Witness lines without dimension

Ok. So I have this 100ft power cord. well the accuracy required to
model the quick-connect fittings on the wire ends w.r.t. the cord
length is rediculous.

I would rather draw the cord as 10ft long... then in the drawing when
I do a broken view it doesn't really matter.

BUT the overall length in the drawing is wrong.

SW allows you to "cheat" and modify the dimension and write in a value
that you choose. Pro/e won't.... unless there is an option I'm
missing.

Can I put witness lines on a note?

What are my options.... not including a note that says "corld length
100ft"

 

In Properties for the actual dimension, go to the Text page. Where it says @D, put in @O100 or whatever literal string you want the dimesion to read. @O is "overwrite" such as they have much more conveniently and obviously placed in the "inferior" AutoCAD.

David Janes

 

"well the accuracy required to
Are you still using relative accuracy? This will make your model
effectively useless for use in larger assemblies. set 'enamble
absolute accuracy' to 'yes' in your config.pro file and model with
absolute accuracy set to 0.01mm

I am given to understand absolute accuracy will be the default setting
in WF5, so this sort of problem should go away.

 

As you rightly say: you can set it up in your start part, along with a
sensible default density (Most of what I make is steel) Once it's set,
it will ignore your config.pro setting.

 

As you rightly say: you can set it up in your start part, along with a
sensible default density (Most of what I make is steel) Once it's set,
it will ignore your config.pro setting.

_____________
Thanks for reminding me of a couple things I've been meaning to do with the "Setup" stuff. Another possibility for inclusion in a start part is setting up a default material which carries density and a bunch of material properties with it. I've also been meaning to do a program that asks for overall part size to set the size of the three datums so you're not starting out in some ungainly large world with grotesquely large numbers.

David Janes

 

...so you're not starting out in some ungainly large world with grotesquely large numbers.

Yeah, that really irritates me. When you get it resolved... please
share.
I usually deal with parts no larger than 1ftx1ftx1ft, but Pro/e thinks
I'm desiging bridges or something. On my first feature I'm always
fighting the reletive accuracy crap.

Maybe I should just take everybody's advice about absolute accuracy
and shut up.

 

Well, I have it relatively resolved (meaning half-assed). There's a couple similar techniques:
1) Since Wildfire you've been able to do 'Edit>Definition' on the default datums, go to the Display page and check Adjust Outline by Size or Reference. There's nothing to reference on the first datum, so adjust the size to some number in your unit of measure (default is 508 of any unit, no idea where this number comes from); do the rest as Reference to this first datum. What makes this a little irritating is that even if your part grows beyond the boundary of this set size, the datum boundaries don't grow the way they normally do. But your first feature does start out with more realistic numbers in a world scaled to your needs. And relative accuracy is preserved, scaled to fit this world.
2) The other half-assed way I've used is to create a dummy first feature in the start part, like a sketch on the first datum. It scales the world to human size, but adds a questionable, confusing, apparently useless feature to every model. At least the datum will adjust to subsequent changes in model size and start you in a properly scaled world.

Best I've done, so far. The program I'm thinking about would probably only modify the sketch dims and regen. Still, with a prompting question, it might be of some value.

David Janes

 

"> 2) The other half-assed way I've used is to create a dummy first
feature in the start part, like a sketch on the first datum. It scales
the world to human size, but adds a questionable, confusing,
apparently useless feature to every model. At least the datum will
adjust to subsequent changes in model size and start you in a properly
scaled world."

This is the 'bounding box technique' which PTC used to suggest for
getting merged parts to work pre rev 17. Basically, take a guess at
how big your finished part will be, and as first feature, create a
surface box big enough to contain it in your start part, then put it
in a hidden layer. It forces parts with relative accuracy to use a
common relative accuracy for every feature- a 'virtual' absolute
accuracy - it used to be the only way to get complex castings with
multiple cores to work. (unless you went outside the invisible box...)
Nice to see you've ressurected it. I guess a default assumed part size
(for zoom scaling empty parts) would be a nice to have.