Scaling a model

[wfincher]

I need to scale a model. I had learned how to do this from a posting on the old forum but I don't remember how I did it and now I can't find the information. Can someone tell me how to do this?

 

Bill Fincher

[Chris Lohman]

You can scale anything with a sizebox on it by turning the aspect locks of the sizebox to all.

 

To to scale a part.

 

Select the part

Right click on it and goto Part Properties

Select the sizebox tab

Insure all of the handles are turned on and set your aspect locks to All.

Close the Part Properties dialogue.

Now when you pull on a handle, it should scale the entire part.

To return it to normal sizebox behavior change the aspect locks to something other than all.

 

 

[jmouser]

Chris is correct.

To expand on his point I would like to add the following comments.

 

ENTERING PRECISION SCALE FACTORS BASED ON PERCENTAGES

 

To enter precision scale values simply enter your scaling equation inside the sizebox dimension value box.

(Example: A 4" square block needs to be scaled down by 25%. In the sizebox enter [4*(1-.25)] which returns a value of 3.

 

NON-ISOTROPIC SCALE FACTORS

(Composite Materials, Certain Plastics, etc.)

 

For non-isotropic shrink factors TURN OFF ALL ASPECT LOCKS and enter your independent scaling equation for each of the three sizebox dimension value boxes.

 

ENTERING PRECISION SCALE FACTORS BASED ON SHRINK RATES

 

A shrink rate is merely a term given to another kind of scaling factor.

After all a unit/unit is dimensionless. Right? Therefore .007 in/in = .007 mm/mm = 0.007.

 

Example:

 

Your customer just modeled an 8" square block and wants you to design a mold for the part. The material a plastic with an isotropic shrink rate of 0.007. How deep should you make each wall of the mold cavity?

 

Answer: [8"+8"*.007] = 8.056"

As you can see, 0.056" was added to the mold to account for the shrink (scale) factor associated with the material. (.007in/in*8"=8.056")

 

I hope this helps someone.

 

Regards,

 

John Mouser

JADIUM Corporation

 

Long live America.

 

[Andrew Owens]

Chris Lohman,

 

Why don't you guys just make it easy to scale parts & assemblies? I've seen this question pop up several times in past online community posts. Scaling is a basic design function. Having to reset the size box, aspect locks, etc through the properties dialog box is cryptic. It would be much easier to just select a 'scale part/assembly' command from a pull down menu and have a dialog box come up. This dialog would show a small graphic representation of the part/assembly to be scaled, allowing the designer to easily select which axis is to be scaled. It then should allow scaling by percentages and absolute values, and give the ability to do this in any desired measurement system. IC users should not have to pull out a calculator to accomplish such a rudimentary function. Having the ability to use point-to-point, smart-snap, and tri-ball assisted scaling would be a plus.

 

Sincerely,

Andrew Owens