8:31 AM
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        Thanks
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      - Ingvar Magnusson @ Mark Greenwell on Mar 26, 2015 7:39 AM
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        You´ll have to put your template scale to 10:1 and take of the "check mark" like Deepak said.
        
        If you want automatic scaling it´s built in the way it behaves and can not be changed, it´s just calculated for best fit. It would be a good enhancement request though that you could play with how the best fit would be calculated.
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