How to measure from point to cylinder axis?

pete_7

As the title suggests, I am trying to measure from a point in an assembly to a cylinder axis, but I can't seem to do it. Even creating a drawing and attempting to add a dimension doesn't produce the correct length, since it is not projected onto the model view plane. Is there a way to do this like one would in SolidWorks?

pete_yodis

@pete_7 Without seeing what you are doing... could you create a sketch, or add some entities to an existing sketch and then select those entities to measure to?  That would work if you are in a part studio.  In an assembly studio, I don't think you can currently add reference info like that.  Maybe you can create a piece of geometry in your parts that would serve as a reference measurement point.  You can loft to a point to give you a point.

andrew_troup

Is the cylinder created natively in Solidworks, or part of an imported body?
The following suggestions, in cases where extra entities are created, would need to be applied in the Part Studio

If the former, and it's a revolve, you may be able to select the revolve axis by showing a sketch or selecting an edge.
If the former, and it's a sweep, you will be able to select the sweep path
If the former, and it's an extrude, you will have to construct a sketch on a normal plane through the centre of the circle sketch and draw the axis

If the latter, you will have to create a plane at one of the end faces of the cylinder (if it has end faces) and extract the silhouette edge, then proceed as for an extrude, above.

juan_aviles

I was working on this last night as well.  In Solidworks, we can turn axis and temporary axis on and off.  Is there a way to do this in OnShape?  I couldn't find it and used a work around instead.  Being able to dimension to an axis is pretty important to me for the items I model.

viru

@pete_7 , You can measure distance by edge point and cylinder edge in term of DX, DY, DZ  center value (DX=Red, DY=Green, DZ=Blue show color coding for measurement lines) as shown in below video

andrew_troup

juan_aviles 
Neither axis creation nor temporary axis is available at present.
I have raised an improvement request for the former, which you can upvote
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