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Mechanical Engineering Home >Info: Useful Links > ProE > Units

You can't change the units on a drawing.

However...

You can change units for each part that appears in a drawing. To do so, retrieve the part. Then go to the following menus:

Set Up -> Units

You will see the Unit Manager which can be used to switch between different types of units, create custom units, or scale the model.

If you choose Principal Sys, a dialog box will pop up and you can choose the different options. It wants to know if you want to keep the same size, or the same dimensions. If you have been working in one set of units but measuring in others (for instance, you have been doing the Bic Pen and have been measuring everything in millimeters, but had the part set on feet), choose "Interpret Existing Numbers (Same Dims)". This will automatically resize your part, but keep the numerical value of the dimensions the same. Choosing "Convert Existing Numbers (Same Size)" will change the values of the dimensions.

Let's say we have a cube that's one inch on a side. We define it using inches, and dimension each edge as an inch long. If we respecify the units as millimeters, and use the "Same Dims" option, we will get a cube that is 1 mm on a side. However, if we choose the "Same Size" option, the cube will measure 25.4 millimeters on a side, since each inch is 25.4 millimeters long.

The next time you pull up your drawing, the scale will accurately reflect the units you have chosen. You may have to modify the scale somewhat to get the drawing to fit on the page nicely.

Note that you will need to follow the Part -> Modify -> Dimension path to see the dimensions on the drawing.

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