Drawing template issues: scaling, sketches, line styles

Dean,

I have the same type problem as you do with the exception that we use .DWG instead of .DXF, but I think the same concepts apply.

I have my settings in System Options > Drawings > "Automatically Scale New Drawing Views" UNchecked as Glenn suggested and that works best for me.

However I have to take 1 more step:

When doing a "Save AS:" to save the drawing file to a .DWG (or DXF in your case), go to the "Options" button in the save as screen.

In the options box, check your "Scale Output 1:1 section" .

This often defaults to "Sheet Scale = 1/1:"

Try changing it to "View Scale = x/x..."  Where the view scale is correct for your desired view's scale.

We only use A size sheets here at my company.

If I make a part that is 20 inches long and want it to fit an A size sheet,  I have to scale it 1/3 to fit.

If I leave the Option set at "Sheet Scale=1/1" the drawing will look fine and all the dimensions will look correct on my A size paper.

However the machinists will be paying me a visit, telling me his cad software is saying I have a part that is 60 inches long because his software sees that the " View" was scaled down to one third so it takes the modeled part and makes it 3 times the size.

Give this a try.  If it works there is no way to automatically lock this setting. It's a pain, but every time I create a .dwg that is not 1:1 scale, I have to check this.

Sometimes it will default to sheet scale, sometimes to View scale and since there can be several views at different scales you need to specify the correct view size (usually will be the majority of your views).

I am not sure this is your exact problem because we just us A size sheets and it might not apply if you have larger sheets but it seems like it is the same issue.

Dean Baragar:

 

Thanks Glenn,

That works for the DXFs alright, but for normal drawings, it is nicer to keep that option on.  Solidworks scales views reasonably well to fit the sheet size and if I unselect this, all views will be set to the scale I set when I saved the file.  We work with lots of really big parts and lots of really small parts, so this option is very nice for that.  Perhaps it should be a document setting rather than a system setting.

No argument here.  There are several settings in System Options that I'd think should be in Document Properties.  If that was the case with this one, then you could have a separate drawing template for your drawings that will be saved as DXF.

Dean, I don't consider the bend lines as information but in my case I have better than 40 years of working on the floor doing precision sheet metal in the + or -.005 range. If I screw up a flat the guys know I'll come on the floor and bend it if it can be saved at all. We output a bend information sheet that tells the brake guys what they should be getting for an allowance or a deduction for every bend, if they can't achieve that then there is a mistake in the flat.