7 Replies Latest reply on Jan 12, 2016 7:53 AM by Ed Cyganik

    Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?

    John Wayman
    John Wayman Jan 11, 2016 8:14 AM

      I have today encountered a situation in which a colleague wanted to specify a maximum radius for a particular feature on a drawing, so he clicked 'Tolerance/Precision and used the top drop-down to select 'MAX'. All well and good, except that on his drawing, the 'MAX' appeared in lower case.

      I did the same on another drawing and the 'MAX' appeared in upper case.

      My draughting training, all those years ago, taught me that everything on a drawing should be upper case, so I believe mine is correct and my colleague's is incorrect.

      The question, however, is this:

      How is it different between the two drawings?

       

      The follow-up question is:

      How and where is the format of the 'MAX' suffix set?

       

      I can't find it in the help.

       

       

      SW2014

      SP5

       

       

       

      Thanks,

       

       

      John

      • 870 Views
      • Categories: Drawings and Detailing, SolidWorks
      • Tags:
        • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
          Kevin Chandler
          Kevin Chandler Jan 11, 2016 8:17 AM (in response to John Wayman)

          Hello,

           

          There are numerous drafting and detail settings in Document Options. Most are set per the selected drawing standard, ANSI, JIS, etc., but you can override their settings.

          Remember, changing these is for the current drawing, so be sure to open your template(s) and perform the same mods there.

           

          Cheers,

           

          Kevin

            • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
              John Wayman
              John Wayman Jan 11, 2016 9:27 AM (in response to Kevin Chandler)

              Thanks, Kevin.

              You are, of course, quite right - there are indeed numerous settings in Document Options.

              Whether the particular setting I am asking about even exists, let alone whether it can be found in Document Options, remains a mystery, however. If it is there, I know I can't find it.

               

              Could there be something elsewhere that I need to unearth?

              Something akin to calloutformat.txt, perhaps, but aimed towards tolerances rather than hole wizard callouts?

               

              Someone, somewhere knows. I'd like to be let into the secret, if possible.

               

               

               

              John

                • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
                  Ed Cyganik
                  Ed Cyganik Jan 11, 2016 10:15 AM (in response to John Wayman)

                  There is no secret concerning tolerances.

                  ...and Kevin is correct about there being several settings.

                   

                  For tolerances, go to:

                  Tools - Options - Document Properties - Dimensions - Primary Precision

                    • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
                      John Wayman
                      John Wayman Jan 11, 2016 11:10 AM (in response to Ed Cyganik)

                      Thanks, Ed.

                      I looked in that option and there was no 'MAX' or 'max' that I could see, neither was there anything designating a font or 'all upper case' or 'all lower case'. I must be missing something obvious - I usually am.

                       

                      How does the system know what to put and what case/font to put it in when someone chooses 'MIN' or 'MAX' under Primary Precision?

                       

                      If it had always done it in upper case, I would not have questioned it, but it unexpectedly did it in lower case for my colleague today. Hence the question.

                       

                      I guess it's not a show-stopper. We can always type it in. That goes against the grain in a parametric modeller, though...

                       

                       

                      John

                        • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
                          Ed Cyganik
                          Ed Cyganik Jan 12, 2016 7:53 AM (in response to John Wayman)

                          From what I understand, the case sensitivity for MAX & MIN are per the supported drafting standards.

                          ANSI is the only one that uses capital letters.

                          All other drafting standards use lower case,

                          There is not a setting to change this in any drafting standard.

                           

                          If it were me, I'd leave the drafting standard set to your company's requirement.

                          Then, if you choose to "violate" or "take exception to" any aspect of the standard, a manual entry would be required.

                           

                          just my 2¢

                  • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
                    Mike Pogue
                    Mike Pogue Jan 11, 2016 11:17 AM (in response to John Wayman)

                    I couldn't find an override for it--not to say there isn't one. All of the drafting standards except ANSI show 'max.'. ANSI shows 'MAX'. So the only way I could figure to do it is to set the drafting standard to ANSI and override all of the settings to make it look like ISO. (I'm assuming you want ISO). This is a hack--it seems like there should be a cleaner way.

                     

                    On the other hand, this makes me suspect that ISO should be lowercase--I don't know ISO very well..

                      • Re: Tolerance/Precision format - where is it set?
                        John Wayman
                        John Wayman Jan 11, 2016 12:04 PM (in response to Mike Pogue)

                        Thanks, Mike.

                        I must admit, I don't know ISO in that much detail, either!

                        I'm from the BS308 days, before they changed it to BS8888, cross-referenced all over the place as it is now.

                         

                        I looked on the internet and BS308 seems to support my 'all upper case' assertion. At least I remembered that correctly. The ISO and BS888 documents I unearthed seemed less convinced, showing examples of both lower and upper case in certain documents.

                        The ISO 'bible' - The Manual Of Engineering Drawing' (2009 edition)- is definite that the abbreviation for Maximum is 'MAX'.

                         

                        Ultimately, it's interesting, but makes no difference, since whatever it is seems to be hard-coded in SW.

                        Than you for your diligence in determining the precise behaviour of the software.

                         

                        I imagine that means that, if I should want to use a standard fit that is not in the list, I cannot add it. Just a hypothetical observation, I am not in that position.

                         

                        Cheers,

                         

                        John