Is there the capability to display dual units in part studios (and assemblies for that matter)?

JAN_R

When working on projects I find that often enough I need to reference metric and imperial/standard dimension within the same part and assembly studios.  When doing up drawings there is the option to display/dimension with dual units I can't seem to find the function within the part studios.  Does this not exist or am I looking in all the wrong places?  I understand that I can enter a unit of choice within the dimension dialog boxes but when I go to use the 'measure' function to double check work I only see the workspace units and have to go back and convert.  
  

romeograham

You cannot display dual dimensions in Part Studios or Assemblies, but you can change the Workspace units at any time:


This affects units in dimensions, mates, etc as well as anything in the "display mass properties" dialog




and measure dialog: 


It's a little clumsy, but you can change back and forth all you like. 

JAN_R

Thanks romeo.  That is a better work around than manually entering conversions for sure but as you say still a little clumsy.  Matt at Onshape reached out and mentioned that they are working to make this an improvement request.  And that's one of the greatest features of Onshape - rapid response from the developers.  

mooreaa

Hi all, I'm in the process of learning onshape to see if its a good fit for the type of design I do. I came across this post wondering about this.

Sometimes I work on projects that have mixed units, and it would be nice if there was a way to show mixed units rather than it converting them back to the document units each time. I saw this post is from 2019 with plans for improvements, can someone point me to how to accomplish this?

NeilCooke

mooreaa said:

Hi all, I'm in the process of learning onshape to see if its a good fit for the type of design I do. I came across this post wondering about this.

Sometimes I work on projects that have mixed units, and it would be nice if there was a way to show mixed units rather than it converting them back to the document units each time. I saw this post is from 2019 with plans for improvements, can someone point me to how to accomplish this?

Dimesnions remember the units used, so if you are working in inches (primarily) and you want some in mm, just enter mm as the units. Onshape will display the value in inches, but when editing it will show the value in mm (including any other equations used in the calculation) to preserve design intent.

JAN_R

@NeilCooke Although there have been some changes made since I originally posted this a few years ago I still find it unfortunate that I have to do 3 clicks every time I want to check a dimension (within part and assembly studios) with a different unit.  To be honest, at the moment, I usually just grab the calculator. It would be super helpful though if we could select the option of dual units showing up at the bottom right of the screen.  In North America most of the structural material available and I would say the vast majority of fasteners etc are standard/inch while many (dare I say most) bearings, servo and stepper motors, and similar type components are metric.  Maybe I'm alone but I do find myself doing a lot of switching between units.  Onshape added the option for units in the 'Measure" panel a few years ago but that still requires 3 clicks.  Maybe Onshape hasn't understood that some of us we actually 'work' in dual units, not just verifying a few values.  

@mooreaa - don't let this be a deciding factor.  Onshape is really good at listening to users and may finish up this improvement - I never did bring it up after Onshape made the changes.  There are so many other benefits to Onshape compared to other Cad systems that override this - for lack of a better term - nuisance. 

Max_MG

Would love to see this as an improvement request, I work in both units very frequently. Something similar to SolidWorks' solution:

erik_goossens_saga

+1 to having dual dimensions in Part Studio!

Little hack - if I'm in a mm Part Studio and put in a dimension of say 1.25in, I'll put:
1*1.25in

… just so that the dimension gets an "f" next to it so that I or someone else would have the inkling to hover over it and discover that it's an imperial dimension.