Secret to getting radial dimensions?

[kerklein2]

Newbie here, and I am having a lot of trouble dimensioning radii and diameters. Sometimes when I click the middle mouse to locate it they work, other times it gives me "The specified dimension could not be created". What is the trick to creating these?

Edited by: kerklein2

 

[AHA-D]

Click once on a circle for radius, 2 times for diameter and be sure not to click on anything else when positioning. Otherwise ProE will "think" you want to create a dimension between the circle and the other object.


Alex

 

[kerklein2]

I'm not clicking on anything else. I simply click the circle, middle click elsewhere, and I get a dimension about 20% of the time or less.

 

[dr_gallup]

Are you creating dimensions in drawings? Tsk, tsk. You should be showing model dimensions. Anyway, the radius must be true in the view you are creating the dimension. If is is not then you are picking on a conic & not a circular arc.

If you are dimensioning in sketcher then it should work.

 

[skraba]

When dimensioning radii you should pick radius as a dimensioning entity and then double click near the radius. Pro/E sometimes fails creating radius dimension when DBL CLICK is to far from the radius area. Just try to zoom in and DBL click near the radius line.

 

[kerklein2]

And why exactly should I be showing model dimensions?

 

[dr_gallup]

It's a big debate that has people raging for both viewpoints. I try to always show dimensions & create them only when absolutely necessary. One benefit is that you can change shown dimensions in the drawing, hit regen & everything updates. Another is that model & drawing have same dimensioning scheme & tolerances, greatly simplifying tolerance stackups. A third is that if you show all dimensions & you use good modeling techniques, you should have exactly enough dimensions to properly constrain & define the geometry. If you create dimensions it is easy to over or under constrain.

 

[AHA-D]

It's a big debate that has people raging for both viewpoints. I try to always show dimensions & create them only when absolutely necessary. One benefit is that you can change shown dimensions in the drawing, hit regen & everything updates.

But not everyone likes that. It's logical that a drawing should reflect the actual model. It's not so logical that changing a dimension on a drawing (for whatever reason) should influence the model.

Another is that model & drawing have same dimensioning scheme & tolerances, greatly simplifying tolerance stackups.

That's indeed an advantage. It carries the desing intent to the drawing.

A third is that if you show all dimensions & you use good modeling techniques, you should have exactly enough dimensions to properly constrain & define the geometry. If you create dimensions it is easy to over or under constrain.

But : the best and most robust modeling dimensions aren't always the dimensions that make sense on a drawing. Other preferences rule there. It's also a PITA when your model dimensions happen to be in the wrong plane or on the wrong side of a half view to make them visible.