OMG!!!....need help....from USA or UK people

[salf]

As you can see in my profile, im from southamerica, we use the METRIC SYSTEM, to represent the scale in our plans, we mainly use the following:

 

1:1000

1:500

1:250

1:200

1:100

1:50

1:20

and so on........

 

for construction drawings, the main scale is 1:50

 

Well, currently we're working with some drawings from US, some restaurant renovation, and the drawing scale is:

 

1/4"=1'0"

 

Which i know it means that "1/4 inch is equal to a realworld 1 feet", im just having a lotttttttttttttt of problems trying to "fit" that scale into a metric one.

 

Maybe ill find the answer giving it more thought, but im blacked out at the moment, so any help will be appreciated.

[STRAT]

1/4"=1'0" is more or less 1:50 (but not exactly)

 

you ideally need an imperial scale rule. (hehehe, these awkward americans and they're silly scales )

[Ernest Burden III]

As you can see in my profile, im from southamerica, we use the METRIC SYSTEM

Well, currently we're working with some drawings from US, some restaurant renovation, and the drawing scale is:

 

1/4"=1'0"

 

http://www.allmath.com/metrictable.php

 

What sort of drawings are you working with, and in what program?

 

If you are using a backwards program that does not recognize real world units, like ACAD, Max or Cinema4D then you simply need to do a conversion by multiplying the base unit in the incoming file by the factor that will result in your working units. MOST Autocad files from the US would import with the unit of 'inch'. If you want mm, then you would scale the file by 25.4.

 

If you are using a program like Datacad (which I use most) or Rhino or FormZ then you would simply import with units set to inches, then change the units to mm and all will automatically be right.

 

It is possible that the US file is in feet, but this is rare. Sometimes engineers work in decimal feet, meaning that 1 foot 6 inches would be 1.5 feet. So once you have imported with US units or converted by re-scaling, check the length of something you know--like a door height, or a parking space, or a floor-to-floor just to be sure you got it right.

 

Then, get back to work.

 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention--some freakish folks work with programs that draft in scale, not real units. If that is the case, you must also deal with that scale bias. 1/4 = 1' is the same as .25 / 12 = 0.0208333_

[Christopher Nichols]

Quick reference

 

there are 12 inches in a foot so...

 

1/2"=1'0 means 1:24 exactly

1/4"=1'0 means 1:48 exactly

1/8"=1'0 means 1:96 exactly

 

Just FYI... Now if only the americans would get with the rest of the world.

[salf]

THanks guys...this is freaking me out.

 

STRAT: youre "kinda" right, 1:50 is the most similar, but not the same...theres a "gap" between measures.

 

ERNEST: the drawings i have are printed, theyre on papaer, not on digital, so im doing the "digitalization" work, gotta measure everything on paper, convert it to metric system, so i can draw it on our office Autocad.

 

Its a pain in the butt, but im doing it....it would help me a lot, if i had in the office a ruler with inches and stuff instead of centimeters, so for know i have to work with our working "meter" (you know, that thing to measure on construction sites, its a ruler, yellow, its a round shape, its all rolled in, you hang it on your waist, a STANLEY one)....anyways, it has both system, inches and centimeters, so im using the inches part, and then doing some math.

 

STRAT: btw, you guys up there, dont use the same inches and feet that americans do?

[STRAT]

 

STRAT: btw, you guys up there, dont use the same inches and feet that americans do?

nope. fully metric. but we did use it about 30 years ago before G.B. dropped the imperial system.

 

but one of our 'older' architects still had his old feet'n'inches scale rule in his draw to hand

[Frosty]

Canada is still mixed, imperial and metric. Due to close relations with the US most building materials are still sized imperially, however, most offices want to work in metric.

[salf]

nope. fully metric. but we did use it about 30 years ago before G.B. dropped the imperial system.

 

 

oh!...got it.......so.....is the US the only country that fully uses that weird system?...what does australia uses?

[vizwhiz]

hi There Saif

 

i have at least 6 or 8 Imperial scales

if you want i can send you one of These

 

??

 

but Then again you probably will be done before it gets There

 

**

 

i once did a 40,000 sq ft project in the UK, Updown Court

designed in Imperial, Dimensioned in Metric, 4,216 dimensions on 4 stories

 

draw in imperial, set "dimlfac" = 25.4

 

works great

 

**

 

Thanks

 

Randy

[Ernest Burden III]

ERNEST: the drawings i have are printed, theyre on papaer, not on digital, so im doing the "digitalization" work, gotta measure everything on paper, convert it to metric system, so i can draw it on our office Autocad.

 

Oh, that's different.

 

OK, what you want to do is, if possible--SCAN then. Use the scans as bitmaps in Autocad and trace over. In doing so, use the scale factor to enlarge them to size. This is very easy. Find a known distance on the drawing--something that is dimensioned--best if its as long as possible. Convert that to its metric equiv. by doing the math, and then scale the bitmap underlay in ACAD so that distance on the bitmap scales to the metric number. After that, you can just trace in your regular metric units. Let me give an example--the overall height of a building is written as 120' on an elevation, so that's about 36m. Place a scan of that elevation, make sure that overall height reads as 36m in Autocad and you are good-to-go in metric. In other words, you only have to do ONE english-metric conversion.

 

Send the drawings to an outside service to scan if they are large. It's worth the effort.

 

The alternative is to buy an Imperial scale and work in Autocad in foot/inch and scale the file after you are done to metric units. I have metric scales for when clients give me paper of metric projects. I may not fully understantd the units I'm working in, but I can scale and know that something is 1.75m.

[salf]

thanks all for the suggestions.

 

Im already drawing the thing, pretty slow tho. Good thing is a pretty straightforward and ortogonal space, not so complicated or weird shaped.

 

BTW, the copies we have here apparently are architectural drawings, electrical and mechanical, and they're called "construction documents", .......well, theres no one single dimension measure in there, i dont get it..how can you build up stuff without dimensions on the plans?

 

Maybe they have another group of "construction plans" just for the measures and stuff, so they leave the architectural, electrical and mecanical plans, without.

 

But in here, everyplan, doesnt matter what type, must have construction dimensions, so you see the architectural and electrical plans, fill up with dimensions everywhere.

 

If this plans would had them, it would be pretty easy for me to draw it, thats why im having such problems.

[Ernest Burden III]

BTW, the copies we have here apparently are architectural drawings, electrical and mechanical, and they're called "construction documents", .......well, theres no one single dimension measure in there, i dont get it..how can you build up stuff without dimensions on the plans?

 

But in here, everyplan, doesnt matter what type, must have construction dimensions, so you see the architectural and electrical plans, fill up with dimensions everywhere.

 

I can see why you would be having trouble. I have never seen arch. docs without written dimensions.

 

One more idea for you, I hadn't thought of before even though I have used the technique myself. You still need to know one overall long distance. If you do not have any written, then all you can do is guess by counting floors, parking spaces, etc. to find it. If you know the address you may find maps on the web to help provide scale.

 

Anyway, photocopy a metric scale enlarged or reduced to fit your one known distance and use this copy as your 'scale'. Simply use it like a ruler to measure distances in metric.

 

I've done each and every method I described in my posts, and they all work.